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Saturday, April 29, 2006
Carvajal: Cleaning up our acts at the bottom
By Orlando P. Carvajal
A friend in the US, who reads my column regularly, wrote to ask me what is going to happen next after the Supreme Court shot down the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) and other booboos of President Arroyo. I wrote back to tell him that what happened next tells me you cannot expect anything good to come from the top the way they insist on indulging their appetite for politicking instead of coming together to help solve the nation’s problems.
The Supreme Court ruling against PGMA was a glorious instant when democracy was working. You would think the President would be contrite. Think again. She is appealing that decision.
More disappointing is the reaction of the senators. You would think they would ride on this victory to move the country forward. Think again. They are going back to more investigations that do nothing more than reduce the shelf life of the Senate’s microphones.
I wrote back to also tell my friend that it is time the Filipino people rejected both administration and opposition for being simply factions of the same vested interests that do not care whatsoever for the welfare of the Filipino masses. It is time for Filipinos to take responsibility for their lives and stop blaming the top for our problems as well as stop hoping for their solutions to come from the top.
Nothing good for us is coming from those who lord it over us because obviously they are only working for themselves. We need to change this country from the bottom up.
The bottom is the barangay officials. We need to stop corruption and incompetence there. Concerned citizens must stop barangay officials from being the incarnation of their corrupt political backers.
The bottom is the local government office. We must stop all delays in the release of paychecks that force government workers into the clutches of usurers. We must not tolerate policemen who violate traffic rules, take bribes, plant evidence and otherwise victimize the unwary. And very crucial, we must watch the local Comelec and keep them honest in the next elections.
It is the corruption and incompetence at the bottom, of which there are many more instances, that is making life miserable for us. Yet, it is corruption, incompetence and irresponsibility at the bottom that we can more easily stop. So, why are we flailing at the top?
But the bottom is also each one of us. We must stop running red lights, stop throwing trash all over the place, stop the petty thieving and the not so petty like smuggling. As the saying goes, if we want to change others we must change ourselves first.
Forget the politicians. Let us march in protest against ourselves for allowing corrupt and incompetent politicians to make a mess of our national life. Our salvation lies in cleaning up our act at the bottom.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 29, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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