Complainants of the alleged leakage of the recently conducted nursing board examinations denounced the Professional Regulations Commission’s (PRC) decision to release the results even without digging deeper into the controversy. Even if most of them passed, the more than 100 are questioning the integrity of the regulations body because even as it confirmed the leakage, it failed to name those responsible.
BY ACE ALEGRE
Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY – Complainants of the alleged leakage of the recently conducted nursing board examinations denounced the Professional Regulations Commission’s (PRC) decision to release the results last July 19 even without digging deeper into the controversy.
Even if most of them passed, the more than 100 are questioning the integrity of the regulations body because even as it confirmed the leakage, it failed to name those responsible.
“It seems that all that the PRC has been doing is a sham. First, it conducted an independent investigation that concluded with an almost empty outcome,” said Karen Calderon, speaking for the 192 complainants.
Although it confirmed the leakage, Calderon said, the public now questions the integrity of the entire Board of Nursing (BoN).
“Now, it released examination results whose credibility can hardly be established because the leakage has not yet been adequately addressed and thoroughly investigated,” she said.
The PRC however stressed that keeping the 42,000 examinees waiting for an indefinite period would be unfair, hence the release of the board results. However, the PRC later clarified that the passers’ licenses could still be revoked if the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) find “evidence of a leakage.”
“It appears that the PRC has been carrying out actions that are either not at all rationally informed or tainted with intentions to conceal the truth,” Calredon said.
“In the first place, why did the PRC release the board results while investigation into the leakage is still pending? How can it guarantee the credibility of such results without spelling out how the leaked questions were treated?”
Calderon however explained that they did not want to delay the release of the examination results if only to keep themselves and the many other examinees waiting. “We simply wanted to make sure that the results would be reliable,” she said.
“The PRC should have at least explained how it came up with the results despite the leakage. The board results are useless if they are not credible.”
On July 27, Baguio-based nursing leaders together with their counsels went to the PRC national office in Manila to ask the agency to explain how it came up with the results. They met with the four BoN members who promised, as advised by the complainants’ counsel Cheryl Daytec-Yangot, to issue a resolution that would explain to the public how they treated the examination questions that were proven to be leaked and how they came up with the results despite the leakage. (The two others who were implicated in the leakage were asked to inhibit themselves from BoN matters.)
Calderon said the BoN explained that scientific statistical procedures were employed to analyze the overall effect of the leakage on the result of the examinations. It said that the whole of Test V was invalidated as there was some evidence which showed that almost all of the questions in the test were leaked, Calderon said.
What was startling was that despite the invalidation of all the questions in Test V, the examinees were still given scores for the said test, Calderon said. “How could there be a score for a test that in effect had no questions? More importantly, how was the examinees’ aptitude in the particular area of competency measured by Test V assessed when Test V was totally nullified?”
Each of the five tests in the nursing board examination was supposed to measure the examinees’competence in a particular field of nursing practice. Test V of the June 2006 nursing board pertained to Psychiatric Nursing.
“Certainly, statistics is not the correct basis for evaluating the examinees’ competency in Psychiatric Nursing,” she said.”
The two Board of Nursing members who were identified to be involved in the leakage were already named. But it seems that the PRC has lost much of its intelligent judgment for it to be easily persuaded by the two BoN members’ incredible excuses,” Calderon added.
One of the two BoN members, she said, explained before the PRC fact-finding committee that the questions she prepared were taken away from her bag unnoticed. The other testified that a copy of her exam questions was taken without her knowledge when she photocopied the list of her questions.
These are far-fetched alibis, to say the least, Calderon said. “And all that the PRC could do was to advise the two to inhibit themselves from matters concerning the BoN while the investigation is pending,” Calderon said.
This, she added, demonstrates “that the PRC is a toothless commission which does not have the political will to pursue its investigation with resoluteness.”
Earlier, lawyer Kissak Gabaen, also speaking in behalf of the complainants, called for the suspension of the two BoN members.
However, Calderon said that the PRC cannot even recommend their suspension.
