Failure to launch or being in a bottleneck implies that we’re stuck somewhere. It’s not anything just like that. We are in a quicksand. We did not stagnate for the last 25 years. We kept on sinking down and down. In the race among Asian nations we miserably fell behind because we move slowly, backwards.
EQ, the original brand, was still well-off; he could afford a golden bowl without having to steal. It all started when, irked by haughty American meddlers, RM ordered them to speak in Tagalog; he was killed in a mysterious plane crash. Buy Filipino, CPG urged; foreigners bought by the millions, Filipinas mostly. DM devalued the peso; her daughter brought it down to its lowest actual value. He adopted a floating rate; she simply made it float away through globalization. FM promised that we shall be great again; he made us regret again.
We complained of galunggong day in and day out; Cory cured our nausea by placing it beyond our reach. FVR drew illusions of a tiger economy; now we are being eaten up by one who had long been sleeping. ERAP is truly for the mahihirap; he started making us all as his beloved. GMA simply continued the process at a more frenzied pace. She promised more food on our table; now she squanders billions trying to put back some rice on our plates.
If it’s any consolation though she made us No.1, in corruption; and MLQ got his wish, a government run like hell by us. The downward trend cannot be stopped by limiting our debt payments, but by limiting our debts. This is not a question of semantics but of strategy. We are not reneging in our commitments. It’s just that we have to live within our means.
If we have a debt cap we would be forced to look into our resources at hand. How could the government provide basic services if the taxes it collects are used to pay debts? We prioritize debt servicing only because we are allowed to borrow as much as we can. More money flows in as loans than the amount we lose via amortization, so we inevitably sink deeper and deeper into indebtedness.
If we had a debt cap the CTE-NBN deal would not have been possible. PCIJ would not have reported that 7 out of 10 ODA projects reviewed failed to deliver because probably there would be no such rich fodder for graft and corruption. Maybe because of limited number and amount, every proposal could be scrutinized and guarded more carefully.
Viewed from this point, Congress must take a break from travels abroad and from Gloria praising or bashing and pass a debt cap that would prevent GMA and her successors from doing what she has been doing. Who knows that by trying to live within our means we could be more conscious of our civic duties and begin to be less corrupt and less prolific? Having less money for importation, maybe then we can start producing more rice and more goods for our own use, at least.
We understand Congress’ reluctance to a debt cap. It would mean lesser money to go around. How could it fund development projects without incurring debts? How could the government finance its bloated bureaucracy and voracious lawmakers? It could. All that is needed is for them to involve the people through the local government units.
We are a nation of talents and resources just waiting to be tapped. We have existing systems and structure. We need only strengthen them. For this we do not need to amend the constitution. We only have to go for a stronger local autonomy.
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