Think about it
Our flexibility is legend
By Jun Velasco
“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.” __Mark 8:36
IT’S refreshing to know that the Office of the Ombudsman led by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales — an appointee of President Noynoy Aquino — has cleared PGMA and the PhilHealth than under its then president Dr. Francisco T. Duque III on the alleged diversion of some P500 million for overseas Filipino Workers to her election campaign in 2004.
“No sufficient evidence,” the Ombudsman said.
The report was happily received by the Duque family and our province-mates including apolitical families who have not lost hope in the Rule of Law which has been enhanced by the President’s “Daang Matuwid.”
As regards former PhilHealth czar Pincoy Duque who later became Department of Health Secretary and now Civil Service Commission chairman, the dismissal of the charges was not unexpected. Pincoy, you know, is a stickler for honest work and propriety. We’ve seen how he stood guard against misuse of government funds in all his years at PhilHealth and DoH and now at CSC.
He is a model of Pnoy’s “daang matuwid” and sense of fairness because Duque was closely associated with PGMA.
Excellence respects no season.
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NOTES: We see a new Rep. Gina de Venecia who enjoys multi-partisan support in her reelection bid. Virtually all candidates for local elective post in the different towns are for her, citing her many accomplishments in her first term yet. There’s a joke going around that she has beaten former Speaker Joe de Venecia is a straw poll while supporters were determining whom to field in the congressional race this year. She is virtually unopposed. Our cemeteries will soon come back to life on Nov. 1. Halleluja!
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It looks like Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes is doing the right things at the right time — strengthening the electoral process.
He was a no-nonsense election lawyer. It’s the nation’s gain with him at the helm of the Comelec, effectively cleaning the party-list system, and raising hope in implementing the law on political dynasties. In practice, there’s no such law, only anarchy.
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It’s tragic enough that those who succeed in becoming public officials are able to do so through unfair tricks. They are not satisfied in buying and corrupting the voters; they dehumanize their fellowmen.
The fact that this malpractice is prevalent, how can we call our nation Christian? By folding our arms amidst this malevolence are we not a part of it?
Let’s have more of leaders Brillantes’ stock in the Comelec and push the nation to a genuine, democratic rule.
Further, we hope our local election officials like Remarque Ravanzo are able to endure the machinations of the dirty players, “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and the massive pressure from those who steal our people’s trust.
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To a certain extent, we in Pangasinan are lucky, being, as Police Director Sonny Verzosa assures, one of the more peaceful provinces nationwide.
We attribute this edge to our peaceful nature and the late Consuelo Perez’s description of Pangasinenses as of cosmopolitan outlook compared to our parochial neighbors.
Our political outlook is progressive, marred by a few Machiavellian practices which on the whole are still tolerable.
Of course, in a personal way, we get turned off when we find those we expect to lead us are the first to engage in hocus focus unmasking their personas as untrustworthy. The vicious cycle has stayed with us for too long, and there’s no sign it will be gone in a short period of time.
The clever and scheming are rewarded instead of the fittest, an obvious fault of our democratic system.
It’s a miracle how this nation allegedly the show-window of democracy in Asia has not collapsed completely, even as we take for granted the label the Philippines is one of the most corrupt in the world. Our flexible nature is our survival kit.
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