PinoyBlog ni Boyet

The air is thick with the scent of war, the scent of blood, the scent of destruction.

The US seems bent on waging an all out war against Saddam Hussein and his Iraq. Human rights violator, creator of weapons of mass destruction, greatest threat to the delicate balance of power in the world is he, so the US says. King-maker and king-breaker is what the US seem to be. Do we need to be dragged into this war?

Do we need another war?

Bad day and a half.

Been sniffling and coughing since Wednesday morning.

I hope my body comes out victorius against the onslaught of bacteria rampaging inside.

Fluids and medicines should provide the reinforcements.

Gives me time to catch up on movies I failed to watch some seasons ago.

Tomorrow’s another day, the sniffles will go away.

20th of February 2001, EDSA DOS starts to oust ex-President Joseph Ejercito Estrada an installs Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as 14th President of the Republic of the Philippines.

2 years after PGMA is installed, and after the major players have exacted their political favors from her administration, PGMA is again embattled on all fronts by supporters and detractors alike.

2 years after EDSA DOS, most of us Filipinos have never learned that a President does not make a strong Republic. Is it a strong people that make a strong Republic.

We continue to look at the President, and the government in general, as ATM machines, dispensing favors and prefereces in exchange for our own good life . . . own OWN good life.

We march on the streets, we shout slogans and cry for justice . . . unfortunately most of us go for the hype and not the internal change that will make us a strong REPUBLIC and a GREAT nation.

Government has given us a lot by our own standards, though we actually deserve more, but what do we do with the little we have? Have we taken care of these resources and make sure that it best serves the greater majority?

Government has given us public transport, but what do we do . . . we turn them into graffitti walls and trash cans. The government has given us good roads . . . we make them parking lots and stalls for sidewalk vendors. The government has given us traffic lights . . . we ignore them and yet we complain of traffic. The government has given us good public servants . . . yet we also corrupt them with the lure of money so that we don’t have to face the law or we can get our own way in government bureaucracy. Government has given us good leaders . . . yet we corrupt them with power because we refuse to be responsible for making OUR country GREAT again. You can think of more examples goods and services government has given its citizens, yet we choose to take it for granted and corrupt all these benefits.

Government has given us a lot, but we refuse to be responsible.

And now we come back to PGMA and blame her for all our woes and misery, and tell her “What have you done to OUR country.”

Maybe we should look into the mirror and ask ourselves, “What have I done to make MY country GREAT again? How responsible have I been as a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines?”

We should ask this question, at the end of each day, before we sleep, just as a reminder that we are the NATION, no one else.

Today, people from the entertainment industry marched to the Senate to protest the alleged discrimination of their profession by undue taxation. Actors, singers, and other professionals in the entertainment business started wearing black ribbons to show their protest against the implementation of a long deferred tax measure.

So what’s the problem guys, we common fixed wage earners have already been paying our own 20% final withholding and 10% vat on our salaries and whatever income we earn. We do complain, but we also do our share in shelling out money for the tax burden. You have been enjoying the tax privilege for a long, long time now.

Can you not share in the tax burden that rests on the shoulders of fixed wage earners, and do you little share. I don’t think it will be a major dent on your personal finances not like in ours. You claim to love your country, but cry, complain and throw tantrums when your country asks for your help through taxes.

We all shout to high heavens that we love our country and we are willing to sacrifice everything even death for love of country – can we all just open our wallets a bit more and share the tax burden. If the professional sector really have genuine concern for the MASA – then share with us the tax burden. It’s just a little sacrifice guys, whaddya say?

Or are these just mere words, this love of country, when our country asks from us, specifically to give money as taxes, do we turn a deaf ear, do we tell INANG BAYAN, “bahala ka sa buhay mo, akin ang pera ko”!

On the 30th of December 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in a political pre-emptive move, declared publicly that she will not run for the Presidency of the Republic in 2004. Her move doused cold water on the heated politiking that was plaguing Philippine politics for quite some time now.

Political groups and affiliations had to realign themselves to respond to this announcement.

Plots, ploys and play that are waiting to be staged had to go back to the drawing board.

So from the blues, to cha-cha… do we tango or rave next?

As they commonly say in the Philippines, “Abangan ang susunod na kabanata”!