Aquino: Not serious in fighting corruption
Finally last Sunday when the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region gave an ultimatum to the pro-democracy student protesters in the Occupy Central Hong Kong Movement to disperse peacefully, all of a sudden, the massive weeklong student protest fizzled out. At least for the sake of the people of Hong Kong, the students spared them perhaps another bloody repeat of Tiananmen Square.
On the bright side, at least the tension is off for the people of Hong Kong, especially when the students agreed to sit down with the Hong Kong government. So we'll so find out whether or not the Hong Kong government has something to offer to those angry students in order to appease them. But on the other hand… what can the Hong Kong government really offer to the students on their own that they can do? Like it or not, China is still the decision maker for Hong Kong. As the old saying goes, it ain't over till it's over! Let's hope that this episode will teach China a lesson on democracy.
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Due to the increased rainfall that we've been experiencing in Cebu, our weather in the past three weeks felt like the weather in Bukidnon years back when I used to visit the Del Monte Golf Course regularly. We would play at 9:00AM so by noontime, we were done with playing 18 holes and then the rains would come. Often when it doesn't rain, we'd play another round of 9 holes.
Surely by now if you've been going around the streets of Cebu, you must have noticed the rapid deterioration of our city streets. Again, I'd like to point out that the streets especially in Cebu City that are asphalted are the most deteriorated streets. I don't know how many times I have written in this corner that due to Climate Change, we should have a paradigm shift in the way we think and start cementing our streets, so even if we are faced with the strongest rains, our streets won't get washed away.
Whenever I pass by Freedom St. near Beverly Glen, which is the shortcut to my house, I always beam with pride that way back in 2004, when I was CITOM chief, I convinced my good friend, then Councilor Gabriel "Gabby" Leyson to cement that road which lies in the bottom of Peace Valley. Before Councilor Leyson cemented this road, it doubled as a river when the rains came and destroyed the asphalted road and the city government had to re-asphalt that road at least twice or three times a year.
That road is our best example and I dare say that the City of Cebu should come up with a program to cement the secondary streets, which are the most deteriorated streets in the city today. So the question is, has our city officials changed their old ways? Yes, allow me to remind you that in the old days… politicians used asphalt as a tool to get themselves elected into office.
Yes, what we need in these times are politicians who would embrace the new ways of thinking… first that they just don't think of getting themselves re-elected as a priority, but truly give the public the service that our people pay them for. This is why we call them public servants, right?
But as it is… look at our senators and congressmen, they used their Priority Development Assistance Program to extract people's money using fake NGOs courtesy of Janet Lim Napoles. Hmmm, did you notice that Napoles hasn't been in the headlines in the past month? Something is wrong here and it is time to make a howl for Justice!
Call it a sense of déjà vu… those 28 years after the EDSA Revolution, one of the biggest problems that all Filipinos are experiencing is a serious lack of Justice. There was a lack of Justice during the dark years of the conjugal Marcos dictatorship… but that was understandable, it was martial law and certain liberties and rights were suspended when martial law was declared on Sept. 21, 1972. It culminated with the assassination of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr.
I will never forget our cry after Ninoy was assassinated… "Justice for Aquino, Justice for All . But who would ever know that 28 years later, the president of the Philippines would be the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. What an irony that the country today still suffers from grave injustice just like the dark days of martial law. That Pres. Benigno Aquino III has always defended his closest friends, Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad and now Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima despite the charges hurled against them adds only to our lack of j`-ustice.
In all western nations, whenever their top officials are charged for corruption or impropriety, these officials resign or at least go on a leave of absence in order to clear their names. This was supposed to happen under the watch of Pres. Aquino who espoused his "Daang Matuwid" policy. But now everyone knows that it was nothing but rhetoric. Pres. PNoy was never serious in fighting corruption.
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