Views of hopelessness from a 75 yr old filipino

[usokpower]

Our country is highly dependent on OFW remittances to make our peso maintain stability. Take note of stablity, it does not make our peso stronger but the remittances we receive will make it stable. Meaning, if those remittances will be stopped our peso will continue to slide and slide.

Thanks to our governments balloning budget deficit and our foreign and local debt amounts to 3.2trillion pesos. Since the govt has higher expenses than its income we pay our maturing interest obligations abroad by acquiring another debt to pay the old debt. Therefore, patong patong ang utang and I dont see any signs of improvement if this cycle keeps going. Plus our imports are higher than our exports.

According to COA for every peso of revenue the government earns 50% of it goes to corruption. SO the question "anong magawa ng govt natin para umunlad"? Marami pong magagawa if they are concerned with our coutnry. But it is evident that they have no integrity to speak of and therefore hope has gone down to the toilet drain.

But dont blame it entirely to the govt pinoys are also guilty. Anak ng anak ala naman mapakain. Laging nagsusugal kahit walang pera. and the list goeson

[mazdamazda]

Originally posted by usokpower
But dont blame it entirely to the govt pinoys are also guilty. Anak ng anak ala naman mapakain. Laging nagsusugal kahit walang pera. and the list goeson

Yup... Filipinos are always using the government for all their misery. When in fact they are also contributing to the overall decay of our government. If NO private citizen or corporation would give in to the lecherous extortion and money making schemes of those in government, then we wouldn't be in this muck.

some examples from our very fine breed of citizenry:
- corporations bribing BIR examiners into lowering their output tax
- corporations giving the "mandatory" 5-10% total project cost to the principal project sponsor
- corporations bribing Customs officials into misdeclaring their goods
- private citizens bribing traffic officers, always saying "abala pa ang pagtubos ng ticket"
- private citizens bribing government officials to facilitate the "paperworks"
- vendors paying the P20 "sidewalk hawking permit", saying "naghahanap buhay lang"

it's like the chicken and egg thingie... the debate can go on and on where corruption starts... but i think that as private citizens we can also do our part in stopping it by not condoning corruption - even in the smallest way possible.

[kuroy]

discipline talaga ang kailangan and sense of pride and nationalism....

kailangan ng kaunting japanese style

[IceColdBeer]

Originally posted by woulfe27
teka, baka naman anak ka ng corrupt na congressman o mayor o senador o councilman kaya ayaw mong sinisisi gobyerno. or worse, baka ikaw mismo e tongressman.

woulfe27,
Relax bro! We don't need to be too personal on this issue.

[green]

Originally posted by mazdamazda
Yup... Filipinos are always using the government for all their misery. When in fact they are also contributing to the overall decay of our government. If NO private citizen or corporation would give in to the lecherous extortion and money making schemes of those in government, then we wouldn't be in this muck.

some examples from our very fine breed of citizenry:
- corporations bribing BIR examiners into lowering their output tax
- corporations giving the "mandatory" 5-10% total project cost to the principal project sponsor
- corporations bribing Customs officials into misdeclaring their goods
- private citizens bribing traffic officers, always saying "abala pa ang pagtubos ng ticket"
- private citizens bribing government officials to facilitate the "paperworks"
- vendors paying the P20 "sidewalk hawking permit", saying "naghahanap buhay lang"

it's like the chicken and egg thingie... the debate can go on and on where corruption starts... but i think that as private citizens we can also do our part in stopping it by not condoning corruption - even in the smallest way possible.

Good post. But if you think about it some of your examples (most of your examples I agree with) are caused because of the inefficiencies of the government agencies. As you and I both know, most, if not all of these agencies intentionally make it difficult for the citizenry to get their business done in the hope of receiving "goodwill money", if you may.

Like private citizens bribing traffic officers. A friend once spent two days in LTO East Avenue just to get his license. He was countlessly being offered "expedite processing" by fixers and by employees for a "fee". Unfortunately we were still students then and he only had enough money to pay the fine and get his license. He had to miss two days of class for this. Pay the same amount to the apprehending officer, you get back your license then and there. No downtime for you. I guess he put himself in the position by violating traffic rules but does spending two days just trying to get his license justified? In other countries you get the ticket, keep your license, pay the fine in more time than it would take to buy lunch in McDonald's.

How about paying government agencies for "extra service" in facilitating documentary requirements?

My dad was in the process of opening a business and needed a DENR permit as one of the requirements for a business permit. At that time my tito (his first cousin) was an undersecretary for the DENR. My dad refused to call up my tito to ask him to make "padrino" his papers. After being given the runaround by the DENR for one month (one month for a friggin' permit!) he broke down and called my tito (he was chasing a deadline). After one hour, he received a call from the DENR saying the papers were ready for pick up. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Let's face it. No matter how clean your accounting books are, no matter how up to date you are paying your taxes and fees, no matter how good your declaration is, or no matter how much supporting documents you have regarding the price of your shipment, Customs or BIR agents will always find a loophole regarding your papers. Should you file a complaint with their supervisor? Better not, because I'm sure they have a cut from the "extra processing fees" their agents collect. Bring it to court? I won't even go there. That's another can of worms I don't care to open. If you were a business man whose business is the only means which you provide for you and your family, would risk losing the business (and your livelyhood) over several thousand pesos? I don't think so.

