Strawberry Fields Forever

I have never wanted to blog about politics. I have enough angst as it is on our government and i don't want my blog to be tainted by something as dirty as pinoy politics. Everytime I look at my payslip and see the taxes I am obliged to pay, i get really , really frustrated. I am giving 30% of my salary, and yet i do not see any positive change. It is disheartening to witness as the poor becomes poorer and the politicians become richer and more powerful.

I bear this burden every single day of my life: jaded that no matter what i do, things will never change for my country; that we are doomed to be forever third world, constantly bullied and pushed over by the more powerful nations. The only comfort i had was at least i had facebook and twitter where i can complain every payday about how my taxes are going to waste.

And then came the Cybercrime Prevention Law. In essence, the libel clause of this law can send someone to jail for 12 years for giving your honest negative opinion of the government. I will not even delve on how angry i am about this law as i want this entry to be cuss free. Suffice to say that i am very angry and enraged that some lawmakers actually had the audacity to sign this and make this law a reality!!!

It seems that our lawmakers should set their priorities straight. We are a very poor, unproductive country. This new law does not address our biggest problem: POVERTY. So with all due respect, senators and house representatives, and even you mr. President, i would like to recommend that you look into these issues first and make laws with due haste (like what you did with the cybercrime law) that will address these urgent concerns:

1. Increase the quality of education - make laws that will give additional benefits for teachers. Better yet, raise their salaries! Give them an incentive to do their jobs well! Increase your standards in hiring public school teachers, do not settle for scraps. Remember, these are people who will shape the people of tomorrow. We want intelligent, productive people, right? Unless you feel that the uneducated masses can better serve your purpose????

2. Like with the teachers, increase the quality of our police force and army! Increase the salaries of our policemen and soldiers to keep them from temptation!

3. Make a law that will prevent hospitals from charging registered nurses fees for actually working for them just for experience.

4. Renovate, rehaul, rebuild the airport. Use your powers to make naia better. Clean up the corruption in the airport. I tell you, it's not called the world's worst airport for nothing!

5. Make a law that requires all government officials to disclose where all their pork barrel went to. We need to see the itemized projects, with every single detail disclosed! As taxpayers, we need to know where our money are being used on!

6. Create a law that will address healthcare. Improve the quality of our hospitals. Provide affordable medicine and facilities. Make healthcare a right for everyone, and not just a privilege of the rich.

7. Create a law wherein a lawmaker who does not attend congress/senate sessions is not entitled to get his pork barrel. That way, we can better use these funds for the poor!

8. Create a law that will protect the rights of single parents. Give them additional benefits that will enable them to raise their kids well.

9. Allocate funds for flood prevention.

10. Rh bill anyone????

11. A law should be made to address a government official's qualifications before he can run for office. There should be a minimum educational requirement (should be a college graduate), should have served x number of days in community service, should be a member of an ngo and actually participates in the organization, should have a clean track record ( background checks should be made before approval of candidacy), should disclose source of current income to the last detail, etc.

These are the only ones that i can think of right now. But the point is, the cybercrime prevention law should not have been a priority. We have so many issues as a nation, and a better use of our honorable lawmakers' time would have been to address anything that could alleviate poverty, and increase the quality of filipinos' lives. Set your priorities straight, people!!!