The critical status of the May 10, 2010 elections has brought about calls for vigilance as well as a rising tide of political come-ons enveloping all forms of the media --- print, radio, television, internet ----- to entice people for votes. Discernment of what is truthful and honest has become very imperative, never moot and academic.
Notable is the call of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for the faithful to reject candidates who are supporting birth control. Many candidates who support the Reproductive Health bill, like Liberal Party frontrunner Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, will likely lose many, many votes. In the CBCP’s catechism for the 2010 elections, the bishops said that it would not be morally permissible to support candidates who advocate anti-family policies, including reproductive health, or any other morally evil acts such as abortion, divorce, assisted suicide and euthanasia. Those who support the RH bill become accomplices to the moral evil in question.
Even the declaration of Noynoy Aquino in his political ad that he (hindi ako magnanakaw) will not steal from the coffers of government should not be swallowed, but digested. Corruption might not be in his genes, but we cannot expect the company surrounding Noynoy Aquino to have the same genes. How many of those who are now with the Liberal Party ---- either as one of its candidates or support group or campaign managers, who would demand a share in the spoils of victory, such as a seat in the cabinet or the like, should Noynoy Aquino win ---- have the blood of Judas Iscariot running in their veins. They are equally worthy subjects for discernment.
Even the promises of Gibo Teodoro ---- sapat na trabajo na malapit sa tahanan, puhunan at capital sa gustong magnegosyo, a college graduate sa bawa’t pamilya and the like ---- that, being “possible,” seem to bring down heaven to earth, deserve as much discernment as to their being achievable.
Even the “walang imposible” assurance by Manny Villar backed up by the programs he has undertaken --- ang pagkaroon ng yaman ng Pilipinas kagaya ng karatig bansa, ang pagkaroon ng dangal ang bawa’t isa, ang gawing ngumiti ang langit sa ating bansa, aid given to more than 8,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), planting over one million trees ---- seem to be very credible, but still deserve discernment.
In the local scene, the wake-up call by Che Carpio --- one of the sons of former National Bureau of Investigation director J. Antonio M. Carpio and wife Bernardita ---- for people of Naga about the claim of Mayor Jesse M. Robredo that after 18 long years he would be leaving behind a “rock solid City Hall” and a “city poised for greater things” deserves a second look and the proof the City Mayor was pointing at deserves more than a second look. The proof of Mayor Jesse M. Robredo for his claim: the “intermediate” overall financial management average (FMA) rating given to Naga by Standard & Poor’s. This rating reflects the evaluation of the city’s strengths, challenges, and risks of its financial systems and practices in the context of global good practices and the local environment. The FMA scores ranging from zero to five, are assessed as: 0 = Underdeveloped, Evolving or Poor; 1 = Basic; 2 = Intermediate; 3 = Sound; 4 = Sophisticated; 5 = Advanced.
For Che Carpio, the rating of 2 which is intermediate indicates that Naga has a failing grade. Wrote he: “intermediate” is only a score of 2 on a six-level scale of 0 to 5. In short, intermediate is a dismal 50% grade. Is that the “best”? It’s not even passing. Naga, wake up!
If obtaining a high rating is second nature to Naga City, even as it has been the recipient of many awards, even as it figuratively banished City Division of Schools Superintendent Evangeline Palencia out of the city for heading a division that had a dismal rating in the National Achievement Test for public schools, what then can be said of Naga’s political leadership which for the past 18 years was able to obtain at best only a grade of 2 which “is not even passing.”
No doubt, it is time to wake up. Are we in this multi-awarded city under a safe pair of hands?
