At Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram are the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” that did not only attract the attention of the younger generation but also the famous and the beautiful people: NBA players, Hollywood celebrities and even the icons of business, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. They madethe challenge viral. No doubt this newest gimmick was successful as reportedly; it has raised over $100 million worldwide to date.
Even in the Philippines where a great majority of our people can’t even pronounce amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a motor neurone disorder, we jumped into the fray. This goes with our saying, “Hindi papahuli ang ‘Pinas!”.But we have also in the social media suggestions for raising consciousness on issues that only the Filipino, with our bizarre sense of humor, can truly empathize.
Boiling Water Challenge: The PDAF and DAF politicians are invited to pour boiling water over their head and return part of their loot.
Scalding Oil Challenge: For the 3 senators now enjoying their time in detention- with Napoles doing the pouring.
These in turn provoked several versions of ‘challenges’ and like the ‘ice bucket’ raises to the surface these little sufferings the Filipino faces every day.
MRT Challenge: The line is more than a kilometer long. The trains suddenly break down.Sen. Grace Poe who lately may be playing to her sycophants’ insinuations about gunning for a higher office has this to say: "...it is to experience the malady of the people riding the MRT everyday. We lined up at North around 8:20 a.m., reached our destination Taft station at 10:30 a.m.”. According to her, it took about 40 minutes to get a ticket.
Sec. Joseph Abaya I suppose is well aware of this, but your guess is as good as mine. Now the DOTC and other bureaucrats that are responsible for running the trains are into their own blame game. Nobody takes control of the situation.
However, these MRT and Ice Bucket Challenges cannot solve the country’s fundamental problems. Filipinos suffer each day. And photo ops will not ease their pain.
Still, the MRT issue is not the only problem that needs to be given deep attention.We need bigger and a larger awareness program to initiate the right reforms for the country. And we need leaders who are up to the challenge of pursuing real reforms for the betterment of the country – with or without the photo-ops!
Richard JavadHeydarian, a lecturer at the Political Science Department of Ateneo De Manila University and at the same time contributor to the Asia Times and Huffington Post on Asian geopolitical and economic affairs has listed three challenges in the Philippines for 2014 that is noteworthy:
- Aquino’s declining political capital;
- Lack of inclusive economic growth; and
- Rising tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
Pnoy has barely two years before his term ends and let’s see how he measures up to these issues.
First, the erosion in Pnoy’s political capital may be exacerbated by his immature, unthought-of and ambiguous pronouncements on his openness to a second term.The follow-through excuses by his bumbling spokespersons painted him as an “urong-sulong” Chief Executive.
Moreover, Heydariansays that “What the Philippines needs are not strong leaders per se, but instead strong institutions. If Aquino wants his legacy to continue, he should first focus on building a robust, genuine political party beyond personalistic politics.”
On the second issue about the lack of inclusive growth,Robert Evangelista in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer stated that one thing that impedes economic development is the apparent delay of the passing of the “Anti-dynasty Law”. Eighty percent of the Philippines are controlled by political dynasties, which according to MAD co-chair Danilo Olivares is“the source of corruption, massive cheating, violence, poverty, poor education and the stranglehold over business, the police and even the military where dynasties rule,”
And lastly, despite reports that the territorial disputes have abated,the Philippines remains embroiled with its disagreement with China on the West Philippine Sea. Although, apact withthe US assures us of protection we are put in a quandary as to how we react to a bullying bigger neighbor. Can we defend our territories, seriously?
These then are just some of the real issues we face today that need more than ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ to resolve.
We need a decisive President to see us through.