The PRC filed an administrative charge against the two BoN members for “neglect of duty that gave rise to the leakage of test questions,” a charge criticized as based solely on the latter’s alibis.
“The PRC fact-finding committee was pathetically incompetent to establish whether there was only a neglect of duty or there was a deliberate act of leaking exam questions,” Calderon said.
This, she added, has resulted in a “crisis” in the country’s nursing profession.
This week, Calderon added, the Baguio-based nursing leaders, examinees, nursing students and concerned members of the nursing profession are launching the Baguio chapter of the Coalition of Concerned Nurses (For Truth, Integrity and Justice).
© 2006 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
After Malacanang’s Admission on Health Crisis, Our Proposal
Press Release
November 25, 2005
Reference: MR. JOSSEL I. EBESATE, R.N.
Secretary General, Alliance of Health Workers (AHW)
Tel #4043721 CP #09189276381
After being called an "alarmist" now the realization that we are right after all. In fact our grim assessment is even “sunny” than the evolving realities that are now surfacing.
In a press conference after the National Council Meeting of the Alliance of Health Workers on September 16, 2005, we announced that based on our assessment, the Philippines' health care delivery system will collapse within the next 2 to 3 years, if the present trend of exodus of professionals (especially doctors as nurses), closure of secondary hospitals and nil to meager investment in public primary health care would not be addressed properly. This was initially denied by the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) thereby eliciting an “alarmist” tag from an editorial article in a major daily.
Later, the Philippine Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health in U.P. Manila came out with statistics, painting a grim picture of brain drain in the country.
Just recently, the Private Hospitals' Association of the Philippines (PHAP) reported that even private hospitals in the provinces (many are on secondary level) closes down (more than 1,000 for the last 5 years and only 700 remained) because of lack of doctors and nurses. But the DOLE, through Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that "the brain drain of health professionals is nothing but mere perception," that rightfully elicited a harangued editorial from a major daily.
Now, Malacanang itself acknowledged that indeed we are now facing a serious medical crisis. However, merely acknowledging its presence, would not resolved the problem of impending collapse of the Philippine health care delivery system, we need to dig deeper on the root causes in order to came out with the right solutions immediately.
We in the Alliance of Health Workers is proposing the following measures that should be done immediately in order to avert the collapse of our health care delivery system:
1. Increase the budget for health, equivalent to at least 5% of the GNP as prescribed by the WHO. Our constitution prescribed that health is a basic right, and that the state shall provide for an affordable health services to all. The present P10.4B earmarked by the National Government for health is like salt being rubbed to the wounds of the Filipino people.
2. Re-nationalize the delivery of primary health care and assure full coverage of every barangay in the country. The heart and soul of a rationale and comprehensive public health care delivery system is on the prevention of the disease and maintenance of health, not in the curative and rehabilitative aspect.
3. Immediately implement the provisions of existing laws that raised the salaries and benefits of public health personnel. Republic Act 7305 (Magna Carta of Public Health Workers) had been enacted in 1992 yet until this time only in PGH that budget allocation for hazard pay and subsistence allowance were included in the annual national budget, although such allocation does not still include night differential, laundry, overtime pay, hospitalization and other allowances. How about agencies and hospitals under the DOH and the local government units? Also, the Nursing Act of 2002 that include raising the salaries of government nurses from P9,339.00 to P13,300.00 was yet to be implemented by any public health institution. Ask most of the nurses in the provinces and even here in Metro Manila and they will tell you that if only existing laws on health workers’ salaries and benefits were fully implemented, they would think twice before leaving the country.
4. Provide incentives to private hospitals, private practitioners and specialists that are serving our countrymen in depressed or remote areas. This proposal does not need any explanation why.
5. Implement a comprehensive Health Human Resource Development Plan and Management as provided under RA 7305. An effective health care delivery system need to have a comprehensive plan, starting from the determination of the number of students to take a specific health course, entry to a health profession and training of specialists, to deployment, career development and retirement.
