Unheeded Messages
Posted on Sunday, 3 August 2014
Unheeded
Messages
By Apolinario Villalobos
When the oil prices soared regularly, much
to the disgust of direct consumers, especially, those belonging to way below
the median line of economic strata – the lowly drivers of public transports, a
message was imparted to the government for the review the oil deregulation Law.
And, preferably, scrapping it. The clamor mounted when even groups of
businessmen joined the throng of grumbling Filipinos…nothing happened.
When smugglings were still unchecked
despite several turnovers at the helm of the Bureau of Customs, there was a
loud message to check the system and effect a drastic reshuffling of personnel,
but the latter was strongly opposed by the “heavyweights”, who refused to be
re-assigned… so, nothing happened.
When it was noticed, that despite series of
stringent surveillance of suspected drug dens and laboratories to “ensure”
successful operations, almost always, only caretakers are on hand for
handcuffing, there was a message to check the total system of the agencies
conducting the operations…nothing seemed to have happened.
When it was observed that every after the
occurrence of catastrophic devastations of natural calamities, almost always,
the first on the scenes are NGOs and private agencies, and the DSW arriving in
the middle of rehabilitative operations, there was a clamor to take a closer
look at how the said agency operates and possibly change its leadership….the
call fell on the deaf ears of the President. The ineptness of the said agency
was magnified after the typhoon Yolanda struck Leyte, Samar and some Panay
provinces, as donated relief goods were not properly distributed, and some were
even stolen from a guarded warehouse in Cebu.
When it was observed that the K-12 was a
half-cooked program for the educational system due to the various handicaps
such as lack of school rooms, teaching aid materials, expertise of teachers,
and unpreparedness of parents on the aspect of finances, a strong message was
sent to the President to postpone its implementation….nothing happened, as
obviously, he would like to include such program as one of his major
accomplishments in view of his nearing farewell in less than two years.
When the price of rice continued its upward
trend, there was a call to check the systems of the Department of Agriculture
(DA) and National Food Authority NFA, resulting to investigations which went
only as far as such a distance – investigation. Nobody was slapped with
penalty. Despite the strong message for a change in the leadership of DA…it was
never heeded. The high prices are still written on the tags of different
commercial rice varieties in the markets, and the government just embarked on
an importation binge. Nobody thought of working on programs to help the
farmers, and improve agricultural technology. For the sake of media mileage,
“inspections” on warehouses were made, that expectedly, waned…so hoarders still
are smiling their sweetest.
The trek back home of thousands of OFWs
from their beleaguered host countries in the Middle East sends a strong message
to the government to take a closer look at how labor and employment issues are
being handled by the Department of Labor and Employment. The pockets of unrests
in the Middle East have been following an on and off trend…a strong message
that the export of labor to these host countries may no longer be reliable,
yet, no concrete programs were worked on to spell out the real plans for
home-based employment.
Despite strong messages from seasoned Law
experts and Constitutionalists to enlighten the President regarding on how he
should handle the people’s money, he insisted on his own way, with thanks to
his trusted secretaries.
The big question is when will, at least one call be heeded?
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