Are you angry enough?

Are you angry enough about our state of affairs in the Republic of the Philippines?

The thought has begun to surface as millions of Filipinos come to terms with the fact that the Self-Righteous Brotherhood occupying Malacañang are a bunch of incompetent and insensitive dolts who punctuate their failures with off the cuff remarks that only serve to incense the public. Filipinos have been known to be tolerant even of stupidity and mediocrity but the PNoy Misadministration has obviously broken all records as far as achieving nothing is concerned.

The one thing they have managed to be consistent about is to accumulate those who they call  “critics,” “haters,” and a vast number of angry Filipinos whose quality of life and productivity have deteriorated due to what many believe is PNoy’s indifference or insulated mindset to the day to day hardship of Filipinos. His big picture notion of making the Philippines a serious regional or global player, his insistence on passing the twisted version of the BBL, his obsession with out-doing his predecessor, or solidifying his imaginary “Matuwid Na Daan” have cost millions of Filipinos a high price in terms of their quality of life and personal finances.

For many, the formerly moral aspiration for the “Tuwid Na Daan” has crumbled under his form of selective justice, his failure to make his minions account for their non-performance and questionable conduct, and for ignoring the people’s plea for action and service from government.  Simply put his much-adored “Tuwid Na Daan” has become nothing more than the Tagalog translation of the proverbial phrase: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Judging from the chaos, congestion and immobility on Metro Manila roads, airport and pier, it would be safe to say that we have found our hell on earth.

And like lost souls in the abyss, all we want now is to be able to bring back the travel time to the traditional 1 to 1.5 hours, it used to take instead of the 3 to 4 hour kidney and bladder busting ride. All we want is to be able to ride the MRT and LRT without having to get into fights with fellow Filipinos as a way of expressing or releasing our anger at a government and a President whose sole obsession is to insure the continuity of their failed governance.

So now we begin to read posts on social media mildly suggesting or asking: How should we express our anger, our frustration and how can we make this government act? There are now those suggesting a 3-day strike the same way citizens in Latin American countries have displayed their displeasure. Some suggest tax holidays or boycotts. One or two suggests giving the PNoy administration a taste of its own medicine by staging EDSA 3 or 4 (depending on who’s counting).

These, Mr. President, are the initial snowflakes for “the winter of our discontent” that may come way before the May elections. Many of us do not have deep pockets to see us through and clearly people are losing their patience and waking up to the realization that something has to be done, something needs to be done, and history shows that the people ultimately does something about governments that betray and ignore their basic needs. Cory Aquino led one, Gloria Arroyo led the second, Urban poor almost had their very own EDSA3, so a fourth one is not all too impossible.

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The PNoy Misadministration would have us think that the reason for gridlock is progress as evidenced by the various construction projects, roadwork and infrastructures that are being put up. The PNoy administration is not the first administration or government to put massive infrastructure projects. Marcos, Ramos, and Arroyo had a lot but to their credit the gridlock did not turn EDSA into a parking lot almost everyday of the week even past the truck ban.

Ramos and Arroyo were concerned and sensitive to public displeasure resulting from being stuck in traffic. I know that Gloria Arroyo would call and nag then MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando every time she heard reports of traffic jam or whenever she herself was caught in a traffic jam. Government officials were held responsible and expected to do something, that led to the no-arrest policy on main roads where the priority was to get vehicles moving as fast as possible. Under the regime of the righteous brotherhood no one is held responsible, they blame each other and when that no longer works with angry people then they say: “Sorry po,” “we beg for your patience and understanding.” That Mr. President does not fix the problem or get the job done.

In terms of vehicle and road use or the lack of it, we the Filipino people are one very oppressed and abused lot. When we buy cars, we pay for everything involved in making the cars, buses etc. We pay the duties and taxes on those products, we pay the duties and taxes on the fuel and other accessories that go into the vehicle and in order to drive or ride said vehicles, we pay for registration, insurance, license, medical exams, air pollution tests and road users tax.

The government collects the duties, taxes and VAT on our vehicles, on the fuel, collect money on the insurance, the LTFRB franchise and then on the road users tax! The Philippine government is the biggest business interest, profiteer and competitor but the worst in terms of investments, product development and customer service or relations. In other words, it is the biggest FREE LOADER that subscribes to UNLI TAX!

The so-called PPP or Public Private Partnership projects on infrastructure is the biggest scam of them all where the government actually gets private partners to bid and pay the government a concession fee to build the projects and then pass the bigger bill to Filipino citizens. In effect, the PNoy Misadministration is taxing all of us even the dead and their estates but none of that money goes to major infrastructure that we badly need. After taking as much as 50% or more for income tax and VAT, travel, road users tax etc., the government enters into a conspiracy with developers to make us, the Filipino people, pay for every time we use highways, airports, power etc.  So we are paying for everything and still getting nothing! That should make you angry enough!

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