Every man beholds his human condition with a degree of melancholy. As a ship aground is battered by the waves, so man, imprisoned in mortal life, lies open to the mercy of coming events” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The state of affairs the past weeks had been one of violence, tragedies from three major plane crashes, and disheartening stories of corruption, greed and woeful displacements from typhoons.
The sad tensions seemingly developing between two departments of government, the Executive and the Judiciary, had not helped any in easing the growing anxieties of the citizenry.
The country or for that matter, our planet, can be likened to a ship aground, hit by forces from within and outside. While we cannot predict where all these will lead to, it is up to the discerning leaders and the people, especially, to steer the vessel towards the direction of stability, sustainability and the longed-for peace.
Today, the nation’s captain of the ship, President Aquino, will deliver his second-to-the-last State of the Nation address (SONA). In the past, there was a personal tinge of excitement in anticipating what the President’s SONA would be relating to the environment and governance. My students would be required to assess the presidential speech and give their thoughts on issues related to the course. I intend to do the same, of course. More Filipinos, young and forever young, must make it a duty to know what is happening in our country.
The President is expectedly going to defend again his stance on the highly contentious Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) as well as the country’s response to the challenges of pervasive corruption and the super typhoons which destroyed lives, livelihoods, properties and infrastructures.
No one, not even the critics of the President, can deny that we are in the right path in filing charges against big fishes that allegedly fused official and personal interests. For so long, we have become jaded and pathetically even accepted that only the voiceless can be jailed and the corrupt free to do their devious schemes.
The inaction, apathy, seeming helplessness and the slow wheels of justice contributed to the flourishing of the culture of entitlement and impunity.
For the first time in our modern history, however, we realize that high officials are no longer immune from prosecution for misdeeds and misconduct while holding public office. We should congratulate ourselves too for this significant milestone. The loud cries for ethical and competent leadership from social networks and traditional media is finally not falling on what we thought were perennially deaf ears.
These positive developments should hopefully deter the commission of criminal acts that are highly inimical to the interests of our still floundering journey of nation building. Hopefully, the people, conscious of their power and responsibility, will not just not tolerate them, but are themselves engaged stakeholders in governance.
This brings to my mind what Nobel Peace prize awardee and founder of the Greenbelt Movement, Wangari Maathai, said, “But when you have bad governance, of course, these resources are destroyed: The forests are deforested, there is illegal logging, there is soil erosion. I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how these issues become linked to governance, to corruption, to dictatorship.”
Visiting various countries the past two months was a big eye-opener for this columnist.
Government programs visibly prioritize the safety and well-being and the rights to a healthy environment of the constituents. The tree-lined pathways for pedestrians to walk and bikers to bike were as wide, if not wider, than the streets where vehicles pass. White lines and traffic lights were on each corner where humans, cars and buses converge. It is hard to understand why in the Philippines, this glaring omission for the safety of its people by national and local governments is still widely tolerated and yes, accepted. We also need more citizens from various sectors to demand prioritization of their safety.
The tragedy that happened to the CITOM lady enforcer is a lesson that we should all learn. Put the lines and the traffic lights where they should be in every street corner. It is worth the millions of pesos that had been allocated elsewhere.
Listening and assessing today’s SONA should be everyone’s concern. But, it should not stop there. We must further ask ourselves what we have done and should do to help make our nation and the people stronger to cope with so many challenges buffeting our world that threaten our children’s future and our own survival.
As the President said in his campaign speeches, he does not hold the magic wand to shape our nation into what we want it to be. But, we, the people, do. And, we better believe that.
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