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Batas Mauricio

I HAVE been saying this for a long time, and I will say it again: the claims by President Aquino about the supposed triumph of his “righteous governance” program is but a mere figment of his imagination. This is assessment is not just mine, of course, but shared by many other thinking Filipinos.

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The truth is greatly contrary to what he has been trumpeting about, here in the Philippines and even internationally. Instead of righteous governance, the Aquino government has only succeeded in strengthening and institutionalizing corrupt officialdom, what with billions and billions of pesos in government fund being pocketed by favored allies, particularly  lawmakers who  belong to his Liberal Party, and those who  kowtow  to his wishes no matter how odious.

The system of thievery, though  branded by Aquino and his cohorts with highly pompous and righteous sounding names such as “priority development assistance fund” (PDAF) and “disbursement acceleration program” (DAP), had been unmasked by the Supreme Court no less, which called it pure and simple violations of the Constitution.

This is the very system that many individuals and groups are now seeking to overthrow. The belief is that, unless the present system of government, the present system of choosing our officials, and the present crop of political leaders, are changed, our country is headed for inevitable destruction.

But how do we go about achieving a change that will really be beneficial to our country and our people? We must not forget that when President Marcos was ousted in 1986, we thought then that the country would already change for the better, with the “dictatorial” government replaced with a “democratic” government.

Yet, the whole world saw that those who were installed in place of Marcos did not really want any change in the system of corrupt governance, for what they merely wanted was to change the man at the helm so that they, themselves, would have a chance at enjoying the perks of power.

The same thing happened when President Estrada was removed from the presidency. We thought that the leader who replaced him would already bring beneficial change, only to be rebuked roundly once again. Clearly, it is not just any change that will give our people a new direction in life. The change must be beneficial.

Again, what is the change that would be beneficial to all? My view is that, it is only a change in the spirituality of our people as a whole, not just of our leaders, that is required, if we are to derive any benefit at all. We must be able to induce Filipinos to return to God, through an honest-to-goodness knowledge of His Word and obedience to His commands.

It is only when Filipinos would undergo a spiritual rebirth, by being born of God, literally and figuratively, that beneficial change will come to them. If Filipinos will start thinking of the Word of God, living by It, and obeying It all throughout, problems will start solving themselves, and things will change really for the better.

For the longest time I can remember, Filipinos have been ruled by officials who are clearly incompetent, inept, corrupt, and who have no qualms about cheating their way to office and, if their terms have run out, about maneuvering so their husbands, wives, sons and daughters, and even brothers and sisters and, at times, their parents, substituting them as candidates.

The question really is, why are Filipinos governed by these kinds of politicians? Better yet, how come Filipinos have been submissive to these kinds of political leaders? I am sure our countrymen know the character of the politicians soliciting their votes every election time, and know that many of them are really rotten to the core.

Yet, how come Filipinos have been installing the same politicians over and over again? How come Filipinos seem to have been meekly accepting these politicians, as if there were no other more competent, more qualified, and more righteous, candidates? What, really, is wrong with Filipino voters?

I guess that nobody would be willing to admit that something is wrong with him, as a voter, as a father, mother, son, daughter, or as a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines. But then, with the kind of political system that we have now, including the kind of system of electing our political leaders, we cannot deny that something is gravely wrong with all of us.

Indeed, when officials who have no background at all on administrative work, on legislation, or even on the presidency,  get elected, even overwhelmingly sometimes, something is wrong, not only with the electorate, but more so with the person who got elected by the people despite his lack of qualification and competence.

How can someone who knows he cannot do the job even aspire to be elected, to a position which requires a lot of mental work and which demands tons of integrity and righteousness to avoid succumbing to temptations? And how can our people, unless cheated massively through instruments like the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines whose security features have been removed, even vote for these officials?

Is there a way out of this socio-political malady which has gripped, literally and figuratively, the entire Filipino nation by the neck? My belief is that, yes, there is a way out of this problem, to enable all sectors of Filipinos, particularly the poor and the marginalized, to be governed by truly good men, and then tread the path of success and prosperity.

Filipinos should be taught that good leaders–those who will really work and care for the interest of their countrymen, not of their own interests or the interests alone of their families–are those whose way of life are governed by spirituality, or those who read the Word of God, the Bible, and then obey the commands written therein.

Filipinos should learn that knowing God’s commands and living their lives around those commands are the only sure-fire formulas that would empower them not only with economic advancement and material prosperity, but with peace and contentment that would remove greed and man’s hunger for power and influence, oftentimes the root of graft and corruption.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com

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