Domicile news
Aside from attending a children’s birthday party, ‘DVD night’ with my close friends and going to church, I spent most of the weekend catching up with news from the Philippines - from Recto being appointed as NEDA Director to Dolphy’s birthday celebration and launching of his book. I read blogs and columns of my favourite Filipino journalists. I also viewed Happy Slip videos particularly the “Experience Philippines!” series. The videos were funny, interesting (as she has featured a couple of places that I have not been to like the Mt. Pinatubo Spa) and inspiring. I think about my love for my country amidst the atrocious political state it is in right now.
Prof. Randy David in his recent article “The emptiness of a self-referential presidency” stirred in me my frustrations with the current government but still left me encouraged to hope for the best for the country. This is the part in the article that struck me the most…
And a lot has happened in the past year that should rouse popular anger. The other day, a knowledgeable group of citizens calling themselves “Former Senior Government Officials” (FSGO) issued a long statement in which they reminded all of us that, for all that has been done to it, this is still our country. They refuse to tune out; they want to engage the government. And so they have drawn, based on their study of the facts, what may be one of the sharpest indictments of the Arroyo presidency.
“Here are seven curses that seven years of Arroyo have wrought upon our nation,” the FSGO says in its statement, titled “A stolen, not a strong republic.”
“The first is the curse of a country unable to feed its own people, due to gross neglect of agriculture and rural development…. The second is the curse of worsening poverty and increasing disparity between rich and poor, due to economic mismanagement that ignores the needs of the many to serve the interests of the few…. The third is the curse of deteriorating basic social services essential to the survival and welfare of the people, due to callous disregard of the public good…. The fourth is the curse of a national government gripped by a metastatic cancer of corruption.... This corruption is fed by and feeds from the fifth curse, which is the curse of wanton abuse of presidential prerogatives…. Many of these curses are linked to the sixth curse, which is the curse of an illegitimate president…. Finally, the seventh curse which combines the malignant effects of the first six curses. This is the curse of a nation robbed of its dignity, unity, and future.”
Prof. Randy David in his recent article “The emptiness of a self-referential presidency” stirred in me my frustrations with the current government but still left me encouraged to hope for the best for the country. This is the part in the article that struck me the most…
And a lot has happened in the past year that should rouse popular anger. The other day, a knowledgeable group of citizens calling themselves “Former Senior Government Officials” (FSGO) issued a long statement in which they reminded all of us that, for all that has been done to it, this is still our country. They refuse to tune out; they want to engage the government. And so they have drawn, based on their study of the facts, what may be one of the sharpest indictments of the Arroyo presidency.
“Here are seven curses that seven years of Arroyo have wrought upon our nation,” the FSGO says in its statement, titled “A stolen, not a strong republic.”
“The first is the curse of a country unable to feed its own people, due to gross neglect of agriculture and rural development…. The second is the curse of worsening poverty and increasing disparity between rich and poor, due to economic mismanagement that ignores the needs of the many to serve the interests of the few…. The third is the curse of deteriorating basic social services essential to the survival and welfare of the people, due to callous disregard of the public good…. The fourth is the curse of a national government gripped by a metastatic cancer of corruption.... This corruption is fed by and feeds from the fifth curse, which is the curse of wanton abuse of presidential prerogatives…. Many of these curses are linked to the sixth curse, which is the curse of an illegitimate president…. Finally, the seventh curse which combines the malignant effects of the first six curses. This is the curse of a nation robbed of its dignity, unity, and future.”