Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Where Am I?

These are the times when I feel like I am living in another planet. With oil climbing over $90 a barrel and the peso breaching the PhP 43 to a dollar level, and 200 teachers leaving for Maryland and Philhealth approaching insolvency with innumerable accounts of abuse, our leaders are in overdrive forming alliances of convenience that will ensure the protection of their interests.

GMA is on friendly terms with the Speaker whose son publicly accused her husband of standing to make $70 million on a single deal because they both understand the 1950’s concept of mutually assured destruction. Erap Estrada has begun enumerating likely presidential candidates for 2010 without taking himself or his son out of the equation.

I am incredulous because our politicians scheme non-stop to perpetuate themselves in positions of power where they have been unable to advance the country’s best interests after all these years. Like will someone please enlighten me as to what Erap is planning to do when he makes his inevitable comeback? Or what our brilliant economist GMA has in store for our country when she continues to lead as Prime Minister?

The burgeoning price of oil will wipe out all those years of hard work and sacrifices made by the millions of overseas Filipinos. The strengthening of the peso due to the weakening of the dollar will mean that the remittances sent home will have significantly less value and will cripple our already weak exporting industry. The good times will come crashing to an end very soon and we will find ourselves having completely failed in investing in health and education; instead our leaders squandered the money on election automation, fertilizer purchases, infrastructure projects that were primarily planned to enrich, to corrupt, to perpetuate and not to ultimately benefit the incredible number of destitute and uneducated and sick people in our country.

We need to take a different course. And we need to start sacrificing here in our country today. The dollar is weakening because China and other Asian countries are sacrificing and working double hard to satisfy the spoiled American consumers who are bent on passing a terrible loan burden to their succeeding generations. The price of oil will only continue to rise because India and China and all these other industrious nations are willing to pay whatever price to assure a better standard of living for their citizens.

We have remained unwilling because those who could demand sacrifice from us have themselves been unwilling to confront our common fate, our brief lives made irrelevant by our petty material concerns. We need to consume less electricity, we need to take less trips, we need smaller vehicles, we need to save more money, we need to plant more trees and vegetables, we need to clean our surroundings, we need to stop bribing our public servants, we need to pay our rightful share in taxes, we need to stop using the discount made available to seniors if we know there are others who are much more deserving of this break, we need to pay our servants more, we should stop smoking and drinking excessively.

These are what Erap and his progeny as well as GMA and her various allies of convenience should have asked of us a long time ago. And we would have followed if they had only shown us the way.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What can we REALLY do when our leaders steal from us? You mentioned smoke less, drink less, use less electricity, etc. Aren't those things being already done by the majority, for a long time? Isn't corruption the real illness, and is there any cure for this? Or is it plain hopeless like many feel it to be? What would you actually do if elected to the senate (or any other branch of government)to address the issues you have nicely enumerated?

Anonymous said...
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Martin D. Bautista, M.D. said...

many of us are too focused on electoral success. our situation is certainly far from hopeless. you and I just need to get together and take our country back from all these trapos who are themselves focused on maintaining the status quo from which they feed and get fat. we need leaders who will convince you to pay your taxes, etc. we need leaders who will stay for only one term. we need to fully implement the spirit of the anti-dynasty provision in our Constitution. nothing is bound to change in our country if we continue to rely on the same people.

Anonymous said...

sir have you heard about the online petition for arroyo and de castro's resignation?

www.petitiononline.com/snap08

as noble and poetic as this petition's cause is, realistically, i fear that the administration will reject this one as well. but still, signing for this petition shows that everyone is united in ousting a fake president. plus her pseudo absent VP.

underside.wordpress.com

Martin D. Bautista, M.D. said...

nina, who will replace GMA and Kabayan? Erap/Jinggoy or anyone of those same old trapos who have historically fooled us? we need to unite around a leader who is totally unsullied and yet exquisitely prepared; someone who can get the people to sacrifice for our country. someone who will not stay a day more than the term of office. someone who does not come from a dynasty. problem is we are a nation of cynics and "realists". we want revolutionary change but we are unwilling to go all out and challenge this corrupt system that deserves to be destroyed posthaste. I totally agree with you, it is wishful thinking that these 2 will voluntarily go but there's little or no harm in dreaming.

mgrp said...

For some consolation, majority of Filipinos are not really as stupid as our scheming leaders think. They can feel the insult to their intelligence by the dirty politicians' brazen disregard for the rule of law and decency. It's just that everyone is simply busy making a living, if not just surviving They can hardly cope with the skyrocketing cost of everything.

There are many stirrings for reforms towards genuine change. It may take some time and steadfast information and education campaign. The challenge is for the enlightened citizens to be involved in organizing the masses not for quick political gratification but for long-term empowerment.

Anonymous said...

dr. bautista:

of course not the estradas and trapos! no them or else its like having erap all over again.

Anonymous said...

We would be using less electricity,gasoline, eating less imported rice and other precious commondities if we have less people who will consume it in the first place. We need an aggressive and effective national contraceptive/family planning program. Ang pag-aanak nasa klase wala sa dame.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dr Bautista,

Have you heard of freerice.com? If you haven't yet, please check it out.

Thanks.