20200612

It’s Independence Day!

 

Raindependence

Tropical Depression “Butchoy” celebrates the holiday with us, bringing rains and thunderstorms. Oh hey, it’s typhoon season!

Well, that was a short summer. I don’t mind; though I enjoy working from home, I kind of miss the airconditioning in our office and in my car. It’s not like we were able to indulge ourselves with the usual summer activities anyway, like going to the beach, or to the mountains. We could use some rain.

Clothes will be harder to dry now though, so keep your favorite fabric freshener on hand.

 

Political Thoughts

Though it has been rainy, we celebrate this year’s Independence Day under a slightly simmering political atmosphere. The pandemic has seemingly brought out the true colors of our officials in the public sector (IMO). Certain mayors and vice presidents have proven themselves to be proactive, resilient, and prepared for disasters. Meanwhile, some other officials have shown themselves to be rather reactive and inutile in the face of a crisis.

The passage of the Anti-Terror Bill was rushed through both levels of the House and is only awaiting the President’s signature. Now, nobody is saying we should NOT combat terrorism. However, it is a rather mysterious and suspicious that legislation regarding national security was made a priority while the country is fighting something else: a global pandemic. Are hospitals being attacked? Are looters as prevalent as they are currently in the United States? Is government assistance being intercepted by armed extremists?

I haven’t seen any of that. In fact, I would assume that the pandemic is something that every party should be uniting to fight against; extremists from the right and left alike. So the government should be focusing its efforts in the fight against COVID-19 (whilst not ignoring national security concerns, like our islands being overtaken by the Chinese), right?

That doesn’t seem to be the case.

What truly irks me about all this is that the people’s plights are being heard, but not listened to. Officials acknowledge the concerns, but they have repeatedly dismissed them as “paranoid” and “overreacting” (says the people rushing an anti-terror bill in the midst of a pandemic); some even going so far as to call those complaining as terrorists themselves.

If that isn’t a dead giveaway that this is going to be abused, I don’t know what will.

The cherry on top, so far, has been this quote.

…our Senate President doesn’t believe that terrorism is rooted in poverty and lack of justice in society. Can you imagine?

It’s no wonder our country is going to the wolves.

 

Political Thought 2

I’m seeing a lot of acquaintances who are oddly proud of metaphorically observing from a distance the politics that divides our country.

I respect that. You guys have the option to sit back and focus on your own personal lives. I, too, get exhausted from the political discourse and the toxicity that revolves around it. Discussions very easily devolve from the problem at hand to finger blaming. And we can ignore that, I’m sure. I can choose to ignore all that: after all, I have a car, a job that pays and keeps me busy during the pandemic, a roof above my head that was built for us by my grandfather, fast internet, and relatives in government.

But a lot of people don’t. Politics makes or breaks them, literally. It didn’t have to be that way, but the law selectively punishes the common man while letting off the rich and the powerful scot-free, justice is not present. It becomes monopolized, reserved only for those who can afford it. The law is supposed to be unbiased. When politics taints the law, it endangers those on the fringes of society.

They can’t afford to be an observer.