After 100 days in office, PNoy received a bland passing mark, and a drop in popularity rating.
Filipinos have high expectations, but are willing to pin their hopes that because of PNoy’s example, government will correct itself, and do what is their public duty to meet the needs of the people.
For the problems of the nation is a result of past profligacy and unabated greed of those who held the reins of power. The result of which is that our economy is something that evolved from and is intertwined with the culture, history, politics and even religious beliefs. Therefore, there is no quick fix to the problems.
Where do we begin in tackling the economic problems? It is right to look back and have a thorough study of the circumstances when lead to the problem in the first place.
The current move of PNoy to dissolve redundant government offices and cutting down the scandalous compensation, perks of GOCCS, is a step in the right direction.
Government has to look into itself, and find that it has become a big lazy, money-gobbling bureaucracy. Government is into everything — with state intervention in almost all aspects of business and civil life.
This can be traced to the colonial legacy wherein oligarchs ruled, there is an aberration in the free, efficient, and effective allocation of scarce resources.
A case in point: the officers of MWSS received millions of pesos, while there is no reliable water supply in Manila, and its retirees have yet to receive their benefits.
Government has a tendency to get into everything — hires a lot of people whose main qualification is to ensure the survival of the current administrators, etc.
Now, that PNoy is at the helm, let us give him a chance to make his promises come true: “Ako ay dito sa daan matuwid!” (I will take the straight road!)