6. Never enact a medical malpractice law. It has been proven in the United States that the only parties that benefited from the discriminatory malpractice law are the insurance companies but never the general public that it was supposed to protect. Even former US President Clinton during his incumbency uttered in exasperation that he regretted the enactment of such law. ###
November 25, 2005
Reference: MR. JOSSEL I. EBESATE, R.N.
Secretary General, Alliance of Health Workers (AHW)
Tel #4043721 CP #09189276381
After being called an "alarmist" now the realization that we are right after all. In fact our grim assessment is even “sunny” than the evolving realities that are now surfacing.
In a press conference after the National Council Meeting of the Alliance of Health Workers on September 16, 2005, we announced that based on our assessment, the Philippines' health care delivery system will collapse within the next 2 to 3 years, if the present trend of exodus of professionals (especially doctors as nurses), closure of secondary hospitals and nil to meager investment in public primary health care would not be addressed properly. This was initially denied by the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) thereby eliciting an “alarmist” tag from an editorial article in a major daily.
Later, the Philippine Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health in U.P. Manila came out with statistics, painting a grim picture of brain drain in the country.
Just recently, the Private Hospitals' Association of the Philippines (PHAP) reported that even private hospitals in the provinces (many are on secondary level) closes down (more than 1,000 for the last 5 years and only 700 remained) because of lack of doctors and nurses. But the DOLE, through Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that "the brain drain of health professionals is nothing but mere perception," that rightfully elicited a harangued editorial from a major daily.
Now, Malacanang itself acknowledged that indeed we are now facing a serious medical crisis. However, merely acknowledging its presence, would not resolved the problem of impending collapse of the Philippine health care delivery system, we need to dig deeper on the root causes in order to came out with the right solutions immediately.
We in the Alliance of Health Workers is proposing the following measures that should be done immediately in order to avert the collapse of our health care delivery system:
1. Increase the budget for health, equivalent to at least 5% of the GNP as prescribed by the WHO. Our constitution prescribed that health is a basic right, and that the state shall provide for an affordable health services to all. The present P10.4B earmarked by the National Government for health is like salt being rubbed to the wounds of the Filipino people.
2. Re-nationalize the delivery of primary health care and assure full coverage of every barangay in the country. The heart and soul of a rationale and comprehensive public health care delivery system is on the prevention of the disease and maintenance of health, not in the curative and rehabilitative aspect.
3. Immediately implement the provisions of existing laws that raised the salaries and benefits of public health personnel. Republic Act 7305 (Magna Carta of Public Health Workers) had been enacted in 1992 yet until this time only in PGH that budget allocation for hazard pay and subsistence allowance were included in the annual national budget, although such allocation does not still include night differential, laundry, overtime pay, hospitalization and other allowances. How about agencies and hospitals under the DOH and the local government units? Also, the Nursing Act of 2002 that include raising the salaries of government nurses from P9,339.00 to P13,300.00 was yet to be implemented by any public health institution. Ask most of the nurses in the provinces and even here in Metro Manila and they will tell you that if only existing laws on health workers’ salaries and benefits were fully implemented, they would think twice before leaving the country.
4. Provide incentives to private hospitals, private practitioners and specialists that are serving our countrymen in depressed or remote areas. This proposal does not need any explanation why.
5. Implement a comprehensive Health Human Resource Development Plan and Management as provided under RA 7305. An effective health care delivery system need to have a comprehensive plan, starting from the determination of the number of students to take a specific health course, entry to a health profession and training of specialists, to deployment, career development and retirement.
