Fend for yourselves!?

“ I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. ”

—Will Rogers

I read with absolute disgust the article that came out of the front page of yesterday's (May 5) issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled “ Poor told: Fend for yourselves”.

In the article, the Arroyo government is urging the impoverished Filipinos to yes “FEND FOR YOURSELVES”! In these times of severe crisis, the government is now saying that the Filipinos especially the poor should not blame the government and instead focus our efforts to yes, “FEND FOR OURSELVES”!

For the benefit of those who haven't read the PDI article below is an excerpt:

“Malacañang is urging the lowly Filipino masses to "fend for themselves" by working harder to get through the tough economic times instead of blaming the government for their woes.”

‘We encourage our fellow Filipinos to work harder on their own try to strive to get jobs and do the best under the situation to fend for themselves,' said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in a briefing in a Malacañang.

‘We Filipinos are known for our strength of character and resiliency to be able to stand up to trying moments such as this. This is not the first time that we are finding difficulties,' said Ermita who recalled the economic crises from the 1960s to the 1980s.

‘Somehow we pulled through and we are confident that if we try hard enough instead of blaming many people or any agency for this we will improve our conditions.'

‘They cannot improve their lives by putting the blame on anybody especially on government when factors that contribute to such state right now are not really done by government but by factors beyond the control of government such as rising prices,' Ermita said.”

Whew! Can you believe that?! This is another for “Onli in the Pilipins”. This is practically like the government saying – “We have no hand in why there is widespread poverty and we are sorry we can't do anything to help you on your plight.” It makes me wonder why we have government in the first place.

To remind President Arroyo and other government leaders, here is what the preamble of our Constitution states:

“We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.”

The Arroyo administration instead of serving the interest of its people as mandated by the very Constitution that established this very government is now saying it can't do so. It is even washing its hands saying we can't blame this government for the depth of this pit we are in now. Further, this administration is saying that most of the problems are caused by “factors beyond the control of government”.

Is this government saying that it is in no way responsible to these crises the nation and the people are encountering now? Is it not that what led to these crises are mainly the policies of this same government?

Take for example the economic policies of privatization and deregulation that led to increases in the rates in electricity, water, petroleum products and basic commodities. And the policy of trade liberalization that continue to hurt the country's different industries particularly agriculture that in turn resulted to increase in unemployment and labor dislocation.

How about this government's spending and debt policies that prioritize spending for debt payments above the needs of the economy and the people such as health care, education and housing. This year more than 56% of this government's spending will be for the servicing of interests and principal of the country's debt, a big part of which are anomalous and fraudulently acquired.

What rubs salt to the deep wound is the fact that we just commemorated the International Labor Day in honor of the majority who are workers – workers who toil despite meager wages and harsh working conditions not to mention the workers who remain unemployed. The current minimum wage is way below the cost of living, now the government is saying we, workers, need to work harder?!

Lastly, YES we Filipinos are resilient and strong, and we have weathered so many crises. In fact, it seems that the Filipinos have been living in a perpetual state of crises. But this is not a license to plunder the people more and remain blind to its plight. And more than that, this does not take away the responsibility of this government to the Filipinos.

(For comments and suggestions, please email ianseruelo@yahoo.com or send SMS to 0919-348-6337.)