The coming elections, under the 1987 Constitution, are called the "mid-term" elections for the simple reason that one of the inherent defects of this constitution is the single 6-year term for the President, which obviously has no accountability. This is what the framers of the Constitution, notably, smart people like Fr. Joaquin Bernas and then Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. failed to look into because they and the 47 other constitutionalists with them had that "Martial Law" hangover. This is why we are having elections once every three years, which resulted in the politicization of our nation.
I still recall what my mentor, the late Manong Max Soliven, and I used to write about the Presidents' single term, "The 6-year term for the Office of the President is too long for a lousy one… and too short for a good President." With the way things are happening in our country today, we have a lousy President in our hands, but since we are stuck with him, it is high time to show our displeasure and not vote for anyone under the banner of the Liberal Party (LP), including the LP senatoriables.
In the 2004 Presidential elections, we Cebuanos showed the nation to vote for the right President, then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) otherwise we would have Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) as president. The nation thanked Cebuanos, to which we were accused of cheating even if FPJ did not have any local candidates for governor or city mayor. We got insulted all right, but look at the benefits we got. PGMA showered us with infrastructure projects, and the South Road Project of Tomas Osmeña is one of them.
In the 2010 Presidential elections, Cebuanos voted for Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino, III because then Mayor Tomas Osmeña carried him in his slate. But did this president give us any rewards? I asked only for the parallel road to Escario St. but Cebu City got nothing in infrastructure! Zero! Even the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that Rep. Tomas Osmeña conceptualized and Mayor Michael Rama supported despite their falling out was not approved. So why was the BRT, which is good for us Cebuanos, cancelled?
Then this President, last Friday, told Cebuanos that the BRT is still under experiment in Metro Manila. What a big lie! The BRT isn't a new invention that we need to experiment in this country. This is why in 1996, a team from CITOM - Sammy Darza, Jing Jing Osmeña and myself - went to the City of Curitiba in Brazil with then Mayor Tomas Osmeña to see how the Stairless Bus was working. Then there's the Trans Milennio BRT in Bogota, Colombia where we even met the former Mayor of Bogota, and the nearest to us, the BRT in Jakarta. We went there so we know how a BRT works!!!
So please tell me, why is PNoy telling us that they are experimenting the BRT in Manila? Was this his way of hiding the truth from us Cebuanos? Why he did not approve the BRT? We need answers and since both Rep. Tomas Osmeña and Jun Jun Davide are carrying the LP flag, let them explain this to the people of Cebu. So far, I have not heard a single peep from Tommy Osmeña on why his BRT was not approved by this President.
Last Friday, PNoy announced the approved P3.7 billion circumferential road in Mactan, which would be a great boon to our tourism industry because traffic there is already unbearable. However, I never saw this project as a priority under the DPWH during our meetings in the Regional Development Council Region 7 (RDC-7). But then like what we already wrote, this is nothing but just another campaign promise by this President who failed to deliver the goods in return for voting him into power.
Clearly this President took us all Cebuanos for a ride on our cancelled BRT. We also took the bait and believed in his political slogan "Kung walang Korrupt, Walang Mahirap." If we followed simple logic, an incorrupt President would make everyone else incorrupt. But while his incorruptibility is the President's only good point, his incompetence is appalling.
A best example is the tale of the two lady governors. When Gov. Gwen Garcia was slapped by an administrative case, he went to the extreme to yank her out of the Provincial Capitol. But as for Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, who was facing the more serious graft charge of purchasing something without a bidding, she gets appointed to the Comelec and the President even paid for her P70,000 bail. Come now is this the straight path?
All that we are writing here is clear proof that nothing has changed in this country since the EDSA Revolt and the new Aquino Presidency's fight against corruption is empty rhetoric. But as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Read somewhere else in the front pages of this newspaper or our national dailies and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) just released a report that poverty incident for the year 2012 has risen. So my dear Cebuanos, I rest my case. Should we reward the incompetence of the Aquino Regime or vote out of power his candidates? You're the boss, it is your decision. I hope you won't be fooled this time around.
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Email: vsbobita@gmail.com