Unemployment and underemployment are two of the reasons why a large number of our working population live way below the poverty threshold. This may be the reason why people would grab every welfare benefit that government would dangle. Even the employed who could hardly earn enough to provide for a decent daily living would not hesitate to cue in normally shameful public places where dole-outs are distributed, mostly by politicians who are too eager to be recognized in public as generous givers albeit using goods and services funded by taxpayers’ money.
The impoverished situation of a great majority has been the weak point why many of our people are vulnerable to meager tokens that the powerful and influential in society, chiefly politicians, could exploit the gullible lot. The tokens come in many forms that people who are in dire need would not mind doing everything just to obtain even the cheapest items that politicians dangle. They would even scramble to the point of physical harm and injury just to get the cheap tokens. It is really disheartening that people are easily duped into supporting politicians.
In the recent commemoration of the assassination of former Senator Benigno Servillano Aquino, Jr., local officials conducted distribution of scholarship and other assistance for the poor with the aim of distracting the attention of the people from the bad memory of the conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, the unsolved assassination that was dubbed as the murder of the century. Verily, the giving of tokens was intended to revise history considering that the recipient scholars have no true knowledge about the dark history under the Marcos dictatorship.
It may appear without politics and bad intention when the magical president moved the holiday from August 21 to August 23 this year. The reason of making the non-working days in a series as in line with the policy on holiday economics was acceptable to the public as explained by the administration. People would certainly be happy with more days given for other chores and time for the family. As the declaration was issued days early, people had ample time to plan with activities and budget for outings and leisure activities with their family members.
Anything can be done by the magical president who has all the power to attain his family’s long-term goal of revising history. It is just appalling that politicians would exert all efforts to divert the attention of the people from the commemoration of the assassination of former Senator Benigno Servillano Aquino, Jr. using government funds to lure people’s attention away by way of pogeys.
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