‘Not a stain of corruption'

After personally listening to the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III, and hearing and reading about the reactions to it, especially the attacks on him, I came to the conclusion that our President does not have critics, what he has are enemies. Because it became very clear that the bashing he was getting were all designed to put him down personally so that his credibility will be ruined by the time his choice for the candidate who will run for the office will not have a chance.

***

Well, the Filipino people are more discerning than many give them credit for, so they will know how to choose when the time comes. There is a saying that we make the beds we lie in, so we should start studying the characters of those who are pushing themselves into the scene, while at the same time doing everything they can to crush their perceived opponents. I subscribe to what columnist Chit Roces-Santos, wife of my old friend Vergil Santos, said when she wrote of PNoy's SONA, “If he managed to hold back tears, he could not but bare his heart and soul, and showed not a stain of corruption”.

***

And then another columnist, the hard-hitting Solita Monsod also of the Inquirer, wrote condescendingly – maybe even a bit grudgingly – that she credits his reforms in the budget process, improved transparency and accountability in government spending, no late or reenacted budgets, and pointed out the astonishing savings at the Department of Public Works and Highways, the attention to schoolrooms that always used to be neglected, improved Coast Guard equipment that reduced the number of sea accidents, the surprising lack of reports on corruption scandals at the BIR, accountability and transparency in the Civil Service and in the Armed Forces, etc. etc. As for threats to impeach this President, Monsod says: “Has anyone thought forward to what would happen if he were impeached and convicted? Heaven help us.” And, Amen, I say to that.

***

Meanwhile, as expected, Senator Lito Lapid, against whom the Ombudsman is filing charges in connection with the obnoxious Fertilizer Scam that has been reeking all over the country, including the congressional office in our city then, responded that he is innocent of it, and we can expect all the others to be similarly charged to echo his claims. But in most cases, the evidences are so strong that they may turn out to be open-and-shut ones. Well, that is what they get for being greedy. I still remember how the late Governor Joseph Marañon had reacted when the money for fertilizer (kuno) was being offered. He turned it down outright, saying he was suspicious of its source and purpose.

***

I have heard several people say that they wish 2014 were over because of so many calamities and disasters the world has been experiencing during it. Indeed, we have been seeing accidents of such magnitudes as to have as many as 298 victims, that is, referring to the plane crashes, that included the still missing Flight MH 217 of Malaysian Air Lines, the shooting down of another MAL jet over the Russian-Ukraine border, the crash of a TransAsia flight in Taiwan, and even of small planes in the U.S.

***

Then we also know or heard of deaths from landslides, fires, explosions in factories, earthquakes, compounded by the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestine, the bloody conflict in Libya where we have about 13,000 overseas workers, and, worst, the expanding infections by the still incurable Ebola virus that is giving the entire world a big, big scare. Indeed, 2014 has been full of serious problems for the world ever since it began.

***

As for the Libyan problem, our government is having a hard time convincing our countrymen there to come home, even if it is offering them free transport. Some say it is because they are afraid to lose their well-paying jobs, others have claimed that their employers will not release them. There is also the humanitarian problem that hospitals in Libya will collapse if the Filipino health workers leave because hundred of Pinoy doctors and nurses and other health workers are the ones manning them.

***

In the meantime, let us give our Health Department officials credit for what they are doing to prevent the entry of the Ebola virus into our country. So far, they have succeeded in monitoring arrivals to ensure that nobody who could be a carrier can enter, and any suspicious arrival is quickly isolated and checked for possible infection. Let us not only credit them, let us also pray that they will be successful in their work of keeping the deadly virus away, and continue to make our country Ebola-free.*

back to top