A ‘sick’ society

I hate to add fuel to the fire. I hate to rub it in. But bad news is bad news – what can I do. How can I write good news when there is so much confusion, disparity and injustice in this “sick” society?

For instance, you try your best to follow the traffic rules and the very MMDA people or PNP forces are the ones obstructing the “No Left Turn” rule. What about a cop in a motorbike driving against the traffic flow acting like Officer Poncherello and Officer Jon Baker in that 1970s TV series hit – CHIPS (California Highway Patrol). What about those “public servants” who are escorted by “wang wang” patrol SUVs and motorbikes that breeze through heavy traffic. On the other end, you have businesses that are able to operate without permits, drivers who are able to drive without qualifications and government personnel who enter base on “connections” and not on merit.

How can Maganto’s color-coding scheme ease traffic when the LTO and the DOTC continues to allow the selling of commemorative plates? That’s a blatant contradiction of the law – isn’t it? So what will everyone do? Buy a commemorative plate to be exempted from the scheme? And you call that government service? Such is the typical mentality of government just like the planning of those baduy pink picket fences in EDSA (quite a “backward” way of thinking and planning rather than going international and global), don’t you think?

Today, we have another “money-making” venture spearheaded by the LTFRB on public transportation—that’s if they impose it. Due to the increase in fuel, these public vehicles are crying for an increase in transportation fees but the LTFRB says that they need to get a fare matrix before they can start charging. I cannot understand the logic behind this imposition of a fare matrix. Why can’t the LTFRB just announce it publicly instead of having taxi cab drivers and bus drivers line up, fill-up a form, and pay for a fare matrix. What kind of mentality is that? These poor people are already problematic and you are making life even more misreable for them. And what if they don’t pay the fare matrix? They can’t increase the fees?  Don’t make us suffer more. Why not just announce of your approved rates? I hope the LTFRB will think twice before they formally impose this rule.

What about all these reshuffling in government? The people are silently watching the “moves.” Somehow there is a sense of paranoia filling the air that the government will once again take advantage of the people’s money through whatever possible way. People seem to be “placed” in strategic positions for a very important preparation. Abangan!

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It is fortunate that the newspapers and the radio-TV reporters are hanging doggedly on to the story of the MV Princess tragedy. Let not our interest, our outrage and our grief turn out to have a cut-off date, a tragedy abandoned (as were the murderous sea disasters of the Dona Paz, Dona Marilyn) by a forgetful media eager to chase after a “newer” headline, the next late-breaking sensation, the most immediate thrill. The criminal syndicates and the bloodstained butchers of our society smugly depend on the proven fact that fast-breaking stories may burn briefly for a moment, then quickly burn themselves out.

We must sink our teeth into this disgraceful crime and – this time – never let go. May our anger, then, last more than a moment, and provide us with the determination to weed out evil and homicidal men that lurk around in this society camouflaging themselves as traders, businessmen, politicians – worse public servants. For there is no killer more terrifying and arrogant in his power, than the killer who believes himself protected by his badge, his position, his “friends” in power and by that stupid sense of “fraternity” by where so many lawmen think they must “defend” one another.

There are those who complain that hundreds of “unknowns,” common taos, peasants and laborers, kapus-palad and “nobodies” have been killed, murdered, tortured to death or “salvaged.” Why shouldn’t the management of Sulpicio Lines be held accountable for the crime they have committed? When a “celebrated” case erupts into the headlines and the dirty web of corruption and the bullying tactics of the lawyers, police or officials are exposed to view by the indignant searchlight of public scrutiny, the broom can sweep cleaner, and the unknowns along with the better-knowns may thus in the future feel safer and more secure.

In this imperfect world, every small step by which we advance toward civilization constitutes a victory. As it is, we are a nation wrestling with anarchy, mindless violence, civil war, and overwhelming tide of corruption and graft – a sick society in which crime flourishes because nobody is ever punished.

There have been countless warnings and appeals for the President to be careful in selecting her new Cabinet in the past, but all these seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. You know how politics works in this country. Madam President, let not this be another case of “from the frying pan into the fire.” Keep in mind the interlocking relationships, the networking, the compadre and padrino connections, the old boy system, the origins and ideologies. Do not be deceived by “clean-cut,” polished, fine and dandy appearances. Remember, the brightest and handsomest angel in heaven was this swinger Lucifer, until one day God found him in rebellion and he was cast down from his honored perched at the foot of the Throne of the Almighty. He’s now known as the Devil, alias Satan.

If a President offers a portfolio as a “bribe,” what she’ll get is a bribe-taker and by definition a “crook.” I think GMA should survey the field more judiciously and cautiously for her Cabinet replacements. Better to be safe than sorry.