6. Never enact a medical malpractice law. It has been proven in the United States that the only parties that benefited from the discriminatory malpractice law are the insurance companies but never the general public that it was supposed to protect. Even former US President Clinton during his incumbency uttered in exasperation that he regretted the enactment of such law. ###
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Public Health Workers Go BOLD For COLA Back Pay
Press Release
October 20, 2005
References: Mr. Jossel Ebesate, Secretary General, AHW CP # 09189276381
Ms. Emma Manuel, AHW PresidentCP # 09178008634
Hundreds of Public Health Workers from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), San Lazaro Hospital, National Center for Mental Health and other hospitals under the Department of Health (DOH) in their bold painted bodies gathered in front of the PGH today to press their demand to the government to pay their back pay of the cost of living allowance (COLA) amounting to P85,000.00 for each of the government employees. “The GMA government is hell bent in imposing E-VAT to the already impoverish Filipinos just to pay its foreign debts, but its debt to the health workers is taken for granted”, said Ms. Emma Manuel, AHW president.
The rallying public health workers lead by the All U.P. Workers Union and the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) demanded that the national government through the Department of Budget and Management and respective government agencies immediately release P1 Billion for an initial payment of COLA as prescribed by Cabinet memorandum dated September 9, 2005.
Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, President of the All UP Workers Union in Manila and Secretary General of the AHW concluded that: “Now is the time for the government to walk the talk that it cares for its own health care givers. If it really served the interest of the people, no other concrete example would suffice than paying its own debts to its own employees.”
It must be recalled that in 1989 during the implementation of R.A. 6758 (Salary Standardization Law), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) failed to publish in the National Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation the Implementing Rules and Regulations as required by law. It was only in 1999 and 2004 that said guidelines was published for employees in government owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and other government employees, respectively.
Said DBM guidelines stipulated among others that allowances and other income (COLA included) were already incorporated in the basic salary hence, the payment of which were no longer authorized, eliciting series of charges from concerned government employees that went all the way to the Supreme Court.Subsequently, in a series of Supreme Court decisions (7 as of last account) starting from De Jesus, et. al .vs. Commission on Audit (COA) in 1998 to PPA vs. COA on September 6, 2005, the Court consistently ruled that said DBM Guidelines were declared “ineffective” in the absence of publication, hence “inapplicable.”
The Court further ruled that: “in consonance of the equal protection clause of the Constitution, and considering that the employees were all similarly situated as to the matter of the COLA… they should all be treated similarly. All – not only incumbents as of July 1, 1989 – should be allowed to received back pay corresponding to the said benefits from July 1, 1989 to the new effectivity date…”
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Gloria Arroyo Taksil Sa Mga Manggagawang Pangkalusugan At Sa Masa, Patalsikin Na
Pahayag ng All-UP Workers Union Manila Chapter
Ika-8 ng Hulyo 2005
(This Position of the union was adopted by an expanded Chapter Executive Board Meeting on July 5, 2005 and finalized only today, July 19.)
“Nababagabag ako….” Ito ang mga katagang namutawi mula sa bibig ni Gng Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa isang makasaysayang gabi ng Hunyo 27, 2005, kung saan inamin niya ang pakikipag-usap sa isang opisyal ng Comelec noong panahon ng 2004 Eleksyon. Ngunit ang pag-aming ito ay kalahati lamang ng katotohanan ng sistematikong pakikipagsabwatan upang impluwensyahan ang eleksyon.
“Hindi ako magre-resign….”
Nagresulta ng pagdami ng mga kilos protesta upang malaman pa ang buong katotohanan sa likod nito at nanawagan ng kanyang pagbibitiw. . Ngunit patuloy siyang nagpanggap na kontrolado pa ang sitwasyon at hawak pa niya ang tiwala at kompiyansa ng mamamayan. At nito ngang nakalipas na linggo hinamon pa niya ang kanyang mga kabinete na magsipagbitiw na sa kanilang mga posisyon kung hindi na siya kinikilala ng mga ito.
Ang Pilipinas ay lugmok na sa kahirapan. Ito ay isang katotohanan na walang pasubali at walang kagatol-gatol na sasagutin ng bawat Pilipino ng “oo”. Bago pa man lumabas ang kontrobersyal na “Gloriagate tapes,” talamak na ang korapsyon at katiwalian sa pamahalaan at sumasadsad na ang ekonomiya. Ang mahirap ay patuloy na naghihirap at ang mga tiwaling nakaluklok sa kapangyarihan ay patuloy na nagkakamal ng salapi.
