I am more fortunate than Delfin and Dino de la Paz–and I pray they get full justice–but I am sure I am one of many Filipinos that had to endure petty, non-physical, but all-too-frequent abuses of privilege. For example, how many of us have let cars with “8″ license plates, plus requisite hagads and escort cars, cut into our lanes? (You learn early on, with Congressmen, you have no right of way.) The list goes on: facilitators to whisk officials through immigration; PAL business seats filled with gov’t officials, ostensibly headed to Pacquiao in Vegas or to Beijing, where our Olympics marchers had more big-bellied “sports officials” than ill-equipped athletes and so on. While I envy our government officials’ ability to go to Beijing or their golf game in style (where, gulp, some beat up 56-year-olds and their teenaged sons), I suddenly remembered: don’t my taxes pay for these escorts and Pajeros? Can’t hagads chase after criminals instead of stoplights? Can’t cabinet ministers and congressmen serve the people? Then I wake up. I am in the Philippines, where government service is an oxymoron.

Ricardo A Lim, Makati , via e-mail

This is disheartening. We will pray for the Dela Paz’s. That they get justice and may the Pangandaman’s get their time in jail.

Archimedes Pormicelle, Bagong Silang Caloocan City, via e-mail

Congress and the President should let CARP expire. After 20 years, CARP did not bring prosperity to the farming sector. It stopped entrepreneurs from investing in the farming sector and produced more militant and subsistent farmers. Twenty years is too long for any political experiment in land reform. It is time for our leaders to look at the economic impact of this failed political experiment. How many of our entrepreneurs left the agriculture sector because of this failed program? CARP has succeeded in creating a big bloated bureaucracy that is DAR. We need to invest more in the agricultural sector and let the Department of Agriculture do its job. We need to discourage our population from getting stuck in subsistence farming and move to highly productive mechanized farming. There is excess labor in the farming sector that can be utilized for other industries. We need to move forward and create a stronger agricultural sector that can feed the projected 200 million Filipinos by 2030. At the rate we are moving with the CARP, we might end up being an agricultural product importing country as with rice now in 20 years. Philippines wake-up!

Leo Pandac, Los Angeles, California, via e-mail

By Niña Terol

AFTER the press conference that introduced the Movement for Good Governance (MGG) to media and other supporters, I heard from one of the MGG “elders” something that I rarely hear: an acknowledgement — a thinly veiled apology, actually — that the country is still deep in muck because his generation didn’t do a good enough job of “fixing things” here.

“In spite of the activism then, we still didn’t do enough for the Philippines,” he lamented. “Most of us gave up on the country and focused instead on making a living. That in itself is not wrong, but we just didn’t try hard enough.”

He wasn’t blaming government for the chronic ills that have paralyzed the country. He wasn’t blaming the youth for being apathetic. He wasn’t blaming globalization for pushing developed countries forward and leaving the rest of the world behind. He wasn’t mouthing off a litany of complaints. Instead, he was facing a reality that many in his generation still could not see: that the failures of this country are aggregated results of THEIR own failures.

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As much as I love and respect the former president Aquino, there are several actions in her career that are highly questionable. One was her inability to ask for debt relief at the start of her reign when people power was the buzz word around the world. Another was when she walked in the rain to compel the Senate to renew the US bases. Now comes an apology for helping oust Erap. An apology is for some wrongdoing. It was never wrong then to oust Erap who was corrupt himself but not to the magnitude of GMA. But who knows to what level his corruption might have reached if he wasn’t ousted at all? If there are things to be sorry about, it’s Erap not serving time in a real jail as common crooks do, it’s anointing a bigger crook as his replacement, it’s allowing that crook to trample the 2004 election to her favor. Justice and truth are things that cannot be compromised. Erap did a lot of things against justice and truth that justify his ouster as much as GMA does a whole lot more against justice and truth that deserve her ouster. What was wrong then is still wrong now. If Mrs. Aquino was sorry for standing up for justice and truth, then I am sorry for her.

Dennis Llanda Reyes, Mariveles, Bataan, via e-mail

I am totally against the idea of letting the public, especially innocent civilians, suffer the seemingly unresolved conflict between the government and the so-called rebel groups. Likewise, I do not favor any terrorist attack by any group seeking reform in the government. However, we have to understand too that our Constitution provides for a due process on both parties and it is well settled that any person of the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Thus, I humbly ask the media and our public officers not to eagerly jump into conclusions. I believe there has to be proper investigation to be conducted by an unbiased bureau before the broadcast on media and broadsheets of any probable suspect.

Exan Sharief, 7th street, MSU Campus, via e-mail

THIS is in response to the articles in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) on the survey conducted by the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) on the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

OWWA welcomes the intention behind the conduct of the survey as it can be a tool to improve our programs and services. However, we would like to register our observations to correct certain misconceptions that the study generated.

1. The purpose of the survey was to gain the respondents’ perception of OWWA to consequently “formulate a legislative agenda for the structuring of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.” For this end, it is not surprising that CMA would post leading questions that are biased against OWWA. We anticipate that the questions are slanted to provoke negative responses which supported CMA’s conclusions.

