DODIE Limcaoco, the short-lived acting press secretary, had proposed to spend close to a billion peso in government propaganda to publish the accomplishments of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
This is quite late given the fact that with just another wink of the eye, the Arroyo administration shall have exited. Limcaoco, who is the Director General of the Philippine Information Agency, and I think on top of all the sequestered media establishments had all the tools in his hands to tell the public what his boss had accomplish. I therefore cannot comprehend why they have to cough out a billion pesos for publicity.
It's too late the hero for Limcaoco. GMA has indeed accomplished a lot but the spin masters of the opposition and the radical left outwit the government propagandists. Unfortunately for the President, as if her political adversaries were not enough, her perceived party-mates are actually chipping away at the credits she had earned. The good things that she accomplished are shamelessly claimed by politicians she perceived to be her true allies. On the other hand, she is left to defend herself when plans go awry. In both cases, the government machinery failed miserably in denying the falsity and explaining the unclear. What is worse, the praiseworthy achievements are kept from the public.
Our local boys did well until the institutions that could have been used to broadcast the accomplishments of the PGMA were used instead to advance the image and interest of her political allies and their kin.
Some of staff members, who refuse to toe the line, were cruelly transferred to other regions. The President has nothing to do with it but she gets the blame for it. It's no different from when the "pacman" among the Marcos' so-called cronies seize other people's assets and the president gets the blame. When the new centurions held power after Marcos, they ransacked and cannibalized in the guise of sequestration, properties which they suspect were ill-gotten, grabbed political power from duly elected officials in the pretext that theirs is a revolutionary government. Cory gets the blame.
PGMA has to live with the mediocrity of her propagandists and survive the iniquities spawned by her own allies. I knew that you have build so much roads and bridges in Mindanao, opened new frontiers, sent thousands of scholars to school to earn a degree and learn some skills and that most of them have been employed. With these, achievement monuments could have been built for you but unfortunately it seems that even with government-run media institutions nothing moves unless the oil overflows.
Comments from the mails:
On CHR investigation:
I will agree with Jun Ledesma's piece. I was a kid growing in Agdao when all homes and establishments close by 6 p.m. Our livelihood was saddled by the constant visits of NPAs. Criminality became an acceptable way of life. Remember Baun Gang of Roel Sabagala? They were treated as robin hoods in Agdao. I know this because I grew up serving them food and drinks when they were in our carenderia. I condemn summary executions, but of all the mayors in Davao, only Mayor Rody made Davao City peaceful for upright citizens. As a peace loving Dabawenyo, I welcome CHR's investigation on these killings. But please, Nogie, don't use it for your own political agenda.
Dabawenyo of Houston, Tx
On the menace of drugs and armed insurgency:
Davao City is still a blessed land despite the many challenges!
It is still a place for harmony especially noticeable among the religious divide.
Drug addiction is a curse, in my opinion. The billions of pesos that change hands entices everyone to be involved in it but the wreck it is bringing to society is so enormous it is an even greater threat than the current armed rebellions and secession.
The government is facing all these challenges but if we do not have armed groups such as the NPA and MILF, our government would more or less be concentrating on this plague and eradicating it.
We pray for understanding especially from the NPA and MILF that we as a nation has a greater challenge that will wreck our society.
Truly, Mayor Duterte has always been in the forefront of fighting this menace that is slowly creeping and will eventually destroy all of us. Will the NPA and MILF allow this to happen?
Why not for the glory and honor of God Almighty, we all join together and tackle this curse? We have also children of our own to protect and hope to live in a peaceful and dignified life.
From: Lotlot Aguilar
Here's another reaction on the same subject:
For the scum in our city are not found in the cathedrals... I beg to disagree. Drug dependency has even reached those celebrating the holy mass. These are the people that need to be tested first. Submitted by Anon