Is he a socialist?

Just before I left for Europe, I met two congressmen. At this stage, I don’t need to name them although their names would be known by now from other sources. That however, does not matter.

When I talked to them one said he had heard of the plan of the Negros Press Club and the NPC Council of Past Presidents to initiate impeachment proceedings against Commission on Audit Chairperson, Gracia Pulido-Tan. The other one read it in my columns. They are not from our province.

Both wanted to get involved, but they suggested they will start with a congressional probe into this case then, when appropriate, would endorse our initiative. This is just fine.

I don’t know if things had moved on since I left because it is not always that I can get an internet connection. Anyway most media do not talk or write about it. What I know is that some outlets are dangling – well, that is not my problem.

I and my wife are in constant move although we are not with a tour group. We travel with only the two of us.

Although we would be out for some time the move against Pulido-Tan has taken a life if its own, independent of me.

Someone else who had probably talked with the congressmen said that the solons want the congressional probe to be held in Bácolod which should be great.

Now to the topic which I merely noted earlier, but when I saw the protests in Spain I was intrigued and remembered the platform of governance of Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez that he spilled (not spelled) out upon being chosen officially as the gubernatorial candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Recall the news reports when he said that his program of government will be “from birth to death, from basket to casket, and from womb to tomb.”

This encapsulates into understandable and slogan language the ideology of socialism. It made me wonder whether Alvarez is a socialist or a communist bedfellow. What I know, so far, is that he is not but then he lives a public life that has not been subjected to public scrutiny but now that he has thrown his hat into the wider public arena where there is intense inquiry into the heart and minds of the candidates, he is fair game.

That (fair game) may not be really appropriate because when the UNA was truly united, the discussions on the candidates were not deep enough, the contest was not intense.

However, this time the contest is heated and the squaring off makes for in-depth inquiry into the candidates.

It is good that when he was proclaimed the NPC candidate, Alvarez already defined his political philosophy which adheres to the tenets of socialism whose program of government is now rocking Spain, Greece and Portugal.

Socialism was already discarded by Russia who realized, at the cost of millions of lives that their promise of government caring for them from womb to tomb, from birth to death and for the state provide for the needs of the people, simply does not work.

Unless this declaration by Alvarez is merely sloganeering and rhythmic definition of his program of government that he does not intend to implement, or does not understand the deep implications of this kind of government program.

Maybe he does, but his political life is not known for concern for the people from birth to death or providing for them with baskets of food and caring for them from the moment of fertilization to their death.

Could this just be a play in words?

We shall examine this as the campaign goes on and when he comes out with specific programs that will hew into this socialistic doctrine of governance.

Fortunately our first stop was Madrid whose socialist government is undergoing deep economic woes and at the time of social turmoil in that country. This gives us a taste or a glimpse of what socialism is, or what a socially-centered economy can become. Like the pretense at democracy the communist (who declared socialism is its first stage) realized the folly of this womb to tomb concept and yet adopt policy of population control and a bulging bureaucracy to implement the socialist program of government.

Spain’s socialist government has practically eschewed God by legalizing abortion, divorce and same sex marriage to appease “social demands”. Satiation is paramount.

Thus the idea of government providing for the citizen from the day he is born to the day he dies, from his birth to his death, from his need for food in the basket to the casket, are programs of government that appealed to the masses but, dangerously, cannot be filled.

The communist had the same promise – a paradise on earth.*

back to top