Appalling callousness

To Take A Stand

By Mario Antonio G. Lopez

THE ARTICLE I had wanted to write for this week was to have been a continuation of the upbeat article I wrote three weeks ago ("Every little bit counts") for which I got very good feedback. Heaven knows there are enough good things happening in our country we should be happy about and that give us much hope.

But then ugly events occur to remind us never to let our guard down at anytime during these times of great social change, for there are those who think themselves exempt from the demands of social change. And there are those who do not like the social change we are working for because the changes get in the way of their vested interests.

No, I am not referring to the uglier aspects of human behavior that the heavy rains and the floods brought about. I am referring to what can only be termed as the intermittent surfacing of deeply rooted uglier aspects of our culture in behavior and decisions that point to a culture of entitlement and a deep seated callousness towards the suffering of the marginalized and the threatened among our people.

We elected a person to the presidency who promised a return to the straight and narrow path of good governance. The majority of us voted for him because of what he stood for, for what he represented. The majority, including myself, continue to support him because even for the initial fumbling and the controversial behavior, he has, in our minds, remained true to his word. That he has done things to unsettle our sense of smooth interpersonal relationships is something that is long over-due. Here is a man who has decided, even if not yet consistently, to call a spade a spade.

But unfortunately there are those around him who nod their heads in assent at his requests, his orders and his pronouncements but quickly turn around and do the opposite, comfortable perhaps in the knowledge that with the thousand and one things that call his attention, he is likely to miss many acts which, done quietly and within the hidden world of government procurement, can be carried out to completion.

A few days ago Senator Peter Cayetano stunned us when he brought to our attention that the Commission on Elections (Comelec), already under the klieg lights because of the still-unsettled controversy over the reliability of the precinct count optical scan machines (yes, those controversial automated voting contraptions brought in during the GMA administration), had apparently approved a very big budget for refurbishing their summer cottages in Baguio City.

If Cayetano’s figures are correct, the budget is around P4.3 million, broken down into the purchase of P3.35 million worth of seven king- and 17 queen-sized beds and 20 double deck beds. The king-sized beds cost P91,250 each while the queen-sized beds cost P84,600 each. However one chooses to look at it, the cost per unit is luxurious (and we are not even talking possible overpricing yet).

Then there are other pieces of furniture: 30 pieces of accent chairs with arm rests; three sets of living room furniture; three sets of reception tables with chairs; round and rectangular dining tables with chairs; curtains and blinds; and, I am told but need to verify, wine/champagne stem ware.

To cap it all, there is also a budget of P7 million for luxury vehicles.

At a time when many of our people are suffering from the lashing of heavy rains and floods, losing homes and hard-earned assets; at a time when people are looking for investments in sustainable economic activities; at a time when hundreds of thousands of children go through the day with less than three good meals a day and have to go to rundown schools with no school materials and textbooks, the P11.3 million requested by the Comelec for the items identified is an unjustifiable extravagance.

Many of the big business associations have decided, this early, to cancel Christmas parties and reallocate the party budgets to relief and rehabilitation contributions. One would think that our highest government officials would have the sensitivity to do likewise.

But the roots of this sense of entitlement run deep and have long, long histories. My first exposure to this was when I worked with government in the 1970s. I was appalled at the ease with which head office officials budgeted money for new four door six-cylinder sedans even while they had perfectly operational ones, postponing the purchase of badly needed operations transport in the field.

I was dismayed at the amounts spent for carpeting the offices of senior officers while requests for fixing rural health clinics went unattended. I saw the resentment in the eyes of our field people when they were told that their requests for equipment repair were not granted after they had heard that new equipment had been installed in headquarters and that new appliances had been purchased for use in head office. "Ano’ng mukha ang ipapakita natin sa mga bisita?" said one of my bosses when I questioned many of these expenses. My counter question, "Ano ang mukha’ng ihaharap natin sa ating mga kasama sa field? Sila na gumagawa ng tunay na trabajo ng opisinang ito?" was met with a disdainful stare.

To this day, I encounter that variant of the wang-wang syndrome. The official who insists that an elevator be kept solely for his use when he arrives; officials who think that their vehicles must reflect the high levels of their office; officials who expect that doors be opened for them and that paths be cleared for them when they arrived so they need not say, "Excuse me," as they pass.

This president most of us voted in and continue to support is only one person. Powerful as he is, he cannot change everything that needs changing. He will need our support and our clear signals that, indeed, we truly appreciate the initiatives he is taking and that we support wholeheartedly the projects of change he has started.

We need to remember that we voted him into office because we liked, we wanted the promise of change he represented. By helping him we are being true to that vision that sparked us to participate and vote for him. By helping him we are being true to the vision we psychologically formed with him.

Part of that psychological contract we made is that we not only speak up in praise when he does well and acts right. The harder part of that contract is the promise that we shall speak our minds, politely but firmly, when we think he or his trusted team strays or are about to stray.

If the essence of leadership is the effective interaction between leaders and followers, let us be sure our leaders remain good and true, by we ourselves, the followers, remaining good and true.