WRONG METAPHORS

Methinks the President has used the wrong metaphors in his Easter Sunday message to the people, as he draws parallelisms between the economic growth of the Philippines under his watch and the resurrection of Christ.  He said we have now become a country of hope, from a hopeless one, since he assumed office in 2010.  He had better told that to the Marines!

With all due respect, I cannot follow that which he is talking about.  In terms of economic growth, as far as the numbers show, we inherited a 7.6 percent GDP from GMA.  Now, we wallow in the quicksands of less than 4 percent.  The President says that more and more OFWs are returning  because there are now better employment opportunities here than before.  Correct, there are indeed many OFWs who have returned and are still returning.  But wrong! They didn't return because there are now greener pastures in these parts..  Rather, they are coming back essentially because of the growing political hostilities in the countries they were working, such as in Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, etc, as well as due to the rather inhuman treatment some domestic helpers have been getting lately from their employers in Hongkong..  Truth is, they would want to go back to their previous jobs abroad as soon as such hostilities and, hopefully temporary employment abnormalities, had vanished..  P-Noy says the "darkness" now belongs to our past.  Well, as far as I know, Mindanao used to be a "brighter" community years before than it is now -- both literally and figuratively.    There appears no immediate solution to the brown-outs our brothers there are now experiencing day in and day out.  Moreover,  recent surveys indicate a continually growing incidence of hunger among the poorest of the poor in most localities in as many regions.  And that's amid the administration's propensity for the much ballyhooed CCT..  By the way, the CCT originated in Gloria's time.  'Kala ko ba, P-Noy tends to junk everything started by GMA?  Ah, maybe -- just maybe -- he opts not to junk the CCT because of the billions of foreign-sourced money it carries, which in turn -- let's please get real and admit it -- is simply too easy to disburse, yet too difficult to audit and account for.

With all honesty and candor, I voted for P-Noy and I sincerely wish him to succeed.  Nevertheless,  all I keep hearing from him and his lapdogs are endless denials of his lackluster performance, meaningless, self-serving, press releases in his defense, and his unbridled expression of extreme hatred of GMA and the past administration.  It's odd that no other president in this country's history from Quezon onwards -- not even his mother, Cory, who had the most valid axe to grind against Marcos (who caused his husband's death)  -- can compare with P-Noy in this respect..  But, as I know, in fairness, that P-Noy is one of our most honest (not necessarily best) presidents,  I do still pray to God that he could yet learn to graduate from his extremely unacceptable flair for political vendetta.   Maipakulong nga sana niya si GMA for good, gaya ng ginawang pagpapakulong ni GMA kay Erap.  Otherwise, he is going to be the whole world's laughing stock.