PHNO-OPINION: WHAT NOW AFTER CORONA?

OPINION: WHAT NOW AFTER CORONA?
MANILA, MAY 26, 2012
(TRIBUNE) It appears that the Senate impeachment court is
resolved in deciding on the fate of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato
Corona this week to end an agonizing five-month trial that had not only drained
the nation's energy in seeing the elements of strife within government in almost
a daily fashion but has also sharply divided the people again.
The trial had been going on for the past five months with Noynoy and his
allies in the House prosecution team and those who take care of the demolition
jobs outside the Senate impeachment court, hurling every conceivable abuse that
can be thrown at Corona and his family.
The ultimate goal was to turn public sentiment against him, which as a result
of the manner at which the allegations — many of which are proven to be lies —
were being repeated meant to destroy the character of the chief magistrate
before the public.
The result is a government whose resources were almost entirely directed at
the smear campaign against the perceived political enemies of Noynoy while the
basic requirements of governance such as uplifting the lives of Filipinos and
the efficient flow of government services become neglected.
Once the Corona episode in Noynoy's vindictive administration ends, he thus
would need to scour for new enemies or incessantly pound on Gloria and Corona
some more declaring that these are necessary parts of the straight path mantra
of Noynoy, to keep up the distraction to his administration's gross
incompetence.
The result thus would be an increasingly large part of government energy and
resources devoted to concealing the many shortcomings of Noynoy rather than
implementing realizable programs for development.
It has been two years since Noynoy assumed the presidency and most Filipinos
would concede that nothing has improved in their individual lives.
Of course, the urban centers appear to be bustling with activities that are
highlighted by the rise of superstructures in the metropolis such as the current
competition among developers to put up the country's tallest building in Makati.
Yet the irony is the noticeable increase in Filipinos living on the streets,
hungry and homeless.
The basic response of his administration to the problem of poverty is the
distribution of doleouts to the poor, the funds for which in turn are collected
from the rising level of taxes that his government collects.
For P500 a month supposedly for each of the poorest Filipino families, Noynoy
has refused proposals to reduce the already ridiculous level of sales tax
imposed on oil commodities. With prices of fuel sky high, the government has
been collecting huge windfalls from the 12 percent value added tax, way beyond
what was budgeted to be collected.
The cash transfer program which Noynoy calls an investment in the future,
since it supposedly provides conditions to the families to continue receiving
government subsidies, is in reality pure doleouts since the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) that implements the program had admitted it does
not have enough personnel to monitor the million of families targeted under the
program or something some million families.
The removal of Corona, which Noynoy may just succeed in doing since it seems
that the demolition job his administration had undertaken had its telling
effects on the target, will just be the first step in a lengthy process of
gaining control of the institutions in government.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, for instance, had said that the ouster of
Corona is but a mere part of the greater goal of reclaiming the SC for the
people, meaning Noynoy's yellows.
It would seem that coopting the government is a design for another objective
which has a longer term for the administration that is currently in power.
It took an administration in the past more than two terms or a stretch of
almost eight years before realizing that it would serve its interest, which was
transposed as the nation's interest, to rule the country indefinitely.
Now we have Noynoy talking of targets way beyond the end of his term and that
what is being done supposedly are mere initial steps toward that goal.
The beleaguered CJ had warned of an impending dictatorship under Noynoy which
of course was shrugged off by the Palace as mere concoctions of a cornered
individual accused of several irregularities.
Yet many signs of a creeping one-man rule are already evident.


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




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