At lunch yesterday with my fellow Star columnist Ma'am Chit Pedrosa, who is also my Facebook friend, we talked about so many things and amongst them is one of her favorite articles about a crowd sourced Constitution, which she said has become viral in social media networking sites. If you didn't know, there are now nearly 30 million Filipinos using the Internet and when you have that huge number reading your Facebook or Twitter accounts… you just cannot take these people for granted.
There is no doubt anymore that our present centralized system of governance is the main culprit why the Philippines hasn't moved forward as fast as we want it to move. We've already written so many examples like the time it took from conception to implementation and finally the inauguration of the Fernan or second bridge. That's from the year 1986 to 1998. It just takes too long for infrastructure to be conceptualized and implemented.
What more for roads like the one along Escario Extension between Gorordo Ave. and Arch. Reyes Ave. which took 11 years to complete? What about the road along M. Velez, which I started in 2006 and it remains undone as of this writing. Something must be changed in this country where the concerns of a few should give way to the concerns of the many.
Those squatters who stayed along M. Velez St. had free rental for decades… yet those few people are the stumbling block to the street widening which would have benefited the greater number of Cebuanos. Sure, we must address the concerns of the poor and they must be prioritized. However when it comes to the concerns and needs of the greater number, they too must learn to sacrifice for the greater good of the people.
Chit Pedrosa also talked about the article of my good friend, former Senator Francisco "Kit" Tatad which appeared in Manila Standard last April 21st. I wasn't able to read his article since I don't subscribe to the Manila Standard, but Ma'am Chit filled me in with what he wrote… about the impeachment against Pres. Benigno Aquino, III "For Culpable Violation of the Constitution, Bribery, Graft and Corruption."
Yes, I agree with the bribery issue regarding the removal of then Chief Justice Renato Corona. However with the House of Representatives still under Pres. Aquino's clutches, I doubt if any impeachment case would prosper against the President. But things could change if and when the Supreme Court would finally come out with a ruling on the case concerning the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
But Ma'am Chit Pedrosa gave me a copy of Sen. Tatad's article and upon reading it, I learned that the "Impeach Aquino" Group has apparently decided not to submit this impeachment move to the House of Representatives but directly to the Filipino people. Wow! Now this is a totally different animal. But why aren't we sending this impeachment against Pres. Aquino to Congress? Well, for starters, both Chit Pedrosa and I fully agree that with what's happening in Congress and the Senate on the so-called Pork Barrel scam by Janet Lim Napoles, we can no longer look up to Congress as truly representative of the Filipino people. It has failed us.
We gathered from the front pages of the national dailies yesterday that Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has met with Napoles the other day for five hours and apparently, she extracted from her some kind of a sworn statement… that she would "tell all" regardless of political affiliation. The DoJ Secretary says that Napoles now fears for her life, which is why she wrote that sworn statement.
Forgive me for my being so doubtful. First of all, if Janet Napoles truly wants to tell all, she must first tell us why she surrendered to Pres. Aquino and not to the Philippine National Police. So many people believe that Pres. Aquino knew Napoles, but at the time of her surrender, the President issued a statement that he never knew her… until someone came up with colored photos of the President with Janet Napoles and her daughter when the President was at the Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort and Spa. It was only then that the President admitted that he knew her.
In short, we already caught the President lying through his teeth and you expect us to believe that PNoy and Janet Napoles did not come to some kind of arrangement or agreement? This is why so many eyebrows were raised when the President himself went to Camp Crame to check on her jail cell. So that five hours with Janet Lim and the DoJ Secretary produced a supposedly "No holds barred" sworn statement. Until we are able to read what's inside that paper, we will always suspect that there was some kind of deal that the DoJ hatched between the President and Janet Napoles.
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Email: vsbobita@gmail.com