By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

“A true leader is a person whose influence inspires people to do what is expected of them to do. You cease to be a leader when you manipulate with your egos instead of convincing by your inspirations.” — Israel Ayivor

Last week, the president was asked by an Ateneo student how could he be motivated or encouraged to work for the government and enter into public service if the government at present is riddled with rampant corruption. According to reports, the president was obviously irked by the question, in tagalog, “napikon at pinatulan ang bata” (he was pissed off and he took on a kid).

During his campaign years ago, while his yellow followers put their best efforts at discrediting and smearing the images of his political opponents as bad and as stupid as possible, he even boasted to lead the country along the “daang matuwid” (righteous path) and his battle cry – “kung walang kurap, walang mahirap” (if no one is corrupt no one shall be poor). It is now 2014, even if in Aquino’s presidency many corrupt officials were exposed and are now being investigated, the Filipinos are still suffering everyday from deepening state of poverty.

While workers and their families barely survive a day on the legislated minimum wage, the yellow clingers and partymates in the house, continue to propose bills to retard wages and salaries and setting aside huge amounts for their bonuses and benefits. Look at what they did at the SSS where they allotted millions for themselves in bonuses because they claim to have performed well.

Back to the kid, PNoy told the student that it is not true that corruption in the government was rampant. It seems the student’s query hit the president’s pride, after all those announcements of waging war against corruption and leading the nation along a “straight path” (tuwid na daan) and tirades against his critics and detractors and here comes a student saying he is discouraged to serve with government because it is full of corrupt people.

The president is telling the student that his observation is but a product of his imagination. Instead of admitting that indeed, corruption is still in the government and that more effort has to be taken to battle this evil practice. But then maybe Pnoy has also to accept that the student has a degree of maturity to realize that the “daang matuwid” is also a product of the imagination.

How can a president of this country boast that there is no corruption in his government while he refuses to let go of his P1.3 trillion pork funds? Or selfishly allot P2billion for road projects in his home town Tarlac only, from the country’s Disbursement Acceleration (DAP) Funds?

Here in the Cordillera, the peasants are wondering why there are so-called “farm-to-market” roads being reportedly constructed in their area, but when they look at the roads, they are leading not to the farms nor to the markets but elsewhere like near the palaces of government officials. While the Cordillerans are protesting the entry of destructive projects into their territories, government officials under the yellow banner collaborate with other government agencies in favor of the foreign companies’ destructive projects. And while the Cordillera workers just like the rest of the Filipino workers are crying for a living wage and respect of labor rights in the workplaces, the president is mum on the issue of raising the compensation for the Filipinos who are working so hard. # nordis.net