By Harvey S. Keh
Contributor

THE past weeks we have seen yet again another controversy involving the first family particularly first gentleman Mike Arroyo. According to an alleged report by the World Bank, the Arroyo has been at the receiving end of bribes given by contractors who aim to corner infrastructure projects run by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and primarily funded by the World Bank. As a result of this report, the World Bank has decided to suspend and ban these contractors from taking part I any future biddings for their projects. This issue has since elicited various reactions from our political leaders. Our Congressmen and Senators have since began their own investigations regarding this matter with even one congressman saying that it should be the World Bank and not Arroyo who should be investigated. Up until now, Arroyo continuous to create all sorts of excuses just to be able to avoid being called and asked by Senators who are trying to get to the bottom of yet another corruption scandal that has been an all too often refrain in this present administration.

What is primarily lacking in our present government and leaders is transparency and accountability. Sadly, our President didn’t even help as she even took out a right to information clause in our National Budget which would’ve made it easier for ordinary Filipinos to ask where our money is going. We have also seen that prior corruption and political scandals have died a natural death not because they were resolved but simply because the attention of media has been shifted to other equally pressing and important matters. Up until today, we still haven’t heard Senator Manny Villar explain clearly about the budget insertions that he allegedly made that would favor his real estate company.

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By Harvey Keh

AS the United States of America’s President-elect Barack Obama was delivering his victory speech in Chicago, a sense of inspiration and hope began to fill me up. Here was a young African-American, first-term Senator who has defied all odds to become the first Black President of the most powerful country in the world.

Obama campaigned on the message of “Change,” a change that every American could believe in, a change that resonated with so many American voters most especially those aged between 18 to 29 years old. In CNN’s analysis, one of the major factors for Obama’s victory was his charismatic appeal to young voters. This appeal along with his very inspiring words would rally millions of young and previously apathetic American voters to register and take part in the elections.

Obama also showed the world a new way of campaigning, earning hundreds of millions of dollars not by getting big donations from businessmen but by appealing to ordinary people to donate small amounts of $5 to $10 to his campaign. More importantly, Obama’s campaign team was a master of using the power of the Internet and social networking sites such as Twitter, My Space and Facebook thereby being able to relate to the more the younger, tech-savvy generation.

He ended his speech with the words Yes We Can and he showed the world that despite having not enough financial resources or political clout compared to Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John McCain when he launched his bid for the Presidency more than 2 years ago, he was able to win decisively because he was able to rally ordinary people to his cause.

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