The top socio-economic and political issues in 2022

If I were to prepare a memo to the next president of this republic, I would ask him or her (hopefully, her) to focus on the following top priorities. First; poverty and economic collapse. Second; social injustice. Third; crime and corruption. Fourth; peace and order, national security, and territorial integrity. Fifth; disaster preparedness. Sixth; unemployment and lack of enterprises. Seventh; health, education, and housing. And, eighth; agriculture and food security.

Poverty is caused by the confluence of many factors; overpopulation, unequal opportunities for human development, corruption, mismanagement of the Philippine economy, and the flawed character of both the national leaders and the people themselves. There is too much social injustice. The factors of production like land, capital, and other resources are controlled by some well-entrenched clans and families that control the economy, the social structures, and also politics. Around 99% of the people do not have meaningful participation in all spheres of development, except to work. And the fruits of their labor are not equitably shared and distributed.

Crime and corruption have not been reduced in the last six years. There are even strong allegations that many of such crimes are state-sponsored or government-led. Hundreds of lawyers, judges, and journalists have been killed or subjected to extrajudicial killing. We cannot single out the government as the perpetrator of these summary executions. For all we know these are done precisely by the communists or global terrorists precisely to weaken the government's credibility with the people. But while we do not point accusing fingers at the police, the military, or the political leaders, we should insist that they have failed to stop these under their watch and before their very eyes.

Needless for us to repeat bewailing the inability of government to stand up to China in the West Philippine Sea. The government had been very harsh in its words against the US (and perhaps, rightly so), but this administration has been very subservient to the importuning of Beijing. While our president, with undisguised braggadocio, would lambast US presidents, we bow like meek lambs before China. And this could not be rightly so. Another flaw in our public administration is our failure to institute a strong and credible disaster preparedness program. We repeatedly suffer every after hurricane, because we never try to learn.

Unemployment and outward labor migration is the new social cancer that is killing our country. Jobless people are homeless and thus most of them are hopeless. The government, instead of frontally attacking the talent diaspora and grabbing that problem by the horns, is sending signals to exacerbate the malady by creating a separate department for migrant workers. Thus, we send thousands of mothers to work as maids, leaving husbands to play unfaithful spouses, and abandoning children to the hazards of drugs, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, illicit sex, and petty crimes.

The quality of education and public healthcare as well as housing has deteriorated with alarming incidence, speed, and consequences. The people are poor, they face food insecurity. Their wages are not enough for basic needs all the while the oligarchs are raking in billions in profits. Foreign contractors and suppliers are committing massive frauds, and politicians' greed for power remain insatiable and unabated.

The next president should be like a superhero, whoever that might be, he or she must always bear in mind that "with great power comes great responsibility".