The Truth re: Aquino-Romualdez Word War
VOL. XVII NO.9 December 14 – 20, 2013
LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you…” (Deuteronomy 30:2, the Holy Bible).
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THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AQUINO-ROMUALDEZ WORD WAR: There is an issue that is being buried deep, away from the consciousness of the Filipino people, in the on-going “word- and blame-war” between Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez and the Aquino government, in a manner that is almost deliberate. This is the issue of preparedness, both by the national government led by President Aquino, and the local government unit headed by Romualdez.
However Romualdez and Aquino may blame each other now, there is one thing they cannot deny: their total unpreparedness. This lack of preparation that led to almost 10,000 deaths and billions of pesos in property damage is undeniably criminal in nature, and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, or Republic Act 3019, describes this under its Section 3 (e) as “graft”, because such lack of preparation caused undue injury to the government and to the public at large.
What am I saying here? Excuse me but, I am beginning to suspect that all these public exchanges between Aquino and his minions, on one hand, and Romualdez, on the other, sensationalized in national TV and newspapers yet, seem to be an orchestrated and coordinated effort, by the Aquino government and Romualdez, to cover up for their liability for graft over their lack of preparation, and thereby avoid prosecution.
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WE MUST DISCIPLINE OUR CHILDREN: I am surprised that a routine disciplinary measure which an official of the high school department of the Divine World College of Laoag City in Ilocos Norte imposed upon seven of its students who skipped classes and were seen stoning someone outside their classroom even merited media attention and criticism.
The question is, do not our teachers have the power to discipline erring students? Is it not a part of the teachers’ duties and responsibilities to see to it that when the students do something wrong, they are made to realize their mistake and, to impress upon them that they should not be doing it again, they are subjected to punishment?
Yes, teachers should have this kind of a disciplinary power over students, if we are to make sure that Filipino children will grow up to be morally upright and righteous citizens. All these crap about “children’s rights” and “child abuse”, enshrined in many of our laws now, are in fact being utilized by many to make our children hard-headed, ill-mannered, and lacking in discipline, capable of even the most grievous mischief. Who was it who said, “spare the rod…”?
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FILIPINOS MUST CHANGE FIRST: In the afternoon of December 10, 2013, at the intersection of C.P. Garcia Street (alongside the UP Diliman campus) and Maguinhawa Street in Teachers’ Village, Quezon City, I chanced upon several vehicles (including a taxi) which refused to follow the line of vehicles turning right towards Teachers Village. The taxi and the other vehicles instead proceeded in front of the line, and tried to cut their way in, so they could be ahead of all the others who patiently waited in line.
I took pictures of the taxi doing this, and posted it in my timeline in Facebook, to highlight one point: while many of us Filipinos often publicly wonder why many of our government leaders turn out to be corrupt and plunderous once they are elected or appointed, we often forget that in our own daily lives, we are ourselves corrupt and self-centered, unmindful of the rights of others, as the example of the taxi glaringly showed.
If we, as a people, only think of our own interests, then our leaders will naturally do the same thing, because that is what these leaders see in all of us. If we want our leaders, therefore, to stop being self-centered, to stop thinking only of their own welfare and well-being, we as a people should start the change towards being more caring for others, in our own small ways. Our leaders will surely follow suit afterwards./ REACTIONS? Please call me at 0917 984 24 68, 0918 574 0193, 0922 833 43 96. Email: melaniolazomauriciojr@outlook.com, mmauriciojr111@gmail.com, and batasmauricio@yahoo.com.
