May your kids grow up to be like the persons you elect

May your children and grandchildren grow up to be like the persons you vote for.

Those who choose wisely will be blessed. Those who sell their votes to the corrupt, the incompetent and the treasonous might be blighted.

Voter education is key. Civic groups, artists, academics, professionals, youths, clergymen, retired police/military generals and colonels and multimedia are going all out for studied selection of candidates. Some openly denounce “trapos,” traditional politicos.

They’ve hardly made a dent, pre-election polls show. Pulse Asia’s April 20-24 survey is revealing. Twelve likely winners will make up “a Senate very few of us could be proud of,” former Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo wrote in his BusinessWorld column Friday:

“Most of the potential winners are film idols and talk show hosts, while others performed poorly in their earlier tenure in the Senate. Others may not serve their full term because they are impleaded at The Hague for committing crimes against humanity.

“With such a composition, we might have a shortage of laws that champion economy, justice and rule of law, and some sense of decency in the land.”

Jarring news, meanwhile, is that the educational system recently churned out 19 million “functional illiterates.” They’re 21 percent of high school graduates in 2019 to 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.

They’re now aged 18 to 23, first or second time voters. Some could be young parents.

They can read simple English or Pilipino, but cannot make conclusions from two or more simple propositions.

They could’ve been malnourished from conception to age two, any child’s crucial first 1,000 days. The brain didn’t fully develop, the body is stunted and underweight. Chances of reversing the flaw are slim.

They may not have been runts, yet were still so poor, sickly and walked far to school. Children whose stomachs grumble, teeth ache or scalp itch from lice cannot concentrate in class.

They missed foundational learning. Not only individuals but entire classes were left behind in basic literacy and numeracy. They can’t comprehend what they read or copy, and do basic mathematical computations.

They were untrained in socioemotional skills, critical thinking and problem solving. Much more on innovation, teamwork, environment, adaptability, attitude and leadership.

They lacked textbooks, storybooks, educational toys, electronic gadgets, even classrooms and laboratories.

If the political system remains unchanged, the country will have more functional illiterates. Dynasts will still rule provinces, districts and cities. They will thrive on mass ignorance. Congressmen will continue to bloat national budgets with trillion-peso pork barrels.

Voters will be deprived of funds for food and nutrition, health, sharpening of teachers’ skills, training of new principals, construction of classrooms, printing of books, production of learning materials and procurement of computers.

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PNP Chief Rommel Marbil has said more than once: “Remember, not all drug users are addicts, nor do they want to be addicted. Many use drugs to extend their working hours.”

He makes shabu look as innocent as energy drink: “When you use drugs, you are awake and remember, the money earned from work is based on the hours spent on a job.”

Marbil graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1991. He was 11 years in PNP when Congress passed the 2002 Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. Could he have missed the months-long public discussions on shabu?

Shabu, or synthetic methamphetamine hydrochloride, is very addictive. It stimulates the user’s dopamine to crave it.

Two in five persons have higher dopamine level. They are prone to instant addiction to shabu.

PNP is the main operating arm of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. It appears to have swung from one end of the pendulum to the other in the past two admins.

During the Duterte tenure, PNP conducted 239,218 anti-drug operations, arrested 345,216 pushers, killed 6,252 others, captured 15,271 high-value targets (international narco traffickers, government officials, uniformed personnel) and dismantled 1,216 clandestine labs and drug dens.

It interdicted 12 tons of shabu in 208.5 weeks, July 1, 2016 to May 31, 2022.

Three million addicts snorted one gram of shabu per week, for a total of three tons a week. Meaning, PNP’s total seizure of 12 tons then was the consumption for only four weeks. The House quad comm concluded that cops recycled seized shabu into the market.

Under Marcos Jr., PNP and PDEA no longer post accomplishment numbers. The police no longer kill pushers for fighting back, “nanlaban.” But the chief sounds tolerant of the drug menace.

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