Why do you think Pinas is lagging behind its ASEAN neighbors?

[Syuryuken]

Majority of the public servant don't love the country Their slogan 'Ako muna, bago Bayan', enrich themselves while in government services

IMHO magkaiba ang "public servant" sa "politician".

[baludoy]

honestly, IMO is too much democracy and the people not knowing how to use it properly.

this i agree with

[midinite]

The word is MALASAKIT.

Our malasakit only extends as far as the few people in our circle. and beyond that, it's no longer our problem. it's somebody else's problem.

We do not connect the effect of our actions on the country as a whole.

We are too busy looking after our best interest. The country's best interest is somebody else's problem.

there is a point here. this can also be seen as short-sightedness and not seeing the big picture. one-time-big-time thinking, imo. not long-term thinking. or not anymore at least.

[bbt]

Welcome back midnite

I agree with theveed. Our country is not yet mature nor educated enough for a democracy.

I am of the tyrannical opinion that people who have no TIN should not vote. Why should people who don't contribute get to decide what should be done with my money?!

i agree! why should freeloaders get to vote? if you're not paying to keep the govt working, then you shouldnt have a say in how it's run. unfortunately, this law won't ever get passed because no one would be brave enough to sponsor it

[Zeus]

IMHO magkaiba ang "public servant" sa "politician".

Di ba congressmen, government officials and senators are politician and also public servant?

[niky]

In Vietnam, there's an urgency to succeed. After all of these decades spent suffering in poverty, there's that need to strive just to get to where the others already are. The same with China... there's all that pent-up energy, all that wasted potential that's now finding release.

In all emerging economies, you'll see this. Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan... there's no large base of natural resources and no real sense of security or wealth there... either they progress or they die.

But the Philippines? We've had it easy for too long. There was never much urge for the Government to do things the "right" way... too much "easy" money for people in Government, too little accountability.

This'll cost the people, what? Millions? Billions? Who cares, I'm not going to be there to answer for it after my term's up!

And where's the impetus for change? Those same people will still be voted in by a populace that could care less how corrupt or incompetent a politician is, as long as they look good. Sure, that populace is suffering from poverty, but they still get by, and as long as there's a sliver of hope, a promise of progress from the liar they put into office, they're not going to complain.

Life is too easy here... while we stagnate, those who have come from less, who are more challenged, pass us by.

We're just like Mexico... only a little worse off.

[oldblue]

Of course circumstances have affected us economically. But one has mentioned in another thread that he cant understand why Vietnam is doing so well compared to us. There must be some underlying reason. Vietnam came from a war-ravaged past while we were the darling in the 50s and 60s.

What would you say is the way to lead us to the road of true progress.

All opinions are welcome. In fact, it may be in your opinion that we may find an answer.

bec. they came from war. they have bottomed out na. na-experience na nila worse of the worst. i'm not talking about war against foreign nations. but civil war. Singapore, Japan, USA, they all had their own share of civil wars. they have witnessed first-hand the evils and horrors ng mga pinaggawa nila sa sarili nila.

dito sa'tin we only have bluff wars and people power. we also took credit of 2 freedom/independence events, like we did everything by ourselves pero hindi naman ganun.

ganun talaga pag nagpipilit to be proud of something pero deep in our hearts hindi naman talaga proud.

we do not value our freedom like these countries do bec. if we do, hindi natin gagamitin ito blame others, blame the President, blame the govt. blame the opposition, blame the weather hehehe

[niky]

i agree! why should freeloaders get to vote? if you're not paying to keep the govt working, then you shouldnt have a say in how it's run. unfortunately, this law won't ever get passed because no one would be brave enough to sponsor it

Don't be too quick to assume that it's only people with no money who don't vote wisely. I've met lots of people with money, who should know better, who didn't give a second thought to their vote...

And what are they voting on, these (supposedly) educated people? Family loyalty, oft-times (sort of like Ginebra - San Miguel... who cares what faces are there, basta, sa atin ito!), or party loyalty. A lot of people fall for the same empty rhetoric that the poor people fall prey to (Escudero, anyone?).

I have relatives who voted Cojuangco during the big muck-up election, simply because of a lingering loyalty to the Marcosian house. Erap gained a lot of votes because of the connection, too. Why didn't Roco win? Lack of name, perhaps? Not from any of the big families, and not a celebrity... he shouldn't have bothered.

Truthfully, how many of you actually research what a candidate's done or stands for before you vote, instead of going on popular hearsay, word-of-mouth stories and buzz?

I'd say to hell with the TIN... don't let anyone with an IQ of under 120 vote... but then, that probably wouldn't work either... Stalin and Marcos both had high IQs, and see where that got their countries.

Democracy only works when the people truly care about what they're voting for. As long as the populace in general treats it like a popularity contest (look at what's been happening in the US for the past six or seven years) or a way of labelling yourself, aligning yourself with one party or the other, merely because you believe in "the party", then it's hopeless.

Still, the alternatives aren't any better.

I don't like having the unwashed make political decisions for me, as I can see how wrong they are, at times, but you can't lay all the blame on them. This kind of attitude is what created the "US versus THEM" feeling that made so many people flock to Erap's camp during his election... a feeling of rebellion against the elitist attitude espoused by the then-administration camp. And it's a legitimate feeling... hell, I wouldn't have voted for de Venecia, either, if I'd had the right to vote (non-citizen here).

[rusem]

too much politics and corruption...

[theveed]

Mentality kasi... There's always someone else to blame hehe.