"During these desperate times, Filipinos are in great need of good men and women."
"During these desperate times, Filipinos are in great need of good men and women."
If we scan what has happened to our country since the Spaniards decided to come back in 1565 to stay permanently up to 1946, it has been 385 years of continuous struggle against three occupying powers. If we include our collaboration with the Spaniards to drive away the British who occupied Manila in 1762 because of the seven-years wars in Europe, that would be four instead of three.
Yes, some people might say that many of those struggles were simply local uprisings but all these eventually culminated in a national revolt in 1896 followed by our war with the Americans in 1898 and the Japanese from 1941 to 1945. The revolution against Spain in 1896 was the first in Asia staged by the native population of an occupied territory against a European colonizing power.
Not all our struggles were violent. Our fight for independence from the Americans was done through peaceful means which we eventually got on July 4, 1946. The National Heroes Day that we celebrate every 31st of August was originally intended to honor the memories of those Filipinos who devoted their time to forge a movement to drive away the Spaniards. Andres Bonifacio was however impatient and decided to stage the 1896 revolution against Spain. There were also heroes during our fight for independence during the American colonial period led by President Manuel Quezon and during the short but brutal occupation of our country by the Japanese.
Today, amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our heroes are the medical frontliners and other unsung individuals who are laboring to treat infected Filipinos of the deadly disease and corporations building much-needed medical facilities. Yet, there are heartless landlords who have been driving away some infected health workers even in the middle of the night. Maybe these people should be identified on social media so that when they get sick, health workers can give them a dose of their own medicine.
Our overseas Filipino workers for some years are also considered our modern-day heroes for laboring overseas to be able to send money back home. This however, comes with a heavy price. Families end up being broken, children get into crime, and a host of other social problems emerge.
Every now and then, we read about domestic helpers getting killed, maltreated, or raped by their employers. Such is the price that our workers sometimes have to pay.
This should make us ask the question: Is it all worth it? It is sad that the government over the years has failed to provide better opportunities for our people to be able to work and earn decent wages in their own country without having to go abroad to work as indentured servants. Yet, in every election, we often hear many politicians promising everything but reneging on them once they get what they want.
During these trying times, the country is desperately in need of true heroes. These are people who are willing to put aside their personal interests for the sake of the country. But we do not see much of them around. Instead, what we are seeing as revealed by the just-concluded Senate report regarding PhilHealth corruption allegations is that some unscrupulous people in the agency have been making the agency as their piggy bank for a long time.
One would think that during this COVID-19 pandemic, these corrupt officials would take a time out and perhaps try their best to maximize the use of the dwindling funds of the agency to be able to pay the medical bills of as many sick Filipinos as possible. But no. What we are being told is that corrupt personnel of the agency apparently took the pandemic as another opportunity to make a killing.
This PhilHealth corruption issue has been going on for some time with the government failing to pursue the issue to its logical conclusion such as getting the guilty parties convicted. With the report of the Senate however, perhaps the public will now be able to see it happen.
Everything now depends on the Department of Justice. On a bigger scale, it was reported last Tuesday that the government was able to borrow from international lending institutions about $10.9 billion or P529 billion to support our government’s effort on the pandemic. It is a huge amount. The Secretary of Budget also reported last Tuesday that about P389 billion have already been released with the bulk going to DSWD and DOH.
I do not know whether the P389 billion came from the borrowed money or not. Still, I hope that strict auditing of the funds is done because the amount dwarfs the PhilHealth corruption mess and it would be a pity if a large chunk of that will end up lining the pockets of corrupt officials once again.