The last 50 years saw seven individuals stand proud before a crowd of voting Filipinos, delivering remarkable speeches, making promises only to fall short of the commitment they swore to do when they took their oath as the President of the Philippines.
All seven of them promised to make our lives better. Except for the population which grew at a rapid pace, the ratio of the rich and the poor remains unchanged or even worse at the close of their term of office – and to think all seven Philippine Presidents since 1970 are without a doubt remarkable in their respective niches.
All seven of them presented a platform of government which seemed best for the period they were elected to the highest executive post.
All seven of them were backed-up by their teams of the best and the brightest minds. Their teams are no pushovers, economists, bankers, environmentalists, diplomats, businessmen, doctors, educators, lawyers, engineers, scientists, soldiers, were made to form what is now referred to as the Cabinet.
And all seven of them hardly delivered results. The poor remained poor, the rich amassing more. The hapless remained helpless, the toughies simply changed its label into bullies. Local conflicts hardly simmered down as reported in the news.
The environment deteriorated in the absence of a comprehensive sustainable development plan. Fisher folks could hardly survive because the Philippine waters have either grown polluted or lorded over by fishpen owners. Farmers have been significantly reduced because they don’t have land to till and even if they do, hardly cope up against imported grains from neighboring rice-producing countries.
While the country’s physical land area remains intact, the rich but dominant breed somehow found ways that made them the landlords. The homeless never got a chance to live in a house they could call their own because the rich now owns almost all of the land, including areas deemed as protected under the law.
I am no expert in running an office, much more running national affairs, but from a layman’s point of view, all seven of them fell short of their commitment maybe because they have forgotten every single promise they made when they assumed power.
To my surmise, leaders we refer to as public servants may have unknowingly got themselves infected with dementia, which eventually made them feel and act as gods. Even our legislative chambers have run out of statesmen. Our Supreme Court and the judicial bodies under it, are at the disposal of the President who has the last say as to who should be appointed for a job that should not be beholden to anybody.
Even men in uniform who are supposed to protect us have become nightmares in broad daylight.
And to think, these nincompoops in power get handsomely paid out of the hard-earned money we pay in the form of taxes.