‘Lobby money talks’
Have anti-change forces succeeded in reversing whatever march we have towards change with the Commission on Appointment’s rejection of Gina Lopez’s appointment as environment secretary?
As of this writing, we still need to see if legislators who miss their pork barrel in DSWD funds succeed in rejecting social welfare secretary Judy Taguiwalo’s appointment. We have already seen the kind of support Judy has when Tito Sen came up with a joke that turned out to be on him.
We are also watching if big landlords and beneficiaries of the old feudal order will succeed in rejecting Ka Paeng Mariano as agrarian reform chief.
Elsewhere, corrupt forces are trying to thwart initiatives of Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco and the National Food Authority Council (NFAC) to break up rice cartels.
Evasco’s participatory governance initiatives and the appointments of Lopez, Taguiwalo, and Mariano had convinced many that President Duterte will seriously pursue his campaign promise of change.
But it seems these so-called “anti-change forces” are moving as if they are the administration underlords out to thwart efforts to realize change.
Already, the rejection of Lopez has resulted in disappointment among her supporters and environment advocates. I hope the enemies of change won’t succeed in having Taguiwalo and Mariano rejected.
Nevertheless, it would help if we reflect on the following words of American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez:
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future and the future is ours.”
Yellow is being abused in smear campaigns. An anti-yellow whisper campaign was used to oust Koko Holganza, who ironically supported the Duterte presidential campaign. In the national scene, yellow labelling is being carried out against Gina Lopez.
The basis? LP senators supported her. But nonLP yet pro-environment senators like Loren Legarda, Manny Pacquiao, and JV Ejercito also voted for her. As for those who voted against Lopez, President Duterte himself said “lobby money talks,” which does not speak kindly for these legislators.
Sen. Vicente Sotto seemed to have forgotten that he was at a hearing of the Commission on Appointment (CA) and lost control of his contempt for single moms. Tito Sen simply could not help himself from saying his “na-ano” joke at the expense of DSWD’s Taguiwalo.
President Duterte needs to meet the National Food Authority Council (NFAC) soon to thresh out policy differences among his top officials and avert an impending rice crisis. Fears on increases in the prices of ordinary commodities, especially rice, have started. Increases in the price of rice, the Filipino staple food, will hit hard consumers especially our poor farmers in the countryside.