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Thursday, February 2, 2012

So Much Energy, Time Wasted

Chaff from the Grain
So Much Energy, Time Wasted
By HECTOR R.R. VILLANUEVA FORMER PRESS SECRETARY

“Sometimes it all comes down to ego, doesn’t it? Forget checks and balance, ego’s the great equalizer.” — Robert Ludlum

MANILA, Philippines — If it is true that the Philippines is approaching the 100-million population density, the urgency to restructure society and the economy can no longer be delayed.

When the mountains are bald, and there is very little vegetation left to trap the abundant rainfall that will provide the nutrients to the soil, the result is invariably catasthrophic flooding, mudslides, and devastation of agricultural lands and property.

With the annual population growth rate of 2.4 percent, which is one of the world’s highest, unemployed and underemployed “poor” people in the country now account for two-thirds of the total population.

In the meantime, the Senate and the House of Representatives, apart from collecting their allowances or sitting as senator-judges in the on-going impeachment trial, have yet to buckle down to work and get on with the legislative agenda.

Added to these aggravations, criminality, insurgency, corruption, rising prices, the Spratlys, and Palace intramurals tend to divert the attention of and hobble the administration for lack of determination, leadership, and focus by President Benigno Aquino III.

Nonetheless, despite these aberrational problems, the economy is resilient and surviving while the country remains relatively stable politically.

When all is said and done, with our teeming population and poverty so much energy and time will be wasted first in pursuing the conviction and ouster of Chief Justice Renato Corona from the Supreme Court, which will not help the poor materially, and thereafter will be the protracted plunder cases of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo which may drag on till the end of the year.

As we write , new babies are born, and more poor people to feed.

What happens then to the economy and the welfare of the poor that all politicians swear that their salvation is their mission in life?

At the end of the day, with compassion for the poor, and malice to none, “What profits the man,” according to the Bible, “if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul?” For President Benigno Aquino, what price revenge?

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BY THE WAY
The rumor circulating around town is that the Prosecution team in the impeachment trial will not wait to hear all 8 complaints in the Articles of Impeachment.... If the Chief Justice gets nailed on the SALN issue or discrepancies in his ITR, the prosecution will go for the jugular, and force the issue, and press for voting and conviction....

Incidentally, it is an uncanny coincidence that the ousted, maligned, and tarred ex-NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula, and the head of the defense panel of the Chief Justice Renato Corona impeachment trial, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Serafin Cuevas, are both ranking members of Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC).... Justice Serafin Cuevas is one of the senior advisers of the Chief Minister Ka Eduardo Manalo of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.... There is more than meets the eye in these developments....

By the way, the dictionary defines “Asperger’s Syndrome” as “a rare and relatively mild autistic disorder characterized by awkwardness in social interaction, pedantry in speech, and preoccupation with very narrow interests.” This physical disorder was discovered by Austrian psychiatrist, Dr. Hans Asperger in 1944....

With the ouster of Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman as Minority Floor Leader of the moribund opposition Lakas-NUCD-Kampi Party, detained party leader Pampanga Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has lost an articulate advocate, brilliant lawyer, veteran legislator, and a loyal member.... The Albay solon will be an effective asset and ally to any political party.... At the rate the members are deserting the party, it is feared that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be left with only her two congressmen sons and Rep. Danny Suarez.... Abangan....
You be the judge

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( For comments and views please e-mailchaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)

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