Just three, not many, wishes for 2008

“Hope”, a very familiar quotation opens, “springs eternal”. Let me tackle this issue as 2008 draws very near. It is my kind of new year’s resolution similar to those I wrote about in my student days. As sure as the sun rises on the east, to quote a dear departed friend Gil Rosario, who said this line in a speech competition among students years ago, there is always a reason for all of us, irrespective of the differences of our social standing and no matter the diversity of our political beliefs, to hope. Certainly, I am not an exception and so may I join the rest of  the world in welcoming the new year with a short list of good things to hope for.

When one starts anything with an honest foot forward, he minimizes the chance of the negative forces collectively called failure blocking his path. Wherever I go and whomever I talk with, I always contend, sometimes rather abrasively, that anything dishonest is bound to meet a formidable hindrance of various kind. That honesty is the best policy is, to me, still very much indubitable. Thus, if there were falsehoods in the past or if pretenses were allowed to reign supreme then, it is most timely to atone for such errors with the honest pronouncements. Having said that, my first hope for the incoming year is, obviously, for our government leaders to find courage to tell us the truth of everything that, in the past, had taken place.

There is need to find closure to a number of events that buffeted our country. Those contentious issues formed the barriers to our growth. Unless we are brave enough to unravel the truth of such matters, our attempt to hurtle to prosperity will always be dragged by the weight of these huge piles of unnecessary administrative baggage.

1. Whatever happened to Usec. Jocjoc Bolante? What role did he really play in that government program which many people, me not excluded, characterized as a very odious scandal called the fertilizer scam? I wish that in the year 2008, Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo shall be able summon her strength to tell the nation what it was and let the ax fall where it must.

2. What were those wads of pesos (P200,000 according to Congressman Antonio V. Cuenco and P500,000 per the revelation of Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio) for? It is no more useful for Malacañang to muddle that issue with such useless smoke screens as the association of provinces (was it the name?) then Lakas, then Kampi being the source of the funds much less deny the distribution because doing so only increases the distrust of an enraged citizenry. The only thing left for the administration to do is to start the year 2008 by telling us the real story and if the provisions of our criminal laws were applicable, prosecute the guilty ones.

3. Who are these so-called vigilantes who have made our city the murder capital of the Philippines? If His Honor, Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña has nothing to do with them, (and I believe that beyond his being an inspiration to these killers, he has no ties to them) let him make the same offer of reward for everyone to help. Considering that he dangled about P300,000 to help look for Aristotle Aves and at that time the bounty was announced, Aves was linked to only few suspected fatal shootings, let Mayor Osmeña offer say, ten million pesos for any information leading to the identity and /or arrest of these vigilantes. After all, about 190 such gruesome deaths could now be tacked to their criminal activities!

The three issues I have enumerated above are to me, the most grievous. Surely, there are many others, but, I honestly hope that we can move ahead and indeed, we must, if we find closure to these. I am sure many of our people want to lend a helping hand in the effort to make a better place to live in. But, I am equally certain that they are held back by their suspicions on these unresolved issues. Let the president and our mayor usher 2008 with positive developments on these topics.

*  *  *

Email: [email protected]