Si Gng. Arroyo ay kapit-tuko sa kanyang posisyon at ni katiting na balak mag-resign sa puwesto ay wala. Nagkasala si Gng Arroyo sa Sambayanan at dapat lang siyang managot. Kapag tayo ay magsawalang kibo sa mga nangyayari ay para na rin nating sinabi na magsawalang kibo na lang tayo sa mga katiwalian at sa lahat ng gumagawa ng kasalanan sa ating lipunan.
Bantad na ang mamamayan sa kahirapan at tayong mga manggagawang pangkalusugan ay hindi naiiba sa ganitong kalagayan. Ang mga benipisyong matagal nang dapat naibigay sa atin ay patuloy na ipinagkakait sa kabila ng legalidad sa likod nito, kagaya ng COLA, libreng pagpapa-ospital at iba pang mga benipisyo. Ang P3000 across-the-board monthly salary increase na matagal na rin nating ipinaglalaban ay nakabinbin pa rin sa Kongreso at ni isang sentimo na pagtaas ng sweldo nating mga kawani ay wala tayong natanggap sa kasalukuyang rehimen.
Ang anumang sandaling pananatili ni Gng Arroyo sa poder ay lalo lamang magsasadlak sa atin sa ibayong kahirapan at mga paglulubid ng kasinungalingan tungkol sa ating ekonomiya.
Hanggang kailan magtitiis at aasa ang mga Pilipino na isang araw ay magbabago ang takbo ng kanilang buhay? Sa kasaysayan ng mga dakilang bansa sa buong mundo, ang mga ordinaryong mamamayan ang siyang nag-uukit ng kanilang kasaysayan tungo sa kadakilaan at kaunlaran. Nasa ating mga kamay kung gayon ang ating kinabukasan. Kung hindi tayo kikilos at gagawa ng aksyon ngayon; sino ang kikilos para sa atin, at kailan pa?
Tayo ay nanawagang patalsikin na si Gng Arroyo sa Malacañang at bumuo ng isang Transition Government na magpapatakbo ng pamahalaan. Isang pamahalaan na mapagkalinga sa mamamayan, hindi ng interes ng dayuhan at iilan; at kumakatawan sa lahat na sektor ng lipunang Pilipino.
Peke at taksil na Pangulo, bumaba ka na sa puwesto bago mo matikman ang paniningil ng Sambayanan!
Ika-8 ng Hulyo 2005
(This Position of the union was adopted by an expanded Chapter Executive Board Meeting on July 5, 2005 and finalized only today, July 19.)
“Nababagabag ako….” Ito ang mga katagang namutawi mula sa bibig ni Gng Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa isang makasaysayang gabi ng Hunyo 27, 2005, kung saan inamin niya ang pakikipag-usap sa isang opisyal ng Comelec noong panahon ng 2004 Eleksyon. Ngunit ang pag-aming ito ay kalahati lamang ng katotohanan ng sistematikong pakikipagsabwatan upang impluwensyahan ang eleksyon.
“Hindi ako magre-resign….”
Nagresulta ng pagdami ng mga kilos protesta upang malaman pa ang buong katotohanan sa likod nito at nanawagan ng kanyang pagbibitiw. . Ngunit patuloy siyang nagpanggap na kontrolado pa ang sitwasyon at hawak pa niya ang tiwala at kompiyansa ng mamamayan. At nito ngang nakalipas na linggo hinamon pa niya ang kanyang mga kabinete na magsipagbitiw na sa kanilang mga posisyon kung hindi na siya kinikilala ng mga ito.
Ang Pilipinas ay lugmok na sa kahirapan. Ito ay isang katotohanan na walang pasubali at walang kagatol-gatol na sasagutin ng bawat Pilipino ng “oo”. Bago pa man lumabas ang kontrobersyal na “Gloriagate tapes,” talamak na ang korapsyon at katiwalian sa pamahalaan at sumasadsad na ang ekonomiya. Ang mahirap ay patuloy na naghihirap at ang mga tiwaling nakaluklok sa kapangyarihan ay patuloy na nagkakamal ng salapi.
