Blunders!

Blunders!
By Erick San Juan


So much has been said and written on what has happened on the Sabah crisis. Nothing can bring back the lives lost in this tragic incidents and If only the government has listened to some unsolicited but sound advice from concerned citizens, such waste of precious lives could have been avoided.

The president's famous campaign slogan (and is continuously in effect) ‘patungo sa matuwid na daan’ has provided the country with a kind of standard if only the quality of his leadership holds true with this slogan. But so far as corruption vis-à-vis poverty is concerned, nothing's changed since he took office. Why is this so?

In his another famous line ‘kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap’ – the fact that poverty is still very much obvious among Filipinos and the middle class is slowly sliding to the lower class, ergo, corruption is still prevalent. The sad part is, it is some of the people in the PNoy’s loop that is doing such mischief that is reflected upon the President’s performance as the supposedly ‘better leader’ than the previous one which turned out to be ‘just the same dog with a different collar’.

Some government agencies has committed blunder after blunder that has created mistrust than faith and confidence towards the government. I have consistently reminding the voters in the last presidential elections (through my radio broadcast) that if the voting populace will not be wise enough to choose the next leaders of the land, we will end up being run by a mafia-like government. Look what's happening?

The line - ‘matuwid na daan’ will remain a campaign slogan if the government will not take the much needed extra effort of cleaning up some of his NPAs (non-performing assets) in his loop. Needless mistakes have no room in this country especially if lives are at stake. We have witnessed some mistakes that has put the country in the limelight in a very negative way and we just let them passed.

One example - the (very basic and simple) issuance of stickers for car registration (renewal or not) at the LTO, up to this time there is still no available stickers and we have been informed that the unavailability of the said stickers is already a problem since last year. That is why the media is always the last resort of our poor countrymen if the government fails to address their concerns. And in the long run, the government even has the guts to blame the media for not reporting the ‘good news’ and always the bad news.  Can they blame the media if there are no good news worth reporting at all?

Containing the mistakes domestically if the government doesn’t have the willpower to remove undesirable people within his circle should be taken seriously. Globally, our country is surrounded with flashpoints that any false move or decision could bring this country into a war not of our liking.

The mistake committed in the Sabah crisis is just a test of how far this government can handle expertise in diplomacy and geopolitics. The age old territorial disputes involving some royal families is smaller compared to another age old territorial disputes in the South China Sea with China. We hope that by this time, the present leadership has learned its lessons in dealing with such complicated issues as to finding a peaceful solutions to territorial rows.

Be wary of the lull before the storm that is brewing in the SCS. We might be caught unaware if any conflict will arise without firing a single shot from our neighbor.