Cutting Budget on SUCs

Cutting the budget of the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) makes it obvious that that the Administration of President Abnoy does not prioritize education. He instead wants to concentrate on giving a band aid solution to the problem of poverty in our country through his CCT program. Yes, it’s a band aid solution because it will never ease or get rid of the poverty in our country. I am very against the CCT program because it encourages the culture of mendicancy. People will not anymore work for their living because they’ll wait for their monthly stipend from the government. Instead of giving large chunks of its budgets on the CCT program, President Abnoy’s government should invest on infrastructure building that could pump up economic activity and create jobs for many.

However, President Abnoy has been underspending that triggered the economic slowdown. If he spent on infrastructure, he could have avoided building the culture of laziness in our society. As the philosophers would say, “Teach man how to fish and you’ll feed him for lifetime”. People should work for their bread and giving them money is not sustainable. There will be a question in the future on where they should get the taxes to sustain the CCT program. Unfortunately, there’s even a glitch in its implementation.

With the current trend of cutting the budgets for the SUCs, don’t be surprised if we have low quality of graduates. Our Universities could not even make it to the Top 100 Universities in the world anymore. The misplaced priorities of the current administration will not help either.

President Abnoy’s CCT program is his political tool to survive. It is his way of bribing the poor people to support his government. The problem with this program is that he’ll alienate the middle and the upper class tax payers. Remember, most of these poor people who are beneficiaries of the CCT programs do not pay taxes. Why reward individuals who do not pay taxes and punish the taxpaying citizens by giving them the burden of additional taxes.

Imposing ban on subsidy

The title is only suited for government funded projects but it some ways, it is also appropriate to my posting. Before leaving to the Philippines for my annual vacation, my sister Neneng Girl told terrible news. She said that my younger brother Nonoy has been asking money from my mother, quite often that she ended up having no money to buy her medicine. I’m a single guy and I don’t have a family to support. I however felt that I have a duty to my mother so I send her money on a monthly basis.

The purpose of that subsidy as they call it is for her to have money to buy her medicine, allowance for the household expenses and an emergency fund. When I learned from my sister that she has no money left in her bank account, I wasn’t upset actually but I felt that the purpose why the money was sent to her in the first place was defeated.

My younger brother was given 3 opportunities to earn a living but he blew them all out. My parents enrolled him to a Marine Engineering School but after four years of studying in a two year course program, he quit. When my Dad was still alive, he almost went to Taiwan to work there but took the placement fee and eloped with his girlfriend. Two years ago, he decided to go back to school but after a year quit decided to quit. He is now a family man with two kids to feed but has no income. He farmed the five hectares that my father gave him as a legacy but couldn’t afford the operating expenses of his farm.

This is where my mother enters the scene. She loves her youngest son too much that she felt that she had to support him. The problem is, she’s not just supporting Nonoy’s farm but she also supports the two children’s education. I was always against the idea of my mother supporting Nonoy’s children’s education. It’s not a grandparent’s responsibility to send their grandchildren to school, period. The parents had done their part in giving education to their children. If their children (in our case, Nonoy) did not study well, it’s not their fault. Even God said that he will help only those who help themselves. Nonoy has been so dependent and abusive to the point of dictating which school his children should be enrolled. I don’t know why he was so against sending his children to a public school when school is not an issue. Being sent to a private school is not a guarantee to success. Besides, there are so many successful people who only went to a public school. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is the best example of those sent to a public school but excelled. As for the farm, my mother gave money but during harvest, she never receives anything. The least that she could receive is returning the money that she gives away. However, nothing of that sort happened.

My mother is generous but because of that she was abused. How could a retiree who receives monthly pension from the government and from me lost all her money? She could not answer me where her money went. She’s still protecting her beloved youngest child. I’ve come up with the conclusion that the best way for me to deal with this issue is to stop her monthly subsidy. If I stop sending her the monthly subsidy, she’ll only have a pension. She will not be able to support Nonoy and his children. She’ll be forced to say no. I am doing this because I love her. I have to be cruel in order to be kind. I felt responsible for my mother that’s why I’m doing this.

My plan now is to still send the money but this time to my Sister Bam’s account. I told her to keep the money and save it for emergency. My mother is now 68 years old and we have to have money in case she’ll be hospitalized. It’s better that we have the money in hand rather than Nonoy spending them all.

Prayer and Thanksgiving

Redemptorist Church Baclaran

I consider this year’s annual vacation as very special. It’s the only time of the year where I get to rest and give thanks to our Almighty for all the blessings he has given me. I went through a very horrible experience but thanks to God, friends and my family, I was able to get through it.

My doctor said that it’ll take 2-3 months before my will get rid of all the medications that I took for at 9 months. It wasn’t easy, believe me, aside from being hospitalized, taking medication every day is a lot tougher. I was thankful that it was all over. I just hope that with God’s help, I will be healthier. I also promise that I’ll lead a healthy lifestyle.

I know, I’ve been a critic to the CBCP and the priests who wanted to meddle with politics. However, as a born catholic, I have no intentions of breaking away from my faith. I can express my belief in my own terms without necessarily agreeing to what the people of the church are dictating. So, when I arrived in Manila on 11 August, I made it a point of visiting Quiapo and Baclaran Churches. I went to Quiapo on a Friday so it was a jam-packed crowd. I murmured a prayer and then went out to visit the Black Nazarene to give thanks to all the blessings he has bestowed upon me. The following day I went to Baclaran Church to visit Our Mother of Perpetual Help. I also thanked her for the blessings. I never had an opportunity to attend a holy Eucharistic celebration at that time. I promised though that I will attend one before flying back to the Kingdom of the Sands.

I am very grateful and I owe it all to our Father. I thank him for all the blessings and I promised to be a good son. I know that being human is never an excused but nevertheless, I asked for his understanding and forgiveness. Lord, maraming maraming salamat po sa blessings.

911- A Decade On

A decade after the 911 twin tower bombing and I still believe that the US deserved to be bombed. My opinion may not be popular but that’s what I believed in and I’ll stand by my opinion. The US has been for several years prior to the bombing, been meddling with the affairs of other countries. They’ve waged war to those that they considered are not friendly to them. They’ve utilized their CIA to conduct covert operations to replace sovereign governments. They even went out of their way to influence the policies of sovereign nations. If there is discord, chances are, the US is involved.

The 911 incident should have humbled the United States but it never did. George Bush waged war in Iraq and Afghanistan to topple the so called terrorist. They never thought that Iraq and Afghanistan will be their headache. It was a good press for George Bush then, when he waged the war. Americans volunteered to be soldiers for the so called ‘patriotism’. However, fast forward 10 years, the Americans are exhausted. They are now experiencing the economic difficulties that they never imagined would happen.

The whole world is fed up with the blood bath and the senseless deaths that the US troops caused. In the later part of the Bush presidency, he wanted to involve other countries in his so called war on terror. Unfortunately, he never received an overwhelming support. The Philippines, treated as an unequal ally by the US, unequal because they never see us as equal to them, was forced to send troops to Iraq. PGMA however, pulled out the troops when a Filipino driver was abducted in Iraq. George Bush was upset when PGMA pulled out the Filipino troops and that explains all the bad press that PGMA received after that incident. Only the CIA has the capability to wire tap a presidential telephone line. Sources say that it was the CIA who leaked the ‘Hello Garci’ recording in order to bring down Gloria. It was also the CIA that funded destabilization campaign against her. Fortunately for our country and for PGMA, the AFP did not withdraw their support. Yes, that’s how the US works, covert and treacherous.