Business as usual? - JAYWALKER by Art A. Borjal

The officials of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration should realize that times have dramatically changed, since People Power II. They can no longer perform their assigned tasks in the same manner that their predecessors did: Without transparency, without accountability, and under shadowy and dubious circumstances. The people are going to watch the new officials’ every move, and even their lifestyle. And any hanky-panky will be unmasked, and People Power will be there to demand punishment and retribution.

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It cannot be "Business as usual" for the new government officials. And they will be monitored on their compliance with President GMA’s pronouncements about simple living and austerity. Will the new powerholders have wang-wangs and backup luxury vehicles and a platoon of cops and soldiers as security as they move around from place to place? And will they have that aura of power that their predecessors brazenly displayed, making them look so far apart and so different from the madding crowds?

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An atmosphere of "Business as usual" in the corridors of power is going to lead to a People Power III. Mass media and the modern information technology will apparently work hand in hand in seeing to it that People Power will exact its toll on the new powerholders who will dare betray the people’s highest expectations.

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Henceforth, public attention will be focused on the coming May elections. The Senate race will be quite interesting – and its outcome could be a gauge of how the great majority of people look with favor, or disfavor, at the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. In other words, the poll outcome will have a large bearing on the success, or failure of President GMA.

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If the so-called "EDSA Forces" will win a big majority of the Senate seats at stake, that would be a clear victory for the GMA administration itself. But if most of the senatorial candidates perceived to be pro-Erap are going to make it, then that will force President GMA and her advisers to reassess the political situation.

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Thanks a million, and God bless the following kindhearted individuals who lent a helping hand to the Good Samaritan Foundation:

* "LUIGI" of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, a regular donor of the GS Fund, P3,000 (Metrobank 1100020465)

* Anonymous, from Moonwalk Phase II, Parañaque City, P2,000 (BPI 0262628)

* A lady doctor from Chinese General Hospital, P7,000 (Security Bank 0170679)

* Anonymous donor from Pila, Laguna, P1,000 (Metrobank 0181040)

* Eloisa Guzman Pastores of Makati Medical Center, P3,000 (BPI Family Bank 0085928)

* L.S.S. of Marikina City, P1,000 thru BPI

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Rose Marie B. Tong of 18 Bakakeng Road, Baguio City, a print and broadcast journalist who works for the Journal Group of Companies and a local cable network in Baguio, is apparently a brave and courageous girl. For nine years now, she has been going through unbearable pain and agony caused by a rare disease called multiple sclerosis (MS).

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MS is a sickness of the central nervous system. The patient with MS experiences on-and-off pain in certain areas of the spinal cord, caused by spasticity, numbness, and physical deformities in the legs. The MS patient also experiences unbearable pain during hot or cold temperature.

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The patient with MS undergoes daily physical therapy. At times, the patient is also given high doses of steroids, nerve and brain stimulants, and pain relievers. There are relapsing and remitting periods for the patient, making it difficult for him or her to interact with kin and friends.

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For two years during the past nine years, Rose was totally bedridden. Then, she became wheelchairbound. Today, half of her body is totally numb, and her legs have become shorter. She has to use a leg brace when she walks with a walker or cane.

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Despite her terrible physical ordeal, Rose decided in 1998 to be productive. This was also her way of getting rid of the depression that usually afflicts patients coping with a life-threatening disease. As she works, she has to undergo physical therapy three times a week. And whenever she faces a relapse, the dosage of her medicine is increased.

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Right now, Rose is taking 21 tablets and capsules, an intravenous injection of pain-reliever every six hours, and another for injection of steroid every 12 hours. This enables her to cope with that particular day. The weekly cost, though, of her present treatment has been terribly high, some P17,372 a week. "I am financially drained," Rose said in her letter sent to me about three weeks ago.

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The debts incurred for Rose’s treatment have piled up. And the daily expenses needed for her survival are, for a provincial journalist, really mind-boggling. What makes her situation very pitiable is that she is a single parent with two children who go to school. "My family, particularly my mother, being retired, cannot afford to support me because she is also a cancer patient who is merely dependent on her pension from the Social Security System," said Rose.

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Rose is now forced to appeal for help from strangers who have a big, big heart. This is her only way of coping with her ongoing battle against the life-threatening MS disease. For those who may want to help, please contact Rose at (0917) 443-8294 or (074) 422-6248. Alex Dinoy of the Good Samaritan Foundation may also be contacted at tel. nos. 716-1399 and 716-1499 or at Unit 1-J RM Arcade, 80 R. Magsaysay Blvd., Quezon City. Thanks a million!

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PULSEBEAT: Former Audit Commissioner Silvestre D. Sarmiento, who served in the Commission on Audit for many years, suggests that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appoint an insider, a career official, as replacement for retired chairman Celso Gangan. "I find the COA senior staff to be as qualified, properly motivated and competent as any in the professional ranks in the private business sector," said Sarmiento… Cesar M. Garcia of 64 Banahaw, Cubao, Quezon City, wrote to suggest how men with golden hearts should use the billions of pesos that they possess. Provide livelihood to the financially-distressed farmers, he said… Louie Muniz, a STAR reader, must be a prophet. Two days after the 11 senators voted NO to the opening of the second bank envelope, Muniz wrote a letter to Sen. Robert Jaworski, one of the 11, telling him that the 11 senators have just signed the end of their political life and that they did more harm to Erap.

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My e-mail address: <[email protected]>