“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” – ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
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Some of us may confuse the word “dilemma(s)” with “problem(s)”.
Some of us may see them as synonyms because they both spell trouble to the confronted and to the beholder.
A dilemma occurs when a situation calls for a difficult choice to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesireable ones, per the Oxford Dictionary.
A “problem” is defined as a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.
Both a dilemma and a problem need resolution. That’s the one thing they have in common.
From the surface, these two would seem to be synonymous in terms of the pain each will inflict on the sufferer, isn’t it?
In our Philippine landscape, Filipinos have long been suffering from both the dilemma and the problem. Why?
Because there are too many slowpokes among us.
As we attempt to confront and lick our decades-long dependence on oil, our government – past and present – has been wrestling with bright ideas that presupposed a nagging problem and then translated into a dilemma.
Cognizant that the country’s economic progress and social development hinged on creating our own energy resource, the late President Marcos Sr created a ministry of energy dedicated to such a herculean task.
This brilliant effort led to the eventual construction of the nuclear power plant in Bataan but which later on was abandoned and aborted due to changes in the political climate.
This particular sad and gloomy episode has translated into a domestic dilemma as we witness the world grapple with power and fuel shortage resulting into inadequate energy output.
It is a dilemma because there are now sectors who, before were against the operation of the BNPP (Bataan Nuclear Power Plant), have changed their perspective and are now willing to support the pro-nuclear advocates.
As you have seen the country reel and stagger against the world-wide inflation, what bugs us is the slow reaction and delayed response of government bureaucracy in confronting both the dilemma and the problem that hover above our heads.
Too much talk, argumentation and debate flow through both the august chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Everytime an issue as “huge” as the BNPP (because it was a Marcos project) comes up, uproars from the anti-Marcos blocs gather like a storm to prevent its resurrection.
Today, if you ask and apprise Juan dela Cruz of the merits of constructing a nuclear power plant to solve our exasperating energy problems, it will not matter to him who the author of the project is.
What will matter to him is that whether the project will bring benefits to him and his fellow citizens or not.
Thus, without it, our transport sector – jeepney and taxi drivers and their operators, etc. – is raising collective, if not militant, voices, asking for government subsidy to help them alleviate their lamentable economic condition.
As the war between Russia and Ukraine drags on, global developments that are not favorable to our economic conditions continue to haunt us while we scramble to seek other sources from countries friendly to us.
May I remind you that gas prices were just 15 centavos a liter in 1967. When the war between Israel and the Arab countries around her broke out, vehicles lined up a kilometer long to gas up as fuel was being rationed because no oil supply was coming in.
After that, gas prices steadily rose.
Then the late president saw fit to build the BNPP because the nuclear power plant was the sure cure to our energy and fuel problems at the time.
The BNPP rehab will cause a positive domino effect on the consumption of goods and services,
Has the country’s political leaders learned anything from the recent past triggered by the viral pandemic, causing lethal lockdowns, hunger and economic collapse?
Are we a nation of slowpokes? (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
