Viewpoints
CBCP Pastoral Exhortation (1 December 2013)
By +Oscar V. Cruz, JCD
ON the very first day of his assumption of Office, the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference made a pronouncement in form of a 6-page Pastoral Letter. Addressing the “Situation” obtaining in the country, he pointed out, among others, the matter of “Politics” as a big and relevant concern. This is anything but a pleasant subject matter of address but addressed it should be – considering its over-all negative relevance and pursuant adverse impact to Philippine society. Thus he wrote:
“There is the problem of politics. We say ‘problem of politics’ because, as we have repeatedly pointed out, politics as practiced in our country is perhaps the single biggest obstacle to our integral development as a nation. Politics as presently practiced, and as it has been practiced for a long time, is riddled with graft and corruption.”
The incumbent CBCP President is definitely not someone who is ignorant about the grave liabilities of Philippine politics, who is not knowledgeable of the shenanigans of a good number of politicos, and who is not concerned with the misery of a good number of Filipinos due to corrupt and corrupting politics. And certainly, he is not alone in knowing and feeling the poverty and misery of Filipinos by the millions, on account of problematic politics. Politicians are public officials for public service. The reality, however, is that they serve themselves and relatives first. The people – never mind. It will be enough to cite but the following problems with Philippine politics:
The problem of politics in the country starts with seriously and repeatedly questionable elections from the national to the regional down to the local levels – such that recently, there was even cheating in the Barangay elections. The distinctly problematic elections especially came to fore with the use of computers. Instead of assuring the accurate counting of votes, cheating, in fact, became easier. To this writing, there are still computer experts who have reasonable doubts and raise sensible questions about the results of the last national elections.
The problems of politics in the Philippine became even much worse with the emergence of the detestable and shameless Pork Barrel Scam – under different names such as PDAF, DAP, PRESIDENTIAL SOCIAL FUND and other deceptive titles. The Pork Barrel System can be considered as graft and corruption incarnate.
The problem of politics in this Nation has just been exhibited with so called “Privileged Speeches” recently delivered in the Senate. No need to say more.
Pitiful Filipinos!
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