Just when we thought that finally the Aquino administration got their act together, once again they created a self-inflicted problem when the Philippines repatriated some 14 Taiwanese nationals involved in fraud to China instead of returning them back to Taiwan. This faux pas has the Taiwanese government fuming mad at the Philippine government where it has threatened the jobs of some 30,000 to 40,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) where their work visas may no longer be renewed. Now the Aquino government is scrambling to fix the problem by sending a delegation to Taiwan to appease the Taiwan government.
The Aquino government seems to have a penchant to infuriate our neighbors. First with the Aug. 23 Hong Kong hostage situation, which caused a dip in our tourism industry. Now in its desire to promote a One China Policy, they send those offending Taiwanese to China instead of Taiwan. I thought that after its first 100 days the Aquino government would no longer be on their “On-the-Job-Training-Mode”?
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We’re about 10 days short of the 25th Anniversary of our People’s Power Revolution a.k.a. the EDSA Revolt, where we expelled the unwanted and overstaying conjugal Marcos Dictatorship from Malacañang and installed Tita Cory Aquino, the widow of the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. who was a mere housewife. Less than a week ago, the whole world rejoiced with the people of Egypt on their people’s power revolt that removed Pres. Hosni Mubarak from his 30-year rule, where Egypt’s prosperity never trickled down to the masses.
In all honesty, this is not only true to Egypt, but it is also true to many countries, including the Philippines. In fact, Egypt ought to learn from EDSA because we did not only have one People’s Power revolt, we had two that removed not only our strongman but also of a corrupt President. Yet, 25 years after two EDSA Revolts, the Philippines has somehow stagnated in its socio-economic development. In the end, the poor seems to have remained poor, while the rich and powerful have remained powerful and rich. In short, nothing much has changed in the Philippines despite two EDSA revolts. I would like to believe that majority of Filipinos are happy with our current situation.
So the big question to ask is, are we satisfied with our status quo? I don’t know about you, but I’ve always batted for real and genuine reforms that would attune our nation to the challenges of this millennium. Again, I dare ask the Aquino administration to make good its promise of change and reform, and the best way to achieve this promise is to accept and embrace our need for charter changes, through a constitutional convention. Alas, Malacañang refuses to embrace this, which is why we, the people or “The Boss” as P.Noy calls us, should demand this from the Aquino administration.
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Yesterday, we attended the State of the World’s Cities Report 2012 - The Prosperity of Cities: Cebu City: Expert Focus Group Meeting led by the Patambayayong Foundation’s Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez and one of the key issues presented was Cebu’s lack of parks and playgrounds, which is really true. Aside from the Fuente Osmeña and the Talamban Family Park (created by then Rep. Rani del Mar) we only have Cempark and the other cemeteries or the shopping malls to use. This is why most Cebuanos flock to the shopping malls because it is not only air-conditioned and comfortable but also accessible. Unfortunately, it is only for the North of Cebu City.
I suggested something that I already wrote just after my visit last year to Taipei, Taiwan. I noticed that they had a children’s playground in almost every corner for the young children to use. Everyone agreed that Cebu City doesn’t have available area anymore to offer as a park, except perhaps in the mountain barangays. As the late Robert F. Kennedy (pundits say that he was quoting George Bernard Shaw) said, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask… why not?”
Call me lucky that I sat beside Raul del Mar and he told me that his daughter Rep. Cutie del Mar would be most receptive to sponsor a program and if necessary to legislate a law to achieve this purpose. Perhaps what we ought to do is come up with a children’s playground for each barangay. You don’t have to build a big one, just look who big or how small is the children’s playground in your friendly neighborhood Jollibee or MacDonald’s and you will know what I mean.
Yesterday’s forum was the kind of forum that we should be doing at least every quarter. One thing that we can be sure of, the problems of Cebu is a microcosm of the whole nation, where my good friend Joel Mari Yu would always say, “The problem of the Philippines is we do not solve our problems!”
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com