In the Guise of Service

The next election is still in 2010 but some interested individuals are now publicly expressing their interest in running for office and are doing so because the want to serve the Filipino people.

I have a problem with that reason of service to the country as a reason for running for political office. Every year, most of the politicians if not all, increased their assets & liabilities. They are getting richer & richer every year. And they all reason out that their businesses and investments are improving. Some of them would even say that they are sacrificing when they enter politics because they will lose money. And do you think they are getting poorer, even with the millions that they will spend for election? No, they are still getting richer because you can always take it back using government funds under some bogus project that they would create.

How stupid do they think we are? A public position may not give one person a higher salary but it gives that person power. The power to intimidate others and the power to let others favor you or your friends business or enterprise even if you’re not worthy. It is the power of influence, in the negative sense.

Now, people who even no background or knowledge about politics or leadership for that matter are positioning themselves for public office. It is an open secret why people enter politics; they want to protect their private & public interests. Mind you, the people are not on top of their priorities, they prioritize themselves. Then when their terms are finished, they let other family members on it and make their public office some sort of family corporation. The only thing that those men will do in their office is there are sign something that someone told them to sign because they have little or no understanding of what their position entails. And they will be easy to manipulate with the color of money. The number one on their scheduled activities would be doing some photo-ops for some project that have offered to the hungry masses and have it plastered all over town to let the people know that they have done something.

I abhor seeing the signage or posters places in most streets that says that projects are brought to us by some president, senator, congressman, governor or mayor. It is as if they have done it themselves using their own money. They are promoting their goodness to their constituents using the people’s money. How lame do they think the people are? One must not own what is not theirs.

I’m just here ranting my disappointment with our government. And however we may wish it would be different, it won’t. This is due to the fact that we continue to elect public officials who promote themselves as something they are not, while taking money on the side. We have learned to tolerate their actions because we have lost hope for change. There are still a few out there who still do real public service but you can count them all with the fingers of your hands. People, we must realize that the “lesser evil” is still evil. And wrong is still wrong even if everybody else is doing it. So let us not be blinded by the smiling faces and the dole outs that these would be public servants offer. Let us learn to discern more when we make a choice and have them offer real service and leadership.

Yes Ma’am / Yes Sir

Watching the news today, one of hot topics is the appointment of Chavit Singson as a deputy National Security adviser. Before that, there was the issue of Ralph Recto and Tito Sotto's appointment. All are defeated senatorial candidates that were now appointed to the president's cabinet after losing the senatorial elections now that the moratorium for hiring of defeated candidates has expired.

I has always bothered me why are defeated senators are appointed to cabinet positions. Couldn’t the president find any other more qualified individual who can do the jobs entailed by those government offices? Does the qualified person have to be a member of the party of the president? Is it necessary that cabinet posts be given to politicians?

I have asked these questions because there are many individuals out there who are more qualified than the ones appointed. I have studied before in my management class that one must find the right personnel to do the job at hand. In my own opinion, the president is looking for “yes ma’am” individuals. Persons who “she owes or they owe her” type of individuals that agree and approve to whatever she says or plans to do.

I have seen individuals who were just hired for political accommodation. These individuals have no knowledge of the job appointed to them because they are not appropriate for the job, they were just for convenience. With this mindset of politicians, it would be difficult to change what is wrong with the government because the problem is not just in the executive level but also in the local level where there are many “politically-accommodated employees”.

I’m an optimistic pessimist. Although, I wouldn’t see any "correct" changes in the government in years to come, whatever the type of government may be, I’m still hoping that it will change. And it will start in us individuals be not tolerating it starting from the grassroots level.