Letters to the Editor
Letters to the
editor are welcome on this page. Only those with complete name,
signature, contact number and return address for verification
shall be considered for publication, subject to editing and space
limitation when necessary - Editor-in-Chief.
No to federal system
MAY I submit the following for your consideration please, as part
of the debate on Charter change:
A parliamentary federal system will be the key to our progress as
a nation, Professor Jose Abueva, Consultative Commission Chairman,
tells us.
Questions now, for Professor Abueva:
To cite a few, these are our long festering critical problems
which undoubtedly stunt and hobble the growth of our country,
which have created a social volcano worse and fearsome than Mount
Vesuvius which may explode anytime and trigger a social tsunami
worse than the South Asia tsunami of December 2004:
1. A P5 trillion public debt which burdens millions of Filipinos,
including sadly those not yet born and which mortgages their
future.
2. A perennial budget deficit that hovers between PI50 to P200
billion, caused it is said to a great extent by corruption and
wasteful spending. A ranking member of Congress says about 25
percent of the annual budget is lost to corruption. A survey the
other day says we rank third as the most corrupt in Asia.
3. A forest cover that has dwindled to only 18 percent, a
dangerous level of forest denudation, from the 57 percent forest
cover in 1934.
4. Continuing brain drain of trained and skilled Filipinos,
doctors, nurses, and teachers, which now adversely affect our 1)
health care system and 2) educational system.
5. Unemployment problem. One news item recently cited 2.7 million
unemployed; 6.6 million underemployed.
6. Creeping lawlessness, where peace and order deteriorates every
passing day.
7. Children who should be in schools but instead are carrying guns
now as child soldiers in battle fields where Filipinos are at war
with each other.
8. Growing hopelessness. A recent survey of Pulse Asia tells us
that - One in three Filipinos wants to leave the country.
This short list of critical problems have indisputably caused
retrogression in our country’s development - crushing the hopes
and dreams of millions of disadvantaged and deprived Filipinos.
Professor Abueva, please tell me - and the rest of us - how a
parliamentary federal system will effectively deal with those
problems mentioned above, considering we have the same kind of
ruling class in a society that is still elitist in make up, with a
wide gap between the governed and those who govern, in terms of
power (or powerlessness) resources and aspiration.
Suggestion please: Why not provide separate space in Your Opinion
Section for debate on Charter change to give opportunity to people
in the countryside to air their views, especially from depressed
and disadvantaged regions which will be adversely affected by a
parliamentary federal system.
EDMUNDO H. ESCALANTE
Past president, IBP Sorsogon Chapter
