The realities on
the ground

We had never expected the President to solve the country’s multifarious problems overnight. But, true to form, he had managed to address some of them. Especially, we cannot doubt the fact that all gains etched by his three years in office must be credited to the population rising up to the demand to help the administration rescue the country from the doldrums.

The SONA of President Benigno Aquino III, however, failed to mention several glaring ills that still baffle the nation. These are grave problems that will continue to haunt us within the next few years.

True, more jobs had been created by the BPO sectors which accounted for at least 638,000 employed last year alone generating some P11-billion for the economy.

But he also failed to explain why the number of unemployed have risen this year over the figures of the previous year. Yes, part of that is attributable to the graduation of thousands of college students, and all looking for placements.

He overlooked the roadmap for enlisting the private sectors and the government to provide the incentives for these sectors to be able to absorb the country’s unemployed and under-employed.

Thus, we still see thousands of Pinoys going abroad looking for jobs there, simply because there are none available here.

While we are gloating over the dollar remittances from our OFWs, it seems the government has not come up with a program to mobilize the OFW families to invest their dollars in small and medium scale enterprises that will enable them to continue opening more jobs for the unemployed and for them to save their remitted money for darker days ahead.

In fairness, the president admitted with alacrity that the education department still lacks thousands of teachers and classrooms as well as tables for the many entrants in the K-12 program.

Of course, that candor also included the promise that more funds will be earmarked for the education department to tackle the problems that have remained unsolved.

For that candor, Pnoy deserves our salute.

And the most glaring was the failure of the President to address the question of criminality, especially in the Metropolis and the nearby provinces of central and southern Luzon.

And, of course, the mounting cases of involvement of policemen in crimes against property and even suspected summary killings.

And he glaringly failed to mention the high-profile fugitives from justices who are still roaming around, free from the police who seem to be efficient in bagging small-time criminals.

Take the case of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, former Rep. Reuben Ecleo, former Governor of Palawan Joey Reyes, and his brother, and Delfin Lee of Global Asiatique.

So long as these personalities who are very prominent remain free from arrest, people will suspect that our top officials are giving them protection.

And, the realities on the ground, indicate that smuggling remains high, and criminals still roam the countryside and the cities ready to kill their intended targets at the drop of the hat.

On the other hand, we must also deplore the critics of the administration marching on the streets and describing the president as a do-nothing executive and leader.

They even went to the extent of destroying a police vehicle and hurting a policemen in yesterday’s demo at the Batasan Road.

Despite obvious discrepancies between the beautiful scenarios in his SONA and the realities on the ground, we must doff our hats off to Aquino for having done something for the country to ease our troubled spirits to a certain extent.

****

Well, we may not have long to wait for the United Negros Alliance to announce its choice to run for the governorship in 2013. The siren call has been sounded. And the UNA meet will be called soon to pick its choice of provincial and local bets.

Already there are speculations on whether Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez will run for the governorship. There was a hint that Lim-ao had consulted Rep. Alejandro Mirasol (5th District) on that possibility.

But Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said that in a democracy one will always face the possibility of having an opponent.

The question is that one of the top NPC leaders said recently that Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco had earlier said that he prefers that for the local position NPC policy of “Equity of the incumbent” will be observed.

A lot will depend on Cojuangco’s choice for the gubernatorial post. If it is Lim-ao, then most likely Alvarez is going to be it. But that remains in the realm of the possible.

How the UNA meet will vote for their choices remains to be seen. And even now, there are reported skirmishes ongoing among local executives.

The best thing to do is just to wait for the event and not to speculate the outcome.

Hala, as they say in Aklan, bira.*

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