“That which depends on me, I can do; that which depends on the enemy cannot be certain.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
In 2000, two years of Erap presidency hardly makes any impression on the plight of the poor (yet) – the same people who put him to power and in turn he must be indubitably biased for. His catapult to the highest office was seen as a messianic mission for the poor, by the poor.
His strategy to fulfill the role he has superciliously projected was contained in the Erap Para sa Mahirap Program. It would select the 100 poorest families in every city and province and direct the programs of the intervening government agencies like the DOH, DSWD, NHA, CDA and others to those families. The hope is to bring about a multiplier-effect thereby reducing the poverty incidence into a measurable figure. But the poor people are not numbers to be manipulated, and poverty is not a statistics. That is why I join those who appraised the program as dubious and superficial to its true objective of poverty alleviation. I agree with the many urban poor groups and NGOs that instead of pursuing a selective direction of program implementation, why not have a national framework where every poor family can be a subject, not mere object?
The World Bank suggests that goals should not be imposed, rather to be embraced. The yawning gap between the rich and poor is swallowing any effort towards poverty eradication or alleviation of the government. That I wish is enough to cause hard-packed actions just like in the president’s previous movies. The people expect him to live up to his billing otherwise he might be acting without an audience.
His strategy to fulfill the role he has superciliously projected was contained in the Erap Para sa Mahirap Program. It would select the 100 poorest families in every city and province and direct the programs of the intervening government agencies like the DOH, DSWD, NHA, CDA and others to those families. The hope is to bring about a multiplier-effect thereby reducing the poverty incidence into a measurable figure. But the poor people are not numbers to be manipulated, and poverty is not a statistics. That is why I join those who appraised the program as dubious and superficial to its true objective of poverty alleviation. I agree with the many urban poor groups and NGOs that instead of pursuing a selective direction of program implementation, why not have a national framework where every poor family can be a subject, not mere object?
The World Bank suggests that goals should not be imposed, rather to be embraced. The yawning gap between the rich and poor is swallowing any effort towards poverty eradication or alleviation of the government. That I wish is enough to cause hard-packed actions just like in the president’s previous movies. The people expect him to live up to his billing otherwise he might be acting without an audience.
In the last SONA of the President, he asked Congress of the same laws he wanted prioritized way back in his first SONA. Doesn’t he have the majority of both houses? Where is the party loyalty? If it is expediently needed by the administration to fulfill its promises, by all means it has to go all out for it. I suspect the Congress truly sees the urgency of the matter.
Now Mr. Estrada is asking for special powers to hasten the rehabilitation and development he envisions in Mindanao . Among the powers he sought are the CBA moratorium and the suspension of TROs for project implementation. Is he going to build a bridge without water underneath? Or is it creating a river to have a bridge built? In other words, are the special powers exceptionally called for at this point of time? Is the presidency lacking of powers? Has he already exhausted other means and measures that will result to the same end? Or, is he just indifferent to the powers available which are already mandated by law? Worse, is he conceding to his inadequacies and helplessness in solving the Mindanao conflict? These are the questions posed to the administration and to us citizens who are concerned with the possible scenarios if we let this come to pass.
Then I have discovered the answer when I heard that various NGOs, the church, other civic-minded groups and individuals are reaching out to the victims of the war. They need not ask for any power, be it special or not. They simply do what has to be done. More than the special powers can give, I think what is needed is a heart, and a will to do things right.
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