Punchline
Injustice
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
I can understand the desire of Guv Spines to remain diplomatic in his approach in seeking to reverse the sudden DepEd order to reassign the province’s two schools division superintendents, Dr. Armando Aquino (Div.1) and Dr. Alma Ruby Torio (Div. 2). But his approach does not equal to his avowed commitment to the project that led to the superintendents’ dilemma.
Plainly put, he appears reluctant to meet the issues head-on and would rather allow others to decide the fate of his project. He started it, he should finish it as he intended it by fighting for the retention of the two to make sure that the implementation and continuation of the project is assured.
By even refusing to address graduations in deference to a DepEd policy, he missed the opportunity to advise graduates that beyond the books and classrooms, integrity and the courage to stand up and fight for what is right are what count for character.
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Reacting predictably like another bureaucrat is not going to cut it. Guv Spines must take center stage and make his case in the national government.
His beef with the DepEd is timely since the latter’s own book publishing project continues to take a drubbing owing to embarrassing serious errors in the contents.
And if Guv Spines thinks he is setting a precedent in education, i.e., the local government taking the initiative in improving education of the province’s young and the responsibility that goes with it, then he should be out there breaking the barriers that keep our children ignorant if not stupid with the poor quality of books being produced by DepEd. He cannot sit back and simply allow bureaucracy to do its worst.
If need be, he ought to make his case in the House and in the Senate and show what self-reliant local governments can do to make up for a national agency’s deficiency.
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If Guv Spines and the provincial board believe the two superintendents did a good job, then they must go for the juggernaut and lick it, and not simply send an appeal for a reconsideration of the decision that is patently unfair and without merit. The latter move, in my book, is a wimpy approach and the appeal will expectedly be ignored.
If the Guv knows he was right in pursuing the project, asking the two superintendents to work on it, then he must denounce the decision in the strongest possible terms. Say it like it is. The national media would love supporting a worthy cause.
If he believes the superintendents are exemplary, he must commend them highly and publicly, then reward and sustain them all the way, not half of the way.
In my book, the Guv’s mere statement of support thru the local media and the provincial board’s mere appeal are a great injustice to the project and the two superintendents (and teachers) who poured their hearts into what they were made to believe would be good for the province’s youth.
If Guv Spines won’t pick a worthy fight for the project and the superintendents, then he can’t expect others to believe in him, and risk their careers to make his vision a reality.
I say: Guv, no more ‘ifs’ stop being a nice guy to those who don’t know any better. It’s time you show them why you are called ‘Spines’!
Inumpisahan mo, tapusin mo! Whatever it takes!
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CHA-CHA IS FOR ECONOMY?? The congressmen who are in a rush to amend the Constitution ostensibly to launch economic reforms must really think those who voted them into office are as gullible and as dumb as they come.
Their assertion that the constitutional provision preventing foreign investors to own land deters foreign investment is pure hogwash. Nothing can be further from the truth. Land ownership has ceased to be a crucial factor for a multinational’s business and profit 30 years ago, and unless one goes into agriculture.
The worldwide trend for foreign investments and multinational operations is leasing, not land ownership. Land ownership only compels investors to plan for permanency in locations, and in this global economic age, a high level of mobility for their assets is what counts. Multinationals want to start-up quickly when the opportunity arises and wrap up just as fast when the going is bad. They want assets to move quickly to where profits can be earned.
The situation in the Ayala and Ortigas Commercial Business Districts in Makati and Mandaluyong alone should tell the lawmakers that they are as dumb as they come. Local and foreign corporations lease the land in those districts for 25 years, construct their buildings and either move on after 25 years or renew their leases. Then, the situation at the Subic and Clark where lands are leased tells the same story. The multinationals opt to operate where environment is conducive and not because they can own land. Remember when and why Fedex closed shop in Subic? It left not because it could not own land but because its operation here was not contributing to its bottom-line profits.
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What can improve our economy today is not found in our Constitution. It is found in government policies, particularly towards corruption.
This is what foreign investors have been telling our government for a decade now. For too long, the country has been adjudged one of the most corrupt in Asia by foreign businessmen. The respondents in these regional business surveys included foreign businessmen who either personally encountered or heard of the incorrigible corrupt bureaucracy in government, the national and local officials who closed their eyes to bribery, and encouraged pay-offs for the right to do business in the country.
They cited the reasons for not wanting to do business here. The latest testimonial, attesting to the massive corruption here, came from The World Bank.
In sum, the foreign multinationals have already told us where to look to improve business and attract investors but our lawmakers would hear nothing of it. The investors’ proposition, i.e., curb corruption, etc., does not serve their political agenda, but charter change does.
So clearly, the Cha-cha move by both the Nograles and the Villafuerte-Arroyo camps, are aimed at simply seeking to extend their terms and that of their grand and ‘generous’ patron – President Arroyo.
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