Si Gng. Arroyo ay kapit-tuko sa kanyang posisyon at ni katiting na balak mag-resign sa puwesto ay wala. Nagkasala si Gng Arroyo sa Sambayanan at dapat lang siyang managot. Kapag tayo ay magsawalang kibo sa mga nangyayari ay para na rin nating sinabi na magsawalang kibo na lang tayo sa mga katiwalian at sa lahat ng gumagawa ng kasalanan sa ating lipunan.
Bantad na ang mamamayan sa kahirapan at tayong mga manggagawang pangkalusugan ay hindi naiiba sa ganitong kalagayan. Ang mga benipisyong matagal nang dapat naibigay sa atin ay patuloy na ipinagkakait sa kabila ng legalidad sa likod nito, kagaya ng COLA, libreng pagpapa-ospital at iba pang mga benipisyo. Ang P3000 across-the-board monthly salary increase na matagal na rin nating ipinaglalaban ay nakabinbin pa rin sa Kongreso at ni isang sentimo na pagtaas ng sweldo nating mga kawani ay wala tayong natanggap sa kasalukuyang rehimen.
Ang anumang sandaling pananatili ni Gng Arroyo sa poder ay lalo lamang magsasadlak sa atin sa ibayong kahirapan at mga paglulubid ng kasinungalingan tungkol sa ating ekonomiya.
Hanggang kailan magtitiis at aasa ang mga Pilipino na isang araw ay magbabago ang takbo ng kanilang buhay? Sa kasaysayan ng mga dakilang bansa sa buong mundo, ang mga ordinaryong mamamayan ang siyang nag-uukit ng kanilang kasaysayan tungo sa kadakilaan at kaunlaran. Nasa ating mga kamay kung gayon ang ating kinabukasan. Kung hindi tayo kikilos at gagawa ng aksyon ngayon; sino ang kikilos para sa atin, at kailan pa?
Tayo ay nanawagang patalsikin na si Gng Arroyo sa Malacañang at bumuo ng isang Transition Government na magpapatakbo ng pamahalaan. Isang pamahalaan na mapagkalinga sa mamamayan, hindi ng interes ng dayuhan at iilan; at kumakatawan sa lahat na sektor ng lipunang Pilipino.
Peke at taksil na Pangulo, bumaba ka na sa puwesto bago mo matikman ang paniningil ng Sambayanan!
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
RECLAIMING OUR NATION
by: Dr. Minguita Padilla
I voted for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Not only did I vote for her, I believe that I actually contributed in a definite way to her campaign, small as this may have been.
I voted for President Arroyo, not so much because I was convinced she was the best of the lot; but more because of fear. I feared that a vote against her would be a vote for Fernando Poe, Jr. who, at that time, I believed to be the greater evil; not so much because of his person who history has since judged to have been a good man with a noble heart and a sincere desire to serve our country.
No. Like many, I feared FPJ because of his inexperience and especially because of many of the people behind him who history had already shown to be opportunists who would take advantage of even the most noble of intentions to achieve the darkest of deeds. I voted defensively.
However, it was a defensive vote that carried with it the hope that by giving Gloria Arroyo a clear and true mandate, she would perform as a good president should; with only the best interest of our nation and its people in mind. I did it for love of country.
But the events of the last several months, especially those of the last month, have been enough to almost cause me to throw in the towel and declare, like so many of our countrymen, that indeed we are a hopeless nation. It is only the fighter and the dreamer in me that makes me hold on.
We are a battered people; battered by administration after administration that has betrayed our dreams and shot down our hopes since we fought for our freedom in EDSA I. It is a "learned helplessness" that seems to have taken over the majority of our people, now grown cynical and numb in the face of scandal afters candal that has rocked the last two administrations. But we cannot allow anyone to rob us of hope. We do that and we loose everything.
