04/26/2010
Over family dinner at an Italian restaurant in Tagaytay, one of our twins, Andrei, recounted his little tragic-comedy. At a hamburger joint where he asked to be picked up recently, he saw his burger gone in a jiffy after he left it at his table to approach the counter for something. Apparently, a small street urchin slipped past security and snagged his burger like a gust of wind. The guard couldn’t move fast enough while Andrei didn’t think the poor tyke, who quickly disappeared into a corner, was worth running after either.
Just a week earlier, an opinion survey on poverty and hunger produced an enigma. SWS’ latest poll showed self-rated poverty down while hunger incidence remaining at relatively historic highs. Given these two contradictory findings, even those who conducted the survey had to explain to themselves how these came about. And just as I thought, they surmised that the Filipino poor have so adjusted to the new lows in their food sufficiency, or lack thereof, that being without food for a day or two within a month no longer felt like “being poor.” But, as Andrei’s story reflects, hungry kids, who are never interviewed by the pollsters, know better: The insistent, gnawing pains of hunger are enough to even overcome the fear of the consequences of stealing.
The only candidate in the presidential race stressing time and again the issue of food security, particularly support for agricultural production, is President Joseph Estrada. His frequent mantra, “A hungry stomach knows no law,” is a testament to this. In contrast, the Yellow dummy Aquinorroyo, who repeatedly mouths his “I will not steal” line and his promise of personal honesty (which appeal to the hopelessly naïve but made absolutely doubtful by his behest BSA security contracts and complicity in the Luisita real estate swindle), merely skirts the really critical socio-economic issues and avoids addressing them. Villarroyo, meanwhile, while promising to “end hardship” (kahirapan), will never dare admit that ending poverty is something neither Christ nor Mao Zedong could ever promise their people.
Understanding that hunger is the main issue is to understand the real crisis of those who have lost their voice in society — the poorest and the most vulnerable of the poor, the children who constitute this nation’s future brain and brawn. By the hunger they face today, our next generation will be weak not only in body but also in mind. Thus, instead of being a boon, they will only be a burden to the nation.
Unfortunately, not too many of our so-called young and upcoming leaders appreciate the essential gravity of this problem. Take Chiz Escudero, who is said to be supporting a “Noy-Bi” ticket. In an obvious dig at Mar Roxas, he explains that he doesn’t want someone who is “rich and ilustrado;” as if his chosen bet isn’t “rich and ilustrado” to begin with, and of a cacique and hacendero upbringing to boot. Evidently, Escudero’s shallow gibberish shows that he just doesn’t get it and is only playing trapo politics.
Today, one in four Filipino families experiences a day or more of involuntary hunger every month, making a food security believer desperately needed — someone like President Joseph Estrada. In two weeks’ time, we should know who’s taking charge, or will we?
With ghost precincts still being discovered; with a PCOS (that has malfunctioned 10 percent of the time in Hong Kong) stripped of its automatic ballot ID scanner and manual UV light inspection (the human factor that Comelec even mocked to justify full automation), which cannot even read slight imperfections in filled-up circles (as the scanner cannot decipher UV marks that are just micro-millimeters off), which is moreover stripped of its vote confirmation screen and button; and with up to 40 percent of unused ballots being utilized by the usual vote cheats (bolstered by the absence of any paper trail), will we ever know who really won?
Why are we putting up with this PCOS and Comelec lemon? When some Toyota cars were found defective, its company recalled millions of units for fixing. Laptops we buy come with a guarantee that the unit is automatically replaced once any defect is found within a month.
Comelec’s automation rubbish has had so many defects and change of specifications that it is no longer recognizable from the original proposed model and system. Why then are we being forced to adapt to the winning bidder’s changes and not the other way around? Why is an entire nation hostaged by the Comelec and Smartmatic’s appalling incompetence?
Comelec has promised to proclaim the presidential winner within 24 hours or so, regardless of any controversy that arises. But this hostages the entire country again to its proclamation whim. But then, this will also bring us closer to revolution.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on “PCOS and AES: Final Evaluation” with Mano Alcuaz and Obet Versola; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
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