WHY THE YOUNGER GENERATION MUST TAKE THE ISSUE TO THE STREETS

The state of affairs here in the Philippines should not really be far from what is periodically being broadcast by media, what with the advancement now enjoyed in communications.

But really, mankind looks at the same object based on individual perspectives. What can be perceived as loyalty by one can be interpreted as infidelity by another. Sadly, others also offer different meanings, like indifference or downright apathy. And pseudo philosophers can only shake their heads.

The country has successfully booted out two rulers by means of people power. A strongman who ruled for two decades was clipped of his muscles and thereafter replaced by a dainty feminine whose rise to fame was anchored only on the fact that she was the wife of a martyr.

Fifteen years alter, the President whose rise to fame was catapulted via the silver screen, in addition of course to being a macho-looking lady killer, was similarly booted out ironically for enriching himself through a lowly poor man’s vice what in local parlance is simply called “hweteng”.

And what happened to the descendants of these two deposed rulers? Nothing, they even are highly respected not only in social circles but also in the arena of power politics.

Let this writer now turn his sights to current events.

Much surprisingly, the country’s rut may now be called “hi-tech.” Graft and corruption have reached the floor of what was previously considered a bottomless pit one may well wonder if another form of thievery can ever match it. The once-tested ways of stealing money from the government coffers like being employed at the BIR and the customs bureau are no longer as preferred over being hired at the education or the health departments, and even in the lowliest job at being a “basurero” or trash collector can be as lucrative a grafter if he can find a way.

But all of these tricks pale in comparison to what the current rulers do to rob the government. The scheme no longer involves raiding the nation’s treasury, a plot that, in the first place, requires that one should accumulate the revenue first before he can steal. The trick now is simply to borrow money from other sources outside of the country on whatever guise and pretext with the guarantee that the country’s future generations will pay for it.

This trick is really no different from what the former strongman did when he consummated the never-utilized nuclear power plant that was built in the seventies that was never used, but the country paid the entire obligation without ever benefiting from it!

This chronicler can but philosophically lament. No sooner than it will be later, his footprints will be but a memory but his two sons and one daughter, and their own offspring will in their own times roam their own jungles and expectedly life will be a lot tougher for them. Their only consolation is that comparatively, they are educationally better prepared to face life’s struggles so that whatever perils they meet, they hopefully can face them squarely as did their dad during his checkered days.

This philosophical diatribe should now end. It’s not good for his health. And this email also is being made available to those whomsoever would want to read it. Especially the younger generation who surely will have to shoulder the gargantuan loans that the present administration imposed upon them..

But the bugging question remains. Is the nation once again on the way for another people power to change its ruler? Or should it now look at graft with apathy and complete disinterest?!