I may have made some generalizations regarding government officers/officials in my post. If I have offended someone, I apologize. I know that there are still people, albeit very few, with integrity and morals in our government system willing to dedicate their lives to true public service. One rotten apple spoils the bunch. What more if there are more than one? What more if they are the majority?

Just my two cents.

Cheers!

[shadow]

Originally posted by woulfe27
shadow, you still don't get it. kaya nga hindi tayo nging developed country like singapore and taiwan eh dahil nga sa hindi tayo nagkaroon ng matinong gobyerno. even now, malaysia and thailand are overtaking us in terms of economic growth kase bulok mga naging governments natin. kung hindi kasalanan ng gobyerno na hindi niya kayang mabigyan ng matinong trabaho yung citizens niya, eh sino me kasalanan. at para ano pa na nagbabayad tayo ng malaking buwis kung hindi naman pala gagamitin ng gobyerno to generate jobs so that Filipinos won't have to leave their families to work abroad. yung mga bansa na pinupuntahan ng mga OFWs natin, developed sila dahil magaling mga gobyerno nila. try watching CNN or BBC at makikita mo na kasama sa platforms ng mga presidential candidates sa mga bansang yon ang job creation, dahil responsibilidad talaga ng gobyerno ang bigyan ng disenteng trabaho na me disenteng sweldo ang mga gustong magtrabaho.

teka, baka naman anak ka ng corrupt na congressman o mayor o senador o councilman kaya ayaw mong sinisisi gobyerno. or worse, baka ikaw mismo e tongressman.

lahat ng example mong countries is a parliamentary systems, they have no choice but to follow their leader...and mas malakas talaga ang mandate ng PM compare to president...kaya meron silang nagawa....

maraming disenteng trabaho dito, maliit lang ang sweldo compared sa abroad..pero meron......

and why do you need to blame everything on the gov't. partly siguro meron silang kasalan,...hinde kaya may kasalan din ang mga pilipino?

tingnan mo sarili mo, para kang squatter, reklamo ng reklamo, sisi ng sisi, meron ka bang ginagawa paa makatulong sa gov't.??? kung naghihirap ang buhay mo, huwag mo sisihin ang gov't, tingnan mo sarili mo kung meron kang ginagawa!

[boydapa]

kamag anak nga siguro....

[woulfe27]

Originally posted by shadow
lahat ng example mong countries is a parliamentary systems, they have no choice but to follow their leader...and mas malakas talaga ang mandate ng PM compare to president...kaya meron silang nagawa....

maraming disenteng trabaho dito, maliit lang ang sweldo compared sa abroad..pero meron......

and why do you need to blame everything on the gov't. partly siguro meron silang kasalan,...hinde kaya may kasalan din ang mga pilipino?

tingnan mo sarili mo, para kang squatter, reklamo ng reklamo, sisi ng sisi, meron ka bang ginagawa paa makatulong sa gov't.??? kung naghihirap ang buhay mo, huwag mo sisihin ang gov't, tingnan mo sarili mo kung meron kang ginagawa!

nagbabayad ako ng more than P2ok in taxes a month sa gobyerno. ikaw, magkano binibigay mo sa gobyerno? ay sori, nakalimutan ko anak ka nga pala ng kurakot na congressman. ikaw nga pala saka pamilya mo pinapakain ng buwis na pinaghirapan namin. sensiya na ha, nakalimutan ko.

saka hindi naghihirap buhay ko, tongressman. marami kong pera pero hindi ko kinurakot. salamat sa mga tulad mong kurakot, number 11 tayo sa most corrupt nations worldwide.pagbutihin mo para next time number one na tayo

[shadow]

Originally posted by woulfe27
nagbabayad ako ng more than P2ok in taxes a month sa gobyerno. ikaw, magkano binibigay mo sa gobyerno? ay sori, nakalimutan ko anak ka nga pala ng kurakot na congressman. ikaw nga pala saka pamilya mo pinapakain ng buwis na pinaghirapan namin. sensiya na ha, nakalimutan ko.

saka hindi naghihirap buhay ko, tongressman. marami kong pera pero hindi ko kinurakot. salamat sa mga tulad mong kurakot, number 11 tayo sa most corrupt nations worldwide.pagbutihin mo para next time number one na tayo

eh what if nga kung anak ako ng congressman...bakit naiingit ka??? kawawa ka naman....

marami ka na palang pera eh (sabi mo), reklamo ka pa ng reklamo!!!

huwag ka ng mangulo dito, bumalik ka na sa kabilang board...mangugulo ka pa dito eh!!!!

sorry mods!!! last reply ko na dito sa topic na ito...

[usokpower]

tama na yang away hahaha natatawa ko sa inyong dalawa

green,

yup it takes two to tango. Pero realistically speaking ala talaga tayo magawa even if we want to be straight. So both parties are guilty no matter what.