Do we really

AyouthFAVORITE truism of public speakers about the is that they are the hope of the fatherland. Indeed, they are because we all have to die someday and the country, the planet in fact, will be left to our children to populate, develop and make something of.

It is, however, not that simple. They cannot be the country’s hope if we do not equip them with the necessary knowledge and wisdom to live more relevant lives than their parents’. They cannot be the hope of the fatherland unless we educate them towards that promise.

Education has been the road out of poverty for many. I need not imagine what would have happened to me if I didn’t go to school when I did. I know the dark places people ended up in who did not go to school for a variety of reasons ranging from poverty to plain laziness. Education has to be the leading edge of any nation’s stab for progress.

So do we really believe they are the hope of the fatherland or are we just trying to feel good about ourselves? I ask because belief should be backstopped by commitment to universal education. And this I do not see of our governments, past and present. Education has not been the top priority it needs to be.

Every time school opening comes around, the same problems hobble our education system... lack of schools and/or classrooms and desks, supplies etc. These annually recurring problems tell us we are not committed to educating all (it should be all including and especially the poorest children) our young to become the nation’s hope.

Yet we have all the money in the world to build inter-island bridges, super highways, 20-story office buildings, airports, container ports, etc. We also have the money to buy fighter jets, helicopters, frigates, tanks and rifles for the military. We provide food and hazard pay for our troops in battle. But we do not have food for poor children who cannot go to school and battle against ignorance because they have to help parents scrounge for the next meal.

Why do we have to resort to Brigada Eskwela and why ask the private sector to adopt a public school? We never ask the private sector to adopt an interisland bridge. We also never ask the private sector to adopt a battleship.

By all means let’s have all those airports and container ports of which we have been judged to have lacked severely. But by no means should they trump our need for hard education infrastructure which we have so far perennially lacked. Don’t we think we should have enough of the latter if we are to make our youth the hope of the fatherland?

What is it then? Do we really believe our children are the hope of the fatherland? By the way, investments for soft infrastructure (quality education) are not on the table yet.

FOR one there was no moon light and love songs when President Rodrigo Duterte planted a slight kiss on a lady up a stage and witnessed by over two thousand adoring Filipino workers in South Korea, part of 60 thousand who assembled in Seoul to welcome their idol. It was not even a kiss, it was in fact a peck which the usual anti-Duterte critics want to pass as French kiss.

The ultra-sensitive Renato Reyes felt defiled and made the playful peck a national issue. I cannot comprehend why they considered the gesture vulgar and disregarded the billions worth of committed investments arising from the partnerships which Korean and Filipino businessmen have forged in the three-day visit of President Duterte.

I know of some business deals which are in the works but details of which cannot be divulged because of the non-disclosure agreements between parties. These and add that which Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez signed - a loan package of $180-million for Cebu container port.

Let me quote here a message from a brilliant lady lawyer from Davao, Atty. Emelina Quintillan.

“I am not an apologist for Duterte, but people who voted for him already know that he cannot be judged from the perceptual framework of the "morality of the oligarchs." I think that's why he won. There is a conflict of interest between the rich and the poor in the Philippines so that's why Duterte's tirades against the rich or the "oligarchs" have been lauded by the majority & poorer masa.

Right or wrong, he won as elected President. The country will never progress if the tools of his opposition will continue to derail his intentions for the country and if people will not be united in accepting the democratic rule of the majority. I don't care who is President, but after the squabble for the race to the Presidency & the "majority" votes of people have spoken, there should be peace & quiet so those elected can do their job. There will be another chance to fight and change hands at the helm of the government again.

That is the democratic framework of the country that the opposition is ignoring. Tell me if there has ever been a President in the history of the Philippines without flaws or misdeeds.

I never believed Duterte will be able to accomplish in three months whatever he promised. That is not possible in a fractious society and wellentrenched opposition. Madali lang kasi siya