General Admission
Kissing cousins
By Al S. Mendoza
THE shotgun issue is a cousin of the jueteng issue.
Not just a cousin. First cousin.
Both are hot topics; have always been.
People talk about both issues with the same intensity and passion as when we argue over Obama’s capabilities to handle the reins at the White House.
But while the shotgun issue has driven some to be so open as to boldly fire their own salvos, the jueteng issue has but a handful willing and brave enough to challenge it head-on. In fact, the only vocal dudes I know that are truly against the return of the jueteng in Pangasinan are Archbishop Cruz and my boss here, Ermin Garcia Jr.
If I missed out on the others, please speak up and come forward?
This side of the globe needs more intrepid souls to right the wrong, more Don Quixotes to keep the windmills of our mind turning.
It is easy to argue the case against jueteng.
Jueteng is illegal and, therefore, it has no place in a society governed by laws.
But, alas, the very people installed by our people to enforce the laws are the very same people abetting the existence of jueteng.
Our beloved province has become the macrocosm of a country that has remained the haven of hypocrites, of thieves masquerading as public officials, of people elected to supposedly serve us but in reality enslave us instead.
They bleed us dry of our rights to benefit from laws they are sworn to adhere to, they fool us of their skin-deep generosity and kindness, they milk us every now and then of our age-old wealth that is spelled S-A-N-I-T-Y.
The sad part is it will never end.
The sadder part is it will grow and prosper.
The saddest part is we let it not to end, we let it grow and prosper.
How true: Evil succeeds because of the silence of good men.
Jueteng is here to stay because only Archbishop Cruz and Ermin Garcia Jr. have remained only the good men in our midst.
The shotgun issue is here to stay because only Alaminos’ Nani Braganza is but the only mayor among 47 mayors fighting Guv Spines’ love for shotguns.
Jueteng is illegal but it has remained with us.
Why, because it very much benefits its operators and the protectors of the operators.
It’s been said, time and again, that jueteng gives its No. 1 protector in the province P6 billion annually.
Why kill the goose then that lays the golden egg?
Does jueteng benefit its main patrons – the masses of our poor people?
In what way does the shotgun issue benefit our 1,300-plus kapitans?
If something benefits us, then that something must be good?
But then, what separates the illegal from the moral?
What we’ve got now are actually kissing cousins.
The thought of them producing an offspring scares me to hell.
(Readers may reach columnist at also147@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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