Absence of Hope leads to child-related violence in RP

ABS-CBN's TV Patrol recently featured a story of a young baby girl tortured by her own uncle. The uncle was supposed to take care of the girl, left by her mother who was reportedly working abroad. The hapless girl suffered tremendous beatings, sustained bruises, burns and wounds all over her young body; even had her nails pulled out by her uncle. In an interview, the uncle said that he "usually" beat the girl up, because they don't have anything to eat and also frustrated because the baby pisses and defecate all over.

Earlier, reports show a mother charged for throwing her young kid in the waste basket. Another report had it that a young mother killed her three kids by poisoning them inside their shanty home in Quezon. Reason for these two cases: they have nothing to feed their kids, so it's better to just throw them like trash or kill them.

These cases, say some Philippine sociologists, are signs of rising frustration and hopelessness pervading among impoverished Filipino families. Devoid of any outlet to express themselves, poor Filipinos are resorting to violence, and kids are getting the bitter end of it. Children have become victims of this vicious system; families are finding it extremely hard to cope with rising food prices.

Government should do something about it. More than just giving out subsidies, which I learned government had momentarily stopped due to lack of adequate funds, the DSWD should take the lead in giving trauma sessions to these impoverished families. Poverty is truly traumatic. Imagine the trauma these families encounter everyday, thinking where to find that precious 50 or 100 pesos just to buy a kilo of rice and some form of viand.

More importantly,what do we do about it?

It would help if we unite, all of us, and bring some hope to our poor brothers and sisters. It is not the lack of money that pushes these families to violence. No. It is the lack or absence of hope, a sense of senselessness of existence, the very thinking that there's nothing to scrape from the bottom of the barrel and no one to ask for help. The people had lost all hope and trust. The very institutions of government that are supposed to help them have failed them repeatedly.

The solution is not subsidizing their food. No. That is just short-term. What would really help is for Filipinos to unite and inspire other Filipinos to work for real change. The first step is to at least oust the very cause of our collective misery. Oust the poster girl of this corrupt and decrepit system and work for the establishment of a government that inspires rather than oppresses. It is time for another EDSA, the real EDSA for the Filipino People, not an EDSA for the elite.

Cheap Tricks

Yesterday, Gloria signed the Cheaper Medicines bill. It aims to bring down the costs of medicine. Senator Mar Roxas was there. He witnessed the signing of his pet bill. After that, he was interviewed, along with Gloria, and said that the bill will help Filipinos buy cheaper priced medicines.

Question to Mr. Roxas--how diluted is this approved version? I mean, Gloria thumbed down the "generics only" provisions of this bill. Now, based on your assessment, will this affect the prices of medicine? In the next few weeks or months, we will see if this bill will indeed, bring down the costs of medicines.

Two days ago, the DSWD and Meralco started giving 500 peso dole-outs to lifeline users of electricity. Question---how long will government give cash subsidies to the poor? Reports say its only for the month of May. Succeeding months, consumers will have to bear the brunt of high electricity rates. It's okey, says the apologists. At least, government extended some help to ease the burden. After this month, what then?

Gloria also ordered the Department of Energy to extend a 5-peso diesel subsidy to jeepney drivers and operators. Energy secretary Angelo Reyes says this is all there is to it. While Reyes was saying this, prices of gasoline and diesel shoot up to 1.50 pesos per liter. Diesel prices are now close to 50 while gasoline prices are nearing the 60 peso mark. Reyes can't do anything? And he says that he's a former Chief of Staff? What a wimp!

Question---why is Gloria's gang not touching Petron, Caltex and Shell? I mean, now is the time for government to intervene, but they are not? Marcos did regulate these oil companies before. Why can't we regulate them now?

The truth---oil companies probably give billions worth of lobby funds to silence government opposition. That's the only reason I see at this point.

Lastly, Gloria's gang are targeting telecommunications companies to lower text and call rates. That's commendable, to say the least. However, there's a catch--government will still continue getting VAT-related costs from them. So, the costs will still be considerable for the Filipino consumer.

Anyway, I had enough of this. Let us allow government to do its thing with all these cosmetic and palliative solutions and let's just see what will happen next.

There's one thing that is very evident in all these--government did not do its job properly during the last eight years of its administration.