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Taking on the politics of corruption
Government do-gooders putting their lives on the line
The longest Christmas celebration in the world (of course, you guessed it right,
onli in da Pilipins) brings to mind a deceased colleague who used to say:
wake me up when it’s all over.
By the first week of December, you see a steady stream of people coming and
going every which way, the boats and buses and jeepneys are filled to the
brim, the malls are overcrowded and doing great business, the hustle and
bustle practically everywhere envelop you in suffocating embrace, soon to
climax in the ear-splitting burst of New Year firecrackers.
The longest Christmas celebration in the world (of course, you guessed it right,
onli in da Pilipins) brings to mind a deceased colleague who used to say:
wake me up when it’s all over.
By the first week of December, you see a steady stream of people coming and
going every which way, the boats and buses and jeepneys are filled to the
brim, the malls are overcrowded and doing great business, the hustle and
bustle practically everywhere envelop you in suffocating embrace, soon to
climax in the ear-splitting burst of New Year firecrackers.
You have
profited so
much, it’s time
to think of our
country, so let
go. Your bellies
are already
bulging with
profits from
smuggling
profited so
much, it’s time
to think of our
country, so let
go. Your bellies
are already
bulging with
profits from
smuggling
And thus comes to a soothing close the
demeaning commercialisation and spiritual
degradation of an event that has structured the
route of human history the past 2,0000 years.
The light shines in the darkness, but the
darkness has not understood it (John 1:5).
My colleague had a point. I empathize with him.
*****
The doomsday scenario presented by the
global warning phenomenon seems to have
assumed a grim aura of inevitability.
demeaning commercialisation and spiritual
degradation of an event that has structured the
route of human history the past 2,0000 years.
The light shines in the darkness, but the
darkness has not understood it (John 1:5).
My colleague had a point. I empathize with him.
*****
The doomsday scenario presented by the
global warning phenomenon seems to have
assumed a grim aura of inevitability.
As early as April of last year, Time magazine, in a special report, had listed 51
ways each and every member of the human family on earth can do “to make a
difference” in combating the inexorably creeping cataclysm that could
conceivably obliterate all life in our planet.
Science fiction aficionados should delight in one scary advice, now under
study, that follows:
“What if we could build a giant mirror in space to deflect the sun’s energy? Or
inject sulfur into the stratosphere to cool the earth?Scientists are examining
such sci-fi methods as a gigantic Plan B should efforts to end carbon dioxide
emission fail.
“Geoengineering, as the field is called, involves rearranging the environment
on a planetary scale. That these far-out strategies are getting a serious
bearing in mainstream science is a measure of how desperate the battle
against climate change is becoming.”
My scientific neighbor has a brainstorm: just destroy all the world’s vehicles
and return to the horse-and-buggy era.
He might have something there.
*****
If you are doing good as a government functionary, in whatever level, in this
country, you are putting your life on the line.
Take the case of Undersecretary Antonio Villar, chief of the Presidential Anti-
Smuggling Group, who is now the subject of death threats from big-time
syndicates and their powerful protectors after his raid on a high-end auto
shop in Makati, where 81 smuggled luxury cars worth at least P110 million
were discovered.
Legally registered with the help of conniving officials of the Bureau of
Customs and Land Transportation Office, these luxury vehicles include 20
BMWs and Lamborghinis reportedly owned – expectedly – by some
politicians. What better way to maintain their yabang so they can look down on
the peasants while the peasants gape wide-eyed at the tin gods.
But Villar is not fazed despite the death threats on him and his wife as he
vowed to relentlessly pursue his mission. He pleaded with the people, both in
and out of government, for help by providing the necessary information that
could lead to the arrest and incarceration of smugglers who sap the economy
by not paying taxes. And he tried the soft touch of conscience with the
syndicates’ politician-protectors that include a town mayor reportedly claiming
three of the smuggled vehicles:
“You have profited so much in the past years, it’s time to think of our country,
so let go. Your bellies are already bulging with profits from smuggling
activities.”
Villar’s plaint, without any doubt, will be lost in the wind against the iron-clad
legacy of gargantuan greed bequeathed by the Marcos dictatorship to this
benighted nation. If miracles sometimes happen, it will not be in his lifetime
or ours – but definitely – but it should not deter him from doing an excellent
job.
Carry on, man.
ways each and every member of the human family on earth can do “to make a
difference” in combating the inexorably creeping cataclysm that could
conceivably obliterate all life in our planet.
Science fiction aficionados should delight in one scary advice, now under
study, that follows:
“What if we could build a giant mirror in space to deflect the sun’s energy? Or
inject sulfur into the stratosphere to cool the earth?Scientists are examining
such sci-fi methods as a gigantic Plan B should efforts to end carbon dioxide
emission fail.
“Geoengineering, as the field is called, involves rearranging the environment
on a planetary scale. That these far-out strategies are getting a serious
bearing in mainstream science is a measure of how desperate the battle
against climate change is becoming.”
My scientific neighbor has a brainstorm: just destroy all the world’s vehicles
and return to the horse-and-buggy era.
He might have something there.
*****
If you are doing good as a government functionary, in whatever level, in this
country, you are putting your life on the line.
Take the case of Undersecretary Antonio Villar, chief of the Presidential Anti-
Smuggling Group, who is now the subject of death threats from big-time
syndicates and their powerful protectors after his raid on a high-end auto
shop in Makati, where 81 smuggled luxury cars worth at least P110 million
were discovered.
Legally registered with the help of conniving officials of the Bureau of
Customs and Land Transportation Office, these luxury vehicles include 20
BMWs and Lamborghinis reportedly owned – expectedly – by some
politicians. What better way to maintain their yabang so they can look down on
the peasants while the peasants gape wide-eyed at the tin gods.
But Villar is not fazed despite the death threats on him and his wife as he
vowed to relentlessly pursue his mission. He pleaded with the people, both in
and out of government, for help by providing the necessary information that
could lead to the arrest and incarceration of smugglers who sap the economy
by not paying taxes. And he tried the soft touch of conscience with the
syndicates’ politician-protectors that include a town mayor reportedly claiming
three of the smuggled vehicles:
“You have profited so much in the past years, it’s time to think of our country,
so let go. Your bellies are already bulging with profits from smuggling
activities.”
Villar’s plaint, without any doubt, will be lost in the wind against the iron-clad
legacy of gargantuan greed bequeathed by the Marcos dictatorship to this
benighted nation. If miracles sometimes happen, it will not be in his lifetime
or ours – but definitely – but it should not deter him from doing an excellent
job.
Carry on, man.
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