Beating a dead horse, not ‘stomach issues’

There are so many issues of concern for many Filipinos that we call “stomach issues” which affect our daily lives. We are all affected by food prices and inflation, and the lower you go in the economic level, the more unaffordable it is to feed your family. Directly connected to that is the problem of malnutrition among pregnant mothers, babies who ultimately become mentally and physically stunted children and non-learners and unemployable citizens.

We are all affected by the high price of fuel that limits our mobility and effectively reduces the Filipino’s take-home pay. As a societal adjustment, millions of Filipinos have turned to motorcycles and bicycles in order to get to work or some destination. These riders go about with “one foot in the grave” because our road system is not designed or safe for two-wheeled vehicles.

The roadways are unsafe, law enforcement almost non-existent, many are unregistered or have expired registration and no proper insurance to cover theft or accidents, all because our legislators have not thoroughly addressed the decades-old problem.

Worst of all is that almost every week, we read or watch road rage being committed by active or expelled police officers, abuse and impunity of elected officials and self-styled government VIPs who violate multiple laws on the road, from blinkers, sirens and police escorts, or drivers attacking enforcers or each other.

And while there has been a public outcry against POGOs, we now learn from former senator Ping Lacson about POGO police escorts, while three senators are pushing for the postponement or three-year delay of the ban on POGO in the Philippines. Add to that, the continuing escort services at the Bureau of Immigration that smuggle Filipinas to dubious jobs abroad.

Personally, I have been calling attention to the deplorable state of Philippine public hospitals while members of Congress and the Senate “robbed” the DOH of funding for capital expenditures for buildings, equipment and specialty centers we all need. If I remember correctly, Cong. Ralph Recto said P10 billion in total. As a result, many poor Filipinos just have to suffer in silence and die because they are poor!

But here is how Congress and the Senate kick all of us in the face: instead of focusing on the gut issues or problems very close to our stomachs, hearts and pockets, congressmen and senators have been glued to talking and recycling the already settled issue of confidential intelligence funds. Like a cruel kutsero, they have been “whipping the dead horse” that they shot by declaring no more confidential intel funds to non-essential departments or agencies.

They spent countless hours and resources investigating a husband and wife of cruelty and abuse of workers, they travel across the country to investigate a cult and malinger on their investigation in aid of legislation, when such cases could have been and should have been handled by the Department of Justice, the NBI and the DILG! The Congress and the Senate malingered on these “issues” as if they were trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. And they want to interpolate the proposed ban on POGO that even China wants shot down for the damage it does to its citizens remotely.

Before Congress gorged or made a fiesta out of humiliating Sara Duterte, the Speaker of the House Martin Romualdez pushed for the suspension of the excise tax on fuel, but nothing came out of it except his press release and lip service. Since then, prices have gone down a little on its own and no thanks to the Romualdez suggestion. Clearly, Romualdez was no match to the DOF secretary or to the many economists in government who have sacrificed Philippine agriculture to comply with trade agreements as well as loan conditions.

Now Romualdez is talking about the repatriation of Filipinos trapped in the Gaza Strip as if it was as simple as issuing a press release or statement as he has become fond of doing. If Romualdez really feels for the trapped Filipinos, he should go to Egypt and work out a border crossing if he can get to the Filipinos there, instead of constantly tight guarding PBBM in his travels abroad. PR or empty press statements create false hopes and cause injury to those in dire straits.

Equally disappointing are the so-called Makabayan block or “leftist” legislators who were gatekeepers against abuse, corruption and impunity. They too have become pit bulls that have not let go of the confidential intel funds issue while we count the dead Pinays in Israel and Gaza. Now we have a potential disaster involving an estimated 70 Filipinas married to Palestinians trapped in the war zone.

From the looks of it, “the leftists” or “progressives” are trying to capitalize on political and commercially sensitive topics such as the false claims of corruption at the LTFRB and spread the dirt all the way to DOTr and Secretary Jimmy Bautista, even after the so-called squealer recanted his false accusations that did not include Bautista. When word leaked out that businessman and fishing magnate Francis Tiu Laurel was being considered as DA secretary, another leftist group rose out to oppose him for being in the fishing sector.

But what caught my attention was how the oppositors casually hooked on the issue of “reclamation projects.”Both the confidential intelligence funds and reclamation projects were both legal, approved by law, Congress and government. As far as I know, there is no new law that made them illegal. Once again, we have political sensitivity, popular opinion and ignorance making what is legal into illegal. If laws can be overcome by popular opinion, then the defect is in our lawmakers and the people who voted for them.