Shocking as they may be, the latest jueteng scandal now being investigated in the Senate as well as the taped phone conversations of the President that allegedly point to her giving instructions to a Comelec official to cheat during the last elections; are but the symptoms of a cancer that has slowly and insidiously taken over our land and our people simply because we have allowed it to: namely corruption.
A cancer is like a monster. Feed it and indulge it long enough, and it grows to unmanageable proportions so that one day, the food you give it will no longer suffice and the monster ends up devouring the very person who feeds it. This is the very principal that has led many of the jueteng lords and operators to finally comeout and turn state witness. They are now apparently seeking to turn a new leaf because the payola to their "protectors" in government has grown so big that it has come to a point where the profits they make are no longer worth the risk and the burden on their conscience.
Cancers, monsters, and corrupt public officials; they are all the same. They are driven by an insatiable hunger that ultimately consumes everything, including them.
The fact that the greed of our corrupt public officials on "the take" from jueteng operations has grown exponentially during the last four years points to a total lack of political will to stop this practice. For an administration that came into power because of the outrage of our people upon learning that its president then was on "the take"from this illegal numbers game, this fact is not only dismal, it reeksof a grave betrayal of public trust.
Should the taped conversation prove to be authentic, the brazen way the instructions for cheating were being given by the President to a Comelec official is again a symptom of how blasé we have become as a nation to corruption such that the Head of State and an official trusted to safeguard our votes would think nothing of mocking one of the most sacred rights of our people.
And even sadder is that very few groups save those with vested interests, are publicly demanding to get to the bottom of this serious charge. Could it be because we are still stunned at what we are witnessing? Or could it be that we have descended to such abysmal depths as a nation that we are no longer capable of outrage?
We are in another major crossroads and we, citizens of good will who have not yet given up hope, must reclaim our nation. We must complete the unfinished EDSA I revolution that lacked an essential element; namely a transformation of heart. We do nothing now and we may again see our country held hostage by yet another group of people only too eager to oust the present regime just so that they can do exactly what they are condemning the present leadership for.
We need to be united as a nation during these difficult times. But it cannot be a "unity" that is achieved at the expense of truth and justice; a unity that simply helps to propagate all that is wrong withour present system. If we must be united let it be in demanding that our leadership set things straight and stop skirting issues by fighting accusations only with counter-accusations.
Let us demand that we be given the truth for a change. We have turned a blind eye long enough and this is where it has led us.
Like most Filipinos, I so desire to see our country get back on the right path. I wish to see the sanctity of the ballot protected, the dignity of our institutions restored, our constitution respected, and our nation's soul reclaimed. I am not a destabilizer. I am simply aFilipino who refuses to give up hope.
I therefore beg the presidentto submit these taped telephone conversations for authentication by independent, international agencies. Nothing good will come from leaving it all to the NBI. At this point, even they are suspect. If the version wherein she is speaking to the Comelec official is proven false, then everybody stands to gain. She would be vindicated and we would perhaps learn how to trust again.
However, should it be proven authentic then she would be guilty of an impeachable offense. Should this be the case then she should do what is decent and best for our country. She must step down.
Dr. Minguita Padilla, Founder and President of the Eye Bank, is also President of Sinag, a People's Crusade for Good Governance. She is also a consultant of the Department of Ophthalmology, UP-PGH. Email: minguita@pacific.net.ph.
I voted for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Not only did I vote for her, I believe that I actually contributed in a definite way to her campaign, small as this may have been.
I voted for President Arroyo, not so much because I was convinced she was the best of the lot; but more because of fear. I feared that a vote against her would be a vote for Fernando Poe, Jr. who, at that time, I believed to be the greater evil; not so much because of his person who history has since judged to have been a good man with a noble heart and a sincere desire to serve our country.
No. Like many, I feared FPJ because of his inexperience and especially because of many of the people behind him who history had already shown to be opportunists who would take advantage of even the most noble of intentions to achieve the darkest of deeds. I voted defensively.
However, it was a defensive vote that carried with it the hope that by giving Gloria Arroyo a clear and true mandate, she would perform as a good president should; with only the best interest of our nation and its people in mind. I did it for love of country.
