January 26, 2003

The Philippine STAR, Opinion Page

Political Will with a Vision

By Babe Romualdez

The many problems plaguing the country today are an offshoot of, perhaps, a lack of vision and political will from the past. The programs that were in place before were, at best, good only for the short term without foreseeing the effects on the future. Our problems today, poverty and pollution, stem from a lack of an effective population management program. Electoral and tax reforms should have been implemented and initiated years ago. Perhaps 16 months is too short for the president to do anything about these problems. Now that she is not running, with political will and a vision, she can start making the blueprint and showing the roadmap to where we want to be ten years from now.

With a 2.3 percent growth rate, the population will reach, more or less, 100 million in ten years. According to recent statistics, in the D and E class alone, there are 6.5 children per family on the average. In fact, Metro Manila, initially designed to hold about 5 million people, is already bursting at the seams with a present population of 14 million. This puts a lot of strain on the educational system, let alone on the national budget in general. Competition for jobs would be stiffer, not to mention that the agricultural sector and food production industries would have to double their efforts to supply food to a majority of the public. The problem of lack of education would certainly snowball to unemployment, and thereafter, poverty would worsen. We are producing babies faster than we could create the jobs and the wherewithal to support them. Senator Biazon’s comprehensive Reproductive Health Care Bill should be made an urgent priority bill.

If population and poverty will not be contained, say in the next decade or so, the country’s pollution will continue to get worse even with the Clean Air Act in place. Living spaces would be very scarce, forcing more poor families to live under bridges and along riverbanks.  Squatter families in these places will double, and with the amount of wastes they would discharge in our rivers and watersheds, none of our rivers would be able to sustain life in a few years’ time. According to recent studies, in terms of health costs, the country is losing approximately US$ 400 million every year, nearly one percent of our GDP. That’s roughly PhP 21.5 billion going to treatment for upper respiratory diseases, skin allergies, tuberculosis and cancer. Lives are being put at risk everyday with over 5,000 – not 2,000 – but 5,000 deaths a year due to respiratory and other pollution-related diseases that’s obviously caused by worsening air quality. A growing population would of course result in more traffic jams and congestion in our streets. More vehicles mean more exhaust fumes. Although the Clean Air Act is already in place, still the tricycle drivers are asking for a postponement, or even worse, an exemption. This is precisely the point: there should be no exemption to the rule. Here is where political will must be exerted with a long-term vision for the good of the greater number. Besides the pollution problem is so serious, the tricycle drivers should be made to understand that they may not even need their tricycles to make a living since in no time they’ll be dead anyway because of pollution.

I recall a phrase that says the only thing that’s certain in this world is death and taxes.  In the Philippines, death is sure, taxes are doubtful. We have postponed for five years the 10 percent VAT, which now provokes protests from the entertainment world. Obviously, past administrations have postponed this for political reasons. Here is a clear case where political will, and not having to play politics, is needed. The P200 billion budget deficit is a very serious problem. This is what’s bringing the economy down. Most people are generally trying to make palusot with their taxes because they do not believe the government is spending it wisely, and worse, all of these corruption scandals are just a total turn off.  But people must realize that the more we do not pay taxes, the more the economy will go down because of a ballooning budget deficit. There will be less services, less policemen to protect them, then less equipment for the policemen to investigate cases like the Nida Blanca murder case which hits right at the very heart of the entertainment industry. No money for public schools means more people in the streets begging. No money for public health means more people dying. No money for the police force means no security. There will be utter chaos. In the end, we may have no taxes, but certain death. Or as GMA puts it, either we reform or we all perish.

Clean and orderly elections is definitely a major component to a strong and stable leadership. People must believe in the electoral system so as to believe in their leaders. That is why this Botong Pilipino computer system is something we must consider in the 2004 elections. I am told cheating and fraud will be cut down by 99.9 percent. Moreover, we can have the results a few hours after the polls have closed, which would make cheating almost zero. Having this system in place would make a run off for the presidency and the vice presidency a lot easier. Hopefully, a clear majority president will remove the possibility of another People Power.

What we have here today is that the poor want to get out of their situation, but they continue to have more babies. Some people don’t want to pay the right taxes, but they want to get good governance, and incorruptible policemen to protect them. The Church encourages the faithful to step out and help build the country, but the Church, as an institution, does not pay taxes, nor does it accept population as a major problem. The people now are crying for a better government, for better delivery of basic services, but Congress is concerned with Charter Change and the Senate is neck deep in investigating corruption scandals. We could go on and on and on with so many contradictions.

What we have here, clearly, is a failure to communicate.

#########

Email: babeseyeview@hotmail.com

BACK TO TOP