Chewing Gum

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

I have no doubt that Senator Trillanes submitted the documents required to give him amnesty. To believe otherwise is an indictment of the negligence, ineptness and utter corruption of the bureaucracy. It is meant to give the public something to chew.

While the public laps up Trillanes, inflation is at 6.4% in August 2018 exceeding previous estimates, prices of gasoline and other goods are soaring like Elon Musk’s rockets going to Mars, the peso against the dollar is racing like an aged turtle. China, like the monkey, is racing fast, stringing Philippine territories and its economy to its Belt and Road Initiative. The current account deficit is expected to rise by 1.5% and the value of the peso against the dollar is expected to depreciate further, by at least 7%.

The inflation rate of 6.4% is higher than 5.2%, as projected by IMF in a report at the conclusion of their visit on July 11-25, 2018. In this report, Luis E. Breuer, chief of mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement: “Rising international oil prices, external pressures on the peso, one-off effects of higher excise taxes, and domestic demand pressures have led to a rapid increase in inflation, to 5.2 percent in June 2018 with year-to-date inflation averaging 4.3 percent. The current account deficit is expected to rise to 1.5 percent of GDP by end-2018, reflecting increased imports of capital goods and raw materials. Foreign direct investment, which reached a record level of US$10 billion in 2017, is expected to moderate somewhat this year.” Philippine Star’s Lawrence Agcaoili reports that the current deficit is the highest since the current account shortfall amounting to $2.87 billion or 3.5 percent of GDP in 1999.

ENDO is not ending, the drug problem is not ending, graft and corruption is not ending, so many other things promised are not ending. It is true that some corrupt officials were replaced, but they were never charged. Some of them were on a trip with the President on official missions abroad, immediately after their replacements took over. Those who offered to resign stayed on, because “there is no one to replace them”, according to Harry Roque, “and they do not want to be charged with abandonment of their duties.” The dedication to duty of the President’s men and women is truly overwhelming.

And because “so many beautiful women” are being born every minute, the “rape will also increase”, according to the logic propounded by the President of the Philippines, in responding to why Davao City had “the highest number of rape cases in the 2nd quarter of 2018” based on the records of the Philippine National Police (PNP). Forty-two rape cases is not a joke. There are unreported cases which makes the number even higher. A joke at the expense of victims leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

So, chew on Trillanes. But don’t get chewed up by another “pepe-dede.”

 

Wordstock

pandemonium in the word factory
the manager is out
the machines are churning letters
the letters refuse to form into words
trolls waiting, for the gremlin
stuck in the flood, of his own words.

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