But the events of the last several months, especially those of the last month, have been enough to almost cause me to throw in the towel and declare, like so many of our countrymen, that indeed we are a hopeless nation. It is only the fighter and the dreamer in me that makes me hold on.
We are a battered people; battered by administration after administration that has betrayed our dreams and shot down our hopes since we fought for our freedom in EDSA I. It is a "learned helplessness" that seems to have taken over the majority of our people, now grown cynical and numb in the face of scandal afters candal that has rocked the last two administrations. But we cannot allow anyone to rob us of hope. We do that and we loose everything.
Shocking as they may be, the latest jueteng scandal now being investigated in the Senate as well as the taped phone conversations of the President that allegedly point to her giving instructions to a Comelec official to cheat during the last elections; are but the symptoms of a cancer that has slowly and insidiously taken over our land and our people simply because we have allowed it to: namely corruption.
A cancer is like a monster. Feed it and indulge it long enough, and it grows to unmanageable proportions so that one day, the food you give it will no longer suffice and the monster ends up devouring the very person who feeds it. This is the very principal that has led many of the jueteng lords and operators to finally comeout and turn state witness. They are now apparently seeking to turn a new leaf because the payola to their "protectors" in government has grown so big that it has come to a point where the profits they make are no longer worth the risk and the burden on their conscience.
Cancers, monsters, and corrupt public officials; they are all the same. They are driven by an insatiable hunger that ultimately consumes everything, including them.
The fact that the greed of our corrupt public officials on "the take" from jueteng operations has grown exponentially during the last four years points to a total lack of political will to stop this practice. For an administration that came into power because of the outrage of our people upon learning that its president then was on "the take"from this illegal numbers game, this fact is not only dismal, it reeksof a grave betrayal of public trust.
Should the taped conversation prove to be authentic, the brazen way the instructions for cheating were being given by the President to a Comelec official is again a symptom of how blasé we have become as a nation to corruption such that the Head of State and an official trusted to safeguard our votes would think nothing of mocking one of the most sacred rights of our people.
And even sadder is that very few groups save those with vested interests, are publicly demanding to get to the bottom of this serious charge. Could it be because we are still stunned at what we are witnessing? Or could it be that we have descended to such abysmal depths as a nation that we are no longer capable of outrage?
We are in another major crossroads and we, citizens of good will who have not yet given up hope, must reclaim our nation. We must complete the unfinished EDSA I revolution that lacked an essential element; namely a transformation of heart. We do nothing now and we may again see our country held hostage by yet another group of people only too eager to oust the present regime just so that they can do exactly what they are condemning the present leadership for.
We need to be united as a nation during these difficult times. But it cannot be a "unity" that is achieved at the expense of truth and justice; a unity that simply helps to propagate all that is wrong withour present system. If we must be united let it be in demanding that our leadership set things straight and stop skirting issues by fighting accusations only with counter-accusations.
Let us demand that we be given the truth for a change. We have turned a blind eye long enough and this is where it has led us.
Like most Filipinos, I so desire to see our country get back on the right path. I wish to see the sanctity of the ballot protected, the dignity of our institutions restored, our constitution respected, and our nation's soul reclaimed. I am not a destabilizer. I am simply aFilipino who refuses to give up hope.
I therefore beg the presidentto submit these taped telephone conversations for authentication by independent, international agencies. Nothing good will come from leaving it all to the NBI. At this point, even they are suspect. If the version wherein she is speaking to the Comelec official is proven false, then everybody stands to gain. She would be vindicated and we would perhaps learn how to trust again.
However, should it be proven authentic then she would be guilty of an impeachable offense. Should this be the case then she should do what is decent and best for our country. She must step down.
Dr. Minguita Padilla, Founder and President of the Eye Bank, is also President of Sinag, a People's Crusade for Good Governance. She is also a consultant of the Department of Ophthalmology, UP-PGH. Email: minguita@pacific.net.ph.
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