Sacrifice
Sacrifice
Updated 00:31am (Mla time) Sept 02, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A10 of the September 2, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
PRIESTS and religious should practice what they preach. Even as they urge the Catholic faithful to help stave off economic collapse, the members of the clergy themselves should "set an example of sharing" by giving up one month's allowance and donating it to the government, Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla said Monday. The amount collected may not add up to much, said the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, but the gesture might "influence people who are rich but greedy and insensitive to the common welfare."
Capalla's call came a day after members of the Silliman University High School Class of 1962 gave up their rings, earrings and other pieces of jewelry during their reunion in Dumaguete City, also to help narrow the huge government budget deficit. "This will probably add to just a small amount, but it comes from our hearts," said the class president, Bais City Mayor Hector Villanueva. If every Filipino were to follow the example by giving small amounts of money, he said, "it would translate to a very big sum."
Perhaps. But it will hardly be enough to make a small dent on the huge public sector debt of P5.39 trillion.
More than the sums collected, however, what is of great moment is what these private-sector initiatives show: a clear understanding of the magnitude of the debt problem, a sense of urgency in dealing with it, and a readiness to take up part of the burden of solving it. And yet these very same things that animate the citizens' approach to the looming financial crisis seem to be lacking from our officials' response.
To this day, officials in both the executive and legislative branches of our government are debating who is to blame for the monstrous public debt and who will give up what and how much to lighten the load. It is as if they haven't heard the dire warning made by the 11 professors from the UP School of Economics: We have two years--or at the most three--to put our economic house in order or the whole thing crumbles. And we have one year to show we are making a serious effort to avert a crisis, or our creditors will help hasten its approach.
While ordinary citizens are taking the warning seriously and doing what they can to stave off a disaster, the people who can do the most to solve the problem seem content to offer token solutions. The merienda in Malacanang may be simple and spare, but the table gets bigger as President Macapagal-Arroyo continues to expand her Cabinet by creating new offices with funny names and filling them with political appointees. She has ordered restrictions on the use of government vehicles, but wants a bigger budget for foreign travel. She proposes to lop off 20 percent of the budget allocation of local government units which deal directly with the people, but winks indulgently as the members of Congress decide to keep most of their pork barrel.
In Congress, four senators have given up their P200-million pork barrel, nine have offered to give up half of the amount, while the rest seem bent on keeping all of theirs. Members of the House of Representatives are said to have agreed to give up 38 percent of their P65-million pork barrel for the year, though some are grumbling that they never agreed to do so.
Heeding the call of Speaker Jose de Venecia for more sacrifice, 37 congressmen have donated one month's salary, or P35,000 each, to a fund that will be used to build classrooms and buy computers for public school children. But the suspicion lingers that this is all for show. Except for the Speaker, no one has called for the lawmakers to give up what was theirs. The clamor that grew louder after the President said the nation was in crisis was for the lawmakers to give up their pork barrel so that the government can save at least P20 billion a year. The call was not for them to give up what was rightfully theirs, including their salaries, but for them to surrender what wasn't theirs. Why did they choose to "sacrifice" what is theirs? Simple: what they earn as salary is peanuts compared to the kickbacks they will get even from their smaller pork barrel.
The donations being made by priests and private citizens are what make people believe in our nation's redemption. The "sacrifice" being offered by our officials is of a different kind. And we call them public servants?
Updated 00:31am (Mla time) Sept 02, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A10 of the September 2, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
PRIESTS and religious should practice what they preach. Even as they urge the Catholic faithful to help stave off economic collapse, the members of the clergy themselves should "set an example of sharing" by giving up one month's allowance and donating it to the government, Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla said Monday. The amount collected may not add up to much, said the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, but the gesture might "influence people who are rich but greedy and insensitive to the common welfare."
Capalla's call came a day after members of the Silliman University High School Class of 1962 gave up their rings, earrings and other pieces of jewelry during their reunion in Dumaguete City, also to help narrow the huge government budget deficit. "This will probably add to just a small amount, but it comes from our hearts," said the class president, Bais City Mayor Hector Villanueva. If every Filipino were to follow the example by giving small amounts of money, he said, "it would translate to a very big sum."
Perhaps. But it will hardly be enough to make a small dent on the huge public sector debt of P5.39 trillion.
More than the sums collected, however, what is of great moment is what these private-sector initiatives show: a clear understanding of the magnitude of the debt problem, a sense of urgency in dealing with it, and a readiness to take up part of the burden of solving it. And yet these very same things that animate the citizens' approach to the looming financial crisis seem to be lacking from our officials' response.
To this day, officials in both the executive and legislative branches of our government are debating who is to blame for the monstrous public debt and who will give up what and how much to lighten the load. It is as if they haven't heard the dire warning made by the 11 professors from the UP School of Economics: We have two years--or at the most three--to put our economic house in order or the whole thing crumbles. And we have one year to show we are making a serious effort to avert a crisis, or our creditors will help hasten its approach.
While ordinary citizens are taking the warning seriously and doing what they can to stave off a disaster, the people who can do the most to solve the problem seem content to offer token solutions. The merienda in Malacanang may be simple and spare, but the table gets bigger as President Macapagal-Arroyo continues to expand her Cabinet by creating new offices with funny names and filling them with political appointees. She has ordered restrictions on the use of government vehicles, but wants a bigger budget for foreign travel. She proposes to lop off 20 percent of the budget allocation of local government units which deal directly with the people, but winks indulgently as the members of Congress decide to keep most of their pork barrel.
In Congress, four senators have given up their P200-million pork barrel, nine have offered to give up half of the amount, while the rest seem bent on keeping all of theirs. Members of the House of Representatives are said to have agreed to give up 38 percent of their P65-million pork barrel for the year, though some are grumbling that they never agreed to do so.
Heeding the call of Speaker Jose de Venecia for more sacrifice, 37 congressmen have donated one month's salary, or P35,000 each, to a fund that will be used to build classrooms and buy computers for public school children. But the suspicion lingers that this is all for show. Except for the Speaker, no one has called for the lawmakers to give up what was theirs. The clamor that grew louder after the President said the nation was in crisis was for the lawmakers to give up their pork barrel so that the government can save at least P20 billion a year. The call was not for them to give up what was rightfully theirs, including their salaries, but for them to surrender what wasn't theirs. Why did they choose to "sacrifice" what is theirs? Simple: what they earn as salary is peanuts compared to the kickbacks they will get even from their smaller pork barrel.
The donations being made by priests and private citizens are what make people believe in our nation's redemption. The "sacrifice" being offered by our officials is of a different kind. And we call them public servants?
posted by Dante at 11:45 AM
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