Is our government morally corrupt? I do not think so; and it is untenable perhaps for anyone to feel it really is. Judgement prudence dictates a dichotomy of the institution itself and those individuals within it. Our government institution is standing on solid grounds formed by perdurable sound political theories. Only that some, surely not all, of those individuals within it are morally bankrupt. It is the individual either who has a sense of moral mandate to preserve the integrity of the institution or has the audacity to tarnish the sanctity of the institution by which he works for his living.
Over the past weeks we heard the news. We heard scandals involving overpricing of government contracts or projects; we saw the left-leaning groups, hooligans or mobs marching along the main thoroughfares of Metro Manila, insensitive always as they are causing inconveniences to the motorists. We heard calls for moral revolution from head honchos, especially politicos - who by the way let their sons, daughters, and kins shrewdly participate in government biddings or secure government contracts notwithstanding of the prohibitive provision of law. This is a sham call for moral reformation. Finally, we heard the bomb blasts in Glorieta 2 and Batasan Pambansa; the seat of one of the most important elements of our government was not spared from shenanigans.
I am quoting this email I received last Friday, November 23, 2007. I am not sure if this is a joke or a serious thing. Whether it is meant to traduce certain politicos or give credit to a putatively moral person turned politician. The title is “A Lesson in Arithmetic”.
This lesson is formulated with impressive bravado. And yeah it maybe a lesson that does not draggily contain a dabbling joke. Neither do we simply dismiss it as mere trivial innuendos.
I might say it is a serious demonstration of truth. And the truth hurts indeed! Isn't it?
Just two weeks ago, according to an insider, a team from the Kalinga Provincial Government, mostly from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office and other officials, visited Pampanga to observe and learn the quarry operations there. We just hope that the educational trip would not be just another waste of people's money. And by the way in Kalinga there are projects that just became white elephants and building constructions implemented by the provincial government that remain unfinished despite the fact that about tens of millions of people's money were already spent.
Over the past weeks we heard the news. We heard scandals involving overpricing of government contracts or projects; we saw the left-leaning groups, hooligans or mobs marching along the main thoroughfares of Metro Manila, insensitive always as they are causing inconveniences to the motorists. We heard calls for moral revolution from head honchos, especially politicos - who by the way let their sons, daughters, and kins shrewdly participate in government biddings or secure government contracts notwithstanding of the prohibitive provision of law. This is a sham call for moral reformation. Finally, we heard the bomb blasts in Glorieta 2 and Batasan Pambansa; the seat of one of the most important elements of our government was not spared from shenanigans.
I am quoting this email I received last Friday, November 23, 2007. I am not sure if this is a joke or a serious thing. Whether it is meant to traduce certain politicos or give credit to a putatively moral person turned politician. The title is “A Lesson in Arithmetic”.
I'm 100% sure this income disparity is replicated in all the provinces of the Philippines.
If we had more Ed Panlilios in our government, we would be just like Singapore in a short time. Read on......
We hope we are witnessing what will be a sustained revolution in good governance in the Province of Pampanga , under its newly elected governor, Fr. Ed Panlilio.
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer of August 26, only one month after Fr. Panlilio assumed his gubernatorial duties, the province's income from the quarrying of volcanic ash from Mount Pinatubo had reached P29.4 million. (Haulers pay a fee of P300 per truck of volcanic ash that they haul from the quarry.)
By contrast, during his predecessor Mark Lapid's term as governor, the province's income from the same quarrying operations amount ed to only P29 million a year.
This gaping variation in official incomes from the same activity should inspire a new set of textbooks in Arithmetic, especially for the school children of Pampanga.
There is nothing like local color and local situations to cultivate comprehension in young minds.
Sample problems: If Fr. Ed's provincial government can collect P29.4 million in 26 days (we assume no quarrying on Sundays), how much does it collect in one day?
Answer: An average of P1.130 million.
If Fr. Ed's provincial government collects an average of P1.130 million a day from quarrying operations, how much can it collect in one year of 313 days (365 days less 52 Sundays)?
Answer: P353, 690,000, or P354 million.
If Fr. Ed's provincial government can collect P354 million a year, and Mark Lapid's provincial government collected only P29 million a year, what is the difference in their official yearly collections?
Answer: P325 million a year.
If Mark Lapid was governor for four years and his provincial government's annual collections from quarrying amounted to an average of P29 million, how much did his provincial govt. officially collect in four years?
Answer: P116 million.
If Fr. Ed manages to remain as provincial governor for four years, and his provincial government's annual collection from quarrying were to average P354 million, how much will his provincial government collect in four years?
Answer: P1.416 billion.
What is the difference between P1.416 billion and P116 million?
Answer: P1.3 billion.
Where did this P1.3 billion go? Answer: Only God and the Lapids know. ('Lapids' is in plural because Mark, as a second generation political dynast, succeeded his own father, now Sen. Lito Lapid. We don't know how much Lito's provincial government officially collected from quarrying operations during his watch. Should be a good investigative project for media.)
If Gawad Kalinga spends an average of P75,000 per low cost house, how many low-cost houses can P1.3 billion build?
Answer: 17,333 low-cost houses.
If the average Pampanga family were to consist of five persons (father, mother, three children), how many people would be benefited by 17,333 low-cost houses?
Answer: 86,665 persons.
End of Arithmetic lesson.
Fr. Ed is to be congratulated for setting a high benchmark for collection from quarrying operations against which his predecessors have a moral obligation to explain why their collections were so low, and against which future governors will be judged by the people of Pampanga.
Volcanic ash, by the way, is a superior building material. Many of the buildings, aqueducts & monuments of the Roman Empire that have survived for almost 2,000 years are known to have been built with volcanic ash, quarried from the environs of Mount Vesuvius after it erupted in 79 AD.
We don't expect Fr. Ed's moral victory in Pampanga to be remembered for the next 2,000 yrs.
We would be happy with five, ten or 20 years, enough, we hope, to spawn a moral-revolution- by- example to save the Filipinos from their worst enemies – themselves.
GOOD LUCK Philippines !
“Therefore, the primary cause of poverty is not overpopulation of the Phil! It's because our county is overpopulated with corrupt officials.”(emphasis mine)
This lesson is formulated with impressive bravado. And yeah it maybe a lesson that does not draggily contain a dabbling joke. Neither do we simply dismiss it as mere trivial innuendos.
I might say it is a serious demonstration of truth. And the truth hurts indeed! Isn't it?
Just two weeks ago, according to an insider, a team from the Kalinga Provincial Government, mostly from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office and other officials, visited Pampanga to observe and learn the quarry operations there. We just hope that the educational trip would not be just another waste of people's money. And by the way in Kalinga there are projects that just became white elephants and building constructions implemented by the provincial government that remain unfinished despite the fact that about tens of millions of people's money were already spent.
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