Centuries of foreign colonization and long decades of suffering due to gross ill- governance, corruption and unmitigated poverty have left the moral fiber of the people and the nation in tatters.
Constraints such as fear, doubt, conflict and uncertainty have clouded our vision for the positive transformation of this country.
Foreign direct investments which have largely contributed to the economic growth and development of our neighbors such as Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, including China for that matter, have not been pouring in as expected.
From the looks of it, despite well-planned efforts by the incumbent administration to cleanse our society of the illegal drugs trade (and the consequent criminality it breeds) so that sanity and security reign in the streets, communities and villages, stalwarts of the political opposition remain on the lookout to subtly thwart them.
This is very ironic. Filipinos are still in the so-called “middle of the road” mentality – confused and ill-prepared to take on new concepts and ideas because they think they are safely ensconced in their traditional shells.
This attitude, this status quo, has got to change.
You see, you may disagree but I believe strongly that the biggest binding constraint staring the Filipinos today is the 1987 Constitution. IT IS NOT ONLY FLAWED. IT WAS ALSO HASTILY PASSED UNDER A REVOLUTIONARY ATMOSPHERE.
While most countries around the world periodically update the fundamental laws of their land to keep pace with the advancing globalization, the Philippines remain inert and cold to suggestions that we institute reforms in our economic system via constitutional change.
In Switzerland, Norway and other parts of Scandinavia and Europe, they apply and utilize people’s initiative every now and then to facilitate changes in their constitutional deficiencies and adapt to world-wide developments, political and otherwise.
Here in our midst, capitalists who control industries are into monopolies or duopolies and thus have no compulsion to take part and reform the system that is making them richer and richer. Why should they?
Their hold onto their current lofty economic status translates into raw political power. He that holds the purse, holds the reins, right?
The GDP growth trumpeted by the previous administration has not been felt by the majority of the people because this has not created the expected livelihood and employment opportunities to impact on the people in the countryside. As you can see, millions of OFWs, to this day, continue to seek and work overseas.
In short, the quality of life of most Filipinos has remained much to be desired. In fact, in a new SWS survey, a big chunk of Filipinos (44%) rate themselves as being poor.
Wealth distribution, despite the big numbers displayed in the indexes of the stock exchange, has been as inequitable as yonder.
While the institution of the K-12 school curriculum seeks to uplift the educational norms, our constitution deters the entry of prestigious foreign institutions of learning which, to my mind, could provide impetus and friendly competition to elevate our teaching standards.
The inability of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to appropriately rectify the scandalous, illegal entry of stolen money from the Bangladesh Central Bank that stealthily flowed into the country via the casinos, calls for a prompt change to the current anti-money laundering rules and statutes, including replacing the people sitting there.
An evil cycle seems to permeate our society.
Where is equality?
Reminds me of poet John Donne who, in the service of King James I as a church minister, wrote: “Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes.”
Should we wait for death to come for the status quo to be taken down? (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) God bless the Philippines!
