Friday, April 28, 2006
Speak out: If I were president
By Baltazar L. Martinez
If I were president of the Philippines, I will do the following for the good of the country:
1. Make family planning compulsory for all spouses, with emphasis on those living in squatter areas and those along the beach.
2. Limit the number of holidays to only three, namely: New Year’s Day, Independence Day, and Christmas Day. At present, we have so many holidays and non-working days, such as Sundays, fiestas, birthdays, anniversaries, lunch breaks and coffee breaks.
3. All forms of gambling should be held on Sundays only. At present, gambling like jueteng, lotto, sweepstakes, mahjong, tong-its, hantak, chikicha, tigbakay, piyat-piyat, video carera, jai-alai, bingo are conducted almost daily. This practice is destructive to the national economy.
4. Elected officials must not be appointed to cabinet positions. This practice deprives the constituents of their representative in Congress. Besides, the practice is very expensive because a special election will have to be conducted to replace the one who is now a Cabinet member.
5. Abolish sectoral representatives in Congress. Their presence is unnecessary, uncalled for, and a waste of public funds. Besides, they are considered second-class citizens in the Halls of Congress.
6. Elected officials must serve for only one term. Let us give a chance to others who are also qualified.
7. Let the government pay for the election expenses of all candidates. By so doing, a poor candidate will have the chance of getting elected. At present, only the rich gets elected.
8. No government official shall receive a salary higher than that of the president. At present, there are officials of government corporations receiving salary very much higher than that of the President of the Philippines.
9. Prohibit the display of pictures and names of public officials in public places like: comfort rooms, airports, bridges, ambulances, garbage trucks, garbage bins, fire trucks, police vehicles, vans, flyovers, skywalks, artesian wells and trees.
10. Organize vigilante groups in all cities, municipalities and barangays to go after hoodlums-in-robes, grafters, drug lords, drug pushers, ex-convicts, snatchers, pickpockets, robbers, swindlers, illegal recruiters, illegal loggers, dynamite fishers, smugglers and professional squatters.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 28, 2006 issue)
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