10/02/2011
Isn’t it idiotic for a leader
of a very poor nation to be donating $1 million to a very rich country
such as Japan while his people are suffering from a calamity caused by
the typhoon and needed such funds to alleviate their sufferings? The
amount of $1 million or its equivalent of P42 million spent as donation
could have come a long way to provide the needs such as food, clothing
and temporary shelter for the people in Calumpit and Obando in Bulacan
and so many other affected areas of the country. Lack of funds has
always been the problem of government whenever there is calamity that
befall our country and the squandering of precious resources by no other
than the highest official of the land just to show his brand of
braggadocio is unthinkable.
I wonder if the Japanese who were
supposed to be the beneficiaries of the $1 million really appreciated
the gesture after knowing that the owners of the donated fund, the
Filipino people, needed it badly and more than they do.
Another
idiotic situation is the inaction of three agencies of government,
namely, Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), Department of Health
(DoH) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). These agencies should
have been at the forefront of providing the much needed help and
benefits mandated under Republic Act 10022. However, as pointed out by
members of the House of Representatives in a hearing conducted by the
committee on oversees workers affairs, the said agencies, especially the
DoH, were too slow in coming up with the implementing rules, thereby
resulting in a virtual monopoly of a group in a medical clinic, GGC
Approved Medical Centers (Gamca). The association has controlled and
made itself as the only group of clinics that will conduct examinations
and check-ups of OFWs for the purpose of securing the medical
certificate which will be used as a requirement for the issuance of
visas by the countries in the Gulf such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.....
MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL:
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111002com5.html