EDITORIAL - Courting a storm

Maybe it is because none of the concerned agencies has started implementing it that no public uproar has been heard regarding Administrative Order 31 issued by President Aquino last October 1.

 A check by this paper regarding AO 31 showed that government agencies are still on the drawing board regarding how to implement the order. But because the order is there, you can be sure of its implementation soon.

 And what is it about this AO 31 that should interest the public? The order directs and authorizes all departments, bureaus, commissions, agencies — in effect the entire government — to rationalize their fees and charges, increase existing rates, and impose new charges.

 That means that the fees you are paying now to, say, renew your driver’s license or to secure your birth certificate, will be much higher the next time around. Not only will you be paying higher, you will be paying more for new fees that are yet to be imposed.

 It is difficult to understand why President Aquino decided to burden the Filipino people even more. Not only are they already hard up just going about their personal lives, he now wants to make it even harder for them to deal with government.

 But isn’t government supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people? Are the taxes people pay not enough for government to provide basic functions and services for free to all citizens?

 The Aquino government has been very liberal about money, throwing away billions of pesos in outright doleouts to the poor instead of being practical by spending the same amount of money on programs that can provide them means of livelihood once out of the program.

 But while it is uselessly and unproductively throwing away billions, it is, on the other hand, bleeding those who have some business to transact with the very government they already prop up with their taxes.

 The Aquino administration is courting disaster here. It is whipping up a storm that could devour it in its wake. The calm that greeted AO 31 is deceptive. But wait till people feel the pinch. There is no more fearsome force than a desperate people backed into a corner.