The lesser evil?

Supporters of VP Sara are castigating the Yellows and the Pinks on social media for just watching this fight between the former UniTeam partners. But why should the Leni crowd support VP Sara in her fight? First of all, the Marcos-Duterte voters brought this situation upon themselves. Second, if the good guys must pick a side, they will pinch their noses and reluctantly support the lesser evil. And that’s not VP Sara.

The problem with the UniTeam folks is that they have no sense of good or bad. Everything is about power. Bad is good as long as it is on their side. They have no sense of public interest and public trust. They do not believe in public accountability. That is why VP Sara is fighting tooth and nail to keep the truth about her misuse of public funds from being officially confirmed by the House investigation. But the truth is slowly and painfully being ferreted out, thanks to the questioning of key members of the House Blue Ribbon committee.

The VP Sara gang is egging on the Yellows and the Pinks to also go after the corruption under the Marcos administration. Sure, there is a lot of that going on. That’s one more reason why the Leni supporters do not want to taint themselves by joining the current fray. It is better to watch from the sidelines. In the end, we can tell the UniTeam voters that we told you so! Leni gave us the option of a lifetime, and you folks rejected it.

By next year’s election, it is hoped that the folks who brought the UniTeam to power would have realized their mistake. I have my doubts. If they again vote for the characters from Davao, then our situation may truly be hopeless.

Indeed, the Yellows and Pinks are giving our electorate good choices to vote for senators and party-list representatives, candidates of proven competence and integrity. Current surveys don’t put them within the winning circles, but by May 2025, it is hoped the Filipino people will have wised up and start voting to protect their children’s future.

Unfortunately, because of this political zarzuela, we are losing a lot of time that we need to address key concerns that impact the lives of our future generations. For example, in education, we have effectively written off all the young people from ages five to 25. The PISA tests showed they do not have what it takes to handle the kind of jobs that are needed in today’s world. The most we can do for them is to upgrade the ability of TESDA to train them to take on jobs that do not require much knowledge of math, reading and science.

Even construction jobs that many of our OFWs depend on are being lost due to technological innovation. Fewer construction workers are now needed because even tall buildings are being built quickly through factory pre-fabrication or by using 3D printing on-site. According to Google AI, 3D printing was used to build a mansion-style villa and a five-story tower in 2015, as well as a 250-square-meter office building in Dubai in 2016, which was touted as the world’s first 3D-printed office building.

So, it isn’t only BPO workers whose jobs are threatened by AI, but even jobs normally considered brawny, like construction. 3D printing can be more cost-effective than traditional construction methods. There go the usual jobs our badly educated labor force can have here or abroad.

Even a very competent and dedicated Education Secretary can do little to save the current crop of pupils in our public schools. Maybe a very few who are truly gifted can rise above the rest. But we will definitely miss the so-called demographic dividend because even if we have a large working-age population, they do not have the skills to take on jobs that can make them earn enough to boost our consumer-driven economy. They may even need ayuda and become a social burden.

We should start investing in the next cohort of kids entering the system. In fact, they should be taken care of even before birth by making sure their mothers get good prenatal care, nutritious food, and necessary vitamins. After being born, those kids must be given the nutrition and care that will enable their brains to properly develop. If their physical and mental growth gets stunted by age 5, it is goodbye again.

The other big challenge we need to meet is growing our food. We have some of the best agricultural experts in this region. It is time for our government to listen to them. Other governments, like Vietnam, have been hiring some of them, and we end up importing their production.

We should learn from our past failures, like agrarian reform, and move on. We know what infrastructure is needed to help our farmers. Let us get them those. We know what support our farmers need, including credit and marketing logistics. Let us give them that and reduce, if not eliminate, the parasitic control trading cartels have over our farmers that keep farmers poor. The Agriculture Secretary has announced a lot of good plans. Let us go beyond press releases and actually start implementing what we know should have been done a long time ago.

Just these two things – education and agriculture – should merit the full attention of our leaders. Instead, they are fighting political intramurals. A pox on them and their dynastic political families. If we go on as we are going now, we will be a failed state and bequeath to our grandchildren a chaotic, brutish environment to live in.

For now, the good guys are just watching. Hopefully, after the UniTeam annihilates each other, something good will rise that will finally serve the Filipino people. For now, the lesser evil is all we have.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco.