Mercy and compassion: If the government only has them
What the Church can teach the government is precisely the theme of the Papal Visit: Mercy and Compassion. For the right people and for the right reason at the right place and at the right time, the government must exercise mercy and compassion to those who really deserve. To the taxpayers, the lowly government workers especially the Job Order employees, to the deserving OFWs, the victims of trafficking and illegal recruitment, to the farmers, the tenants of landed estates, to the casual workers, the contractuals, and those who are denied social and economic justice, to the poor prisoners in jails, prisons and detention centers who could not afford jacuzzi and sex dolls.
If the government could only show a little mercy and compassion to the taxpayers, they should spend the taxes well and honestly, avoid negotiated contracts and stop cheating the people in shady deals, wherein lies the scoundrels and rascals in public biddings that are simulated, manipulated and rigged.They should pity the poor taxpayers especially the middle class, who are overtaxed but underserved, who are being withheld taxes in their wages and benefits, still being taxed when they buy goods, asked to pay toll fees and airport fees, road tax and VAT. Pity the poor workers whose salaries are deducted by an SSS that is very inefficient, a Pag-IBIG who loves big developers and a PhilHealth that is anti-patient and pro hospitals.
If the government has a little Mercy and Compassion, they should build enough homes for the urban poor settlers, and start with the public school teachers, the policemen and women, the clerks and the janitors in government, the messengers and the utility persons, including the Job Order Workers whom the government disowns mercilessly and without any compassion or compunction. Government must address the unemployment and underemployment problems beyond the band-aid solutions of holding job fairs ad infinitum. They should stop exporting labor to destinations with no safety nets for workers in dirty, difficult, dangerous, deceptive and degrading work abroad.
Government must listen to the Pope and practice what the Holy Father preaches, show a little mercy for the beggars in the streets, those who sleep in the sidewalks exposed to the elements in the cold of the nights and to the mosquitoes and pests in dirty squalor and subhuman conditions of heat, pollution and dirt. Government must build more hospitals and school houses and give access to the poor to quality education and decent habitation. Government must clean up the environment, stop the ravaging of our environment and arrest the loggers and those who rape our forests, destroy our marine resources and pollute our rivers, shores and lakes. Government must walk its talk and start really serving the people.
- Latest
