Monday, September 24, 2007 Pinoys haven't learned from past: IBP prexy
AFTER 35 years and after gaining freedom from the dictatorship of then President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his cohorts through the so-called Edsa Revolution, Filipinos have not learned their lessons.
This according to Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Davao Chapter President Manuel Quibod in Friday's candle-lighting ceremony at the Centennial Park.
According to Quibod, the dark days of Martial Law should have awakened the Filipinos to what they should do as a nation.
"We are still a highly stratified society where a tiny elite dominate our political life and monopolize economic resources. Below this tiny elite is a thin middle class and a huge majority of poor Filipinos composed of peasants, workers, youth and students, migrant Filipinos, urban poor and tribal Filipinos. We have an elite constitutional democracy. We have a bogus party system, supposedly multi-party but in reality hardly distinguishable from one another because their programs of government are merely on paper," Quibod said.
This sentiment is echoed by United People's Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) chair, Atty. Eduardo Estores.
"Ang Pinoy dali ra makalimot. Wala pa gyuy leksyon makuha. Ang focus sa matag-usa kay ang pang adlaw-adalaw nga panginahanglan. Di pud nato sila mabasol kay nawad-an na man sila ug pagsalig sa gobyerno nga magpahigayon ug programa alang sa kausaban," Estores said. (Filipinos easily forget. They have not learned their lessons. People only focus on their day-to-day needs. But we cannot blame them because they have lost their trust on the government's ability to reform.)
Both groups call on the people to get involved in national and local issues even in small capacities saying that it is needed if there are to be reforms in the country. (GLP)
