DREAMIN'

A friend informed me that the petition was aired on radio ng bayan last October 19, Friday. I hope that those people, for whom it was addressed to, heard it. The problem is, even if they did hear, I doubt if they listened. Their faces, apparently, are much thicker than the slabs of concrete they use to pave the roads with. The quality of their work attests to that. We also know that contractors and politicians have a neat symbiotic relationship, a strong bond which sucks on the people’s money. Contractors support these politicians’ candidacies then recoup their ‘investments’ from these projects. It’s all about the money for these leeches. Quality of work and petitions be damned.

Noting that most of the petitioners were ‘imported’, I decided not to add my name. (As if…:-)) The reason is that I would like to make a suggestion, and for whatever worth it has, I believe that non-inclusion of locals in that petition drives the point home better, or makes the proposal more romantic.:-0

We all know that corruption in the Philippine system of government is deeply-rooted. Unfortunately, we Cordis aren’t immune to it. It would seem naïve to effect change to traditional practices through petitions. Furthermore, the bigger difficulty is that we are not facing a single individual but a whole system. Sure, the ‘peeing Igorot statue’ evaporated (thanks to Bill). But the case should be different for private entities with business interests to protect and who are playing a long term game, as compared to people whose immediate concern is to amass as much money as they can while the power they wield affords them the opportunity to do so. And although news reports say that Jesse Robredo was successful in overhauling the system of corruption in Naga City, the mere fact that Mr. Robredo is the sole example we can cite regarding this issue of fighting corruption confirms the common knowledge that the Philippine government, especially its system of public works is rotten to the core and the mayor of Naga is an unnatural phenomenon.

So while waiting for a Jesse, how about if we tap on the organization whose membership covers the whole Cordillera? I’m talking about BIBAK. Can’t we harness this organization from a group which is culture–centered into a body that engages in business? Or even politics? And whose area of operation/influence will be the whole of Igorotlandia? Can’t the BIBAK members abroad create a corporation to compete with those greedy contractors? Most of these people (BIBAK OFWs) should have the resources to start the ball rolling. With the information technology we have today, coordinating actions is much simplified. It wouldn’t be easy, that’s for sure. But I guess it’s worthy of inclusion in the BIBAK members’ forums. Just suggesting…

(This post properly belongs to the comments section of Bill's blog but it might dampen somebody's enthusiasm regarding that petition. I wouldn't want that.:-))