2. The sampling is grossly inadequate. A sample size of 400 respondents is not, by any stretch of imagination, representative of the total population of OFWs. CMA admits that it did not attempt to cover the population of more than four million OFWs, but the least it could have done is comply with the standard methodology on surveys and sampling.

Moreover, as only a relatively small percentage of the OFWs are IT-literate and have access to the Internet compared to the total population, the survey is expected to reach a marginal number of OFWs.

3. Aside from the sample size, the demographics is also questionable. CMA may have assumed that these respondents are all contract workers, OWWA senses otherwise.

The results and testimonials give an impression the respondents may have included overseas Filipinos that are NOT contract workers, much less members of OWWA. The websites where the survey was uploaded are accessible to all classifications of migrant Filipinos — permanent (immigrants), temporary (contract workers), and irregular workers alike. It is not surprising, therefore, if some of the respondents do not know OWWA’s functions, much less be familiar with how OWWA operates as opposed to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) or the Philippine Embassy.

To require that OWWA state its functions clearly requires familiarity with the functions of the Embassy, the CFO & the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as a number of proposed policy changes on OWWA are beyond its mandate.

4. The conclusions are misleading. The CMA based its conclusion that there is an inefficient communication line between OWWA and the OFWs on 93 percent of the respondents who have not even availed of an OWWA program. There was an assumption that the respondents “attempted to access” OWWA services but were discouraged due to hearsay (many bad experiences are not the personal to those who responded to the survey). Likewise, the survey did not elaborate what it means by “attempt to access.” The survey item was only answerable by YES, NO and N/A (“If you have availed of any of these services, was it successful in meeting your welfare needs?”).

5. One aim of the survey is to determine the level of awareness of the respondents regarding OWWA operations. However, while awareness may be indicative of extensive information dissemination and publicity, a lack of it may not necessarily suggest a defective structure. Nor will restructuring OWWA improve the OFWs’ awareness level. The lack of awareness and a rather negative image may simply point to a need for an intensified information dissemination drive.

In its 26 years of service, the OWWA has seen through several mass repatriations, represented thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in conciliations with foreign employers, released millions worth of insurance claims, education and training scholarships, and livelihood programs for OFWs and their families.

While there has been an increased awareness of OWWA programs in recent years due to measures to make OWWA accessible to OFW families in every province and the recognition of best practices by OFW families (through the Model OFW Family of the Year Award or MOFYA), OWWA continues its information and education campaign in order to make its programs known and accessible. Aside from forming OFW Family Circles, the signing of Memoranda of Agreement between OWWA and local government units nationwide to set up the Migrant Workers Desk, and networking with Filipino communities overseas, OWWA also makes use of tri-media and partnerships with corporate establishments to reach out to OFWs and their families.

We value any feedback that OWWA receives from OFWs and social partners and only expect objectivity and fair investigation. From our end, we continue to strive to improve operations to be of best service to OFWs and their families.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, via e-mail

I ADMIRE Senator Mar Roxas but his choice of words in a recent interview aired on national TV is disappointingly lamentable. In a follow up interview, he arrogantly refuses to apologize, saying he was just expressing the sentiments of the “people”. This calls to attention to a part of private Mar Roxas, recently unseen, but now naked before the public. I am a tax-paying citizen of this country and I have strong emotions about the general politico-economic situations our country is in today. I need someone in Congress who could voice my concerns as a citizen in a manner that is peaceful, decent and effective. I do not wish, though, to be counted as one of the people Senator Roxas was speaking for in his recent outburst. The good senator must realize that not all the people — certainly, not all the “Masa” speak and express their feelings like a proverbial “Palenkero”.

Nestor Bocaya, Marikina City, via e-mail

This statement by Nograles is the last straw that clearly illustrates that he is a “puppet” of the corrupt and arrogant Arroyo administration. It was evident in the impeachment hearing that our “Congress” has allowed itself to be manipulated by the executive branch of government. That they will succumb to the whims of Malacañang and all their (Arroyo’s) wishes. To say that it is up to the lawmakers to determine charter change is blatantly ARROGANT, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, and TREASON. For me, the people’s voice is the determining factor. The majority of the citizenry should have the final say on whether we ought to proceed with charter change or not.

Bong Cendana, Philam homes, Quezon city, via e-mail

THIS is in connection with last night’s online report (Breaking News/Metro) by Julie M. Aurelio, which identified Patricia Olbes as the driver of an SUV that hit an unidentified pedestrian along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue in the evening of November 30, and that police are mulling the possible filing of a charge of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

The report is inaccurate and misleading. Ms Olbes was driving her vehicle along EDSA, on its innermost south-bound lane, when she felt a loud thud on the side of the front passenger seat. She immediately stopped. While still inside her vehicle, she was approached by a bystander who told her that she was not at fault and it was an Elf vehicle which was at fault.

Ms Olbes, still unaware of what had actually transpired, got off her vehicle and saw a body sprawled on the second innermost lane behind her vehicle. At that moment, there were already 3 men who had also stopped their vehicle and were attempting to assist the victim. She then called Rescue 117 to report the incident and seek assistance. An ambulance and a mobile police patrol arrived, and the victim was immediately brought
to a hospital.

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