LP Benguet HQ opens / Corruption breeds poverty

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

Lawyer Ronald M. Cosalan, congressional bet for Benguet, together with some mayoralty candidates in the province inaugurated last week their modest provincial headquarters at Km.4, La Trinidad road, beside the Petron Gas Station.

Since the LP does not boast of extravagant funding as compared to the NP, it can promise visitors and supporters a place where they can exchange ideas while sipping cups of hot coffee.

Some of those who were able to make it to the soft opening of the LP-HQ were mayoralty and vice mayoralty bets Atty. Greg Abalos and William Esteban, respectively, of La Trinidad; Atty. Mat Luspian of Mankayan, Tublay mayoralty bet Sabado Becka Jr., Vice mayoral bets Blas Dalus and Atty. Julio Gayaman of Tuba and Sabl;an, respectively, and their councilors. They said everybody is welcome to the HQ.
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Everyday, people look for change in the wrong things they see or do. Personally, I know that I can do things the right way. Unfortunately, I end up doing some things the wrong way.

But there is a certain kind of change that people want to see in their lives. It is not the one that would take poverty away from them or make them richer as some “presidentiables” promise.

It is something that could give them satisfaction in life –the change in the way things are run in the country, the hope that the Constitution is no longer violated and that those who did are punished.

Looking at the pictures posted on Facebook by Atty. Eugene Mariano Balitang, gubernatorial candidate in Ifugao, I came across images that were familiar scenes in Benguet or anywhere in the Cordillera.

One picture showed a bond paper posted on the wooden wall of the modest house of Cris “Tagalog” in Sitio Pulpog of far-flung Pula , Asipulo. The words scribbled on the paper said: WELCOME Attorney Balitang and Company.

Commenting on his photo, Eugene said, “It was the first thing I noticed when we arrived, I was deeply touched. We arrived just after her daughter had his epileptic seizure, and I can't eat lunch well despite the native chicken that Cris prepared, knowing that they could have sold the chicken for her daughter's daily medication. These are some of the touching moments that fuel more my desire to lead our provincial government!”

Well said Attorney. I look at the simple and meaningful welcome sign as your friend Cris' sincerity to serve you. It is the same sincerity I see in many candidates who chose to fight it out for the sake of change, even if there is no promise of abundance in campaign finances.
Other candidates of course, joined the party that promised them money. Certainly, their clamor for change and to really serve is drowned by their personal priorities and the campaign money they think they can get from their “overgenerous” standard bearer.

Another picture by Atty. Balitang showed a sixth grade pupil in the classroom who was carrying her kid brother on her back, a scene typical in many far-flung barrios in the country. Their backward situation in the barrios can not be their mistake. But poor community improvement is the result of a corrupted distribution of development. Hope to see these school kids find the promise of change in the nearest future.

I do not find fault in Manny Villar or other moneyed presidential candidates who have billions of pesos to spend for TV infomercials. They can do anything with their money. But in one of his ads where Villar was responding to Michael V’s protest against a very expensive cost of education, he said “college education must be free.”

He talks about a “free college education,” not free elementary and secondary education which is supposed to be a harder problem to solve in our educational system. The answer is simple. Elementary pupils and high school students do not vote.

In every appropriations act, the budget allotted by lawmakers for education id not enough. If so, then college education could be free. And since the country lacks money for the programs of its agencies, the government needs to prioritize spending.

In other countries, elementary and secondary education is placed as priority over other equally important matters because education is known as one factor that could help in poverty alleviation.

I doff my hat for his assurance of good life under his term, particularly, his promise of free college education, but Villar must identify his fund source. Certainly, it will not come from his pocket, as what his infomercial seems to impart to the audience.

If he wants, he can donate his billions now to the departments of health, social welfare and education and gain political mileage at the same time. At least, life in the far-flung barrios of Benguet or Ifugao or the Cordillera may be improved. But of course he will not do that. What if he lost? Bear in mind that Villar is a good businessman.

As a good businessman, Villar must be a good manager. But that does not necessarily mean that he is a good leader, which is the main point of contention in this election. What people are looking for is one who will restore the institutions that had been broken in this administration.

If “presidentiables” will not say they will fight for the restoration of the good that were destroyed, then there is no use voting for them. We will experience the same government and leadership we had for the past nine years.

Talking about infomercials and a campaign that cost P15B to P20B…? Where and how will this be collected back? Talk is cheap. The denial that this will not be taken back in any manner when he sits as President is unbelievable.

It is stupid to invest big money and never make attempts to get it back. On intelligence funds, discretionary funds and others, the President can easily get 10 to 20 percent out of this funds. In a six-year term, his P20B can come out 10 times bigger.

If that is pocketed, it will mean lesser classrooms and health centers and no new roads in far-flung barrios. It is true, corruption breeds poverty. The Liberal Party where Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas belong to translated that to Filipino. The LP said: “Kung walang korap, walang mahirap.” – marchfianza777@yahoo.com