Thursday, May 28, 2009

Who's To Blame

The comment made by an anonymous reader to the blog post titled "Through the Needle's Eye" is the kind of comment I am always gratified to get for this blog. It is raw, passionate, insightful and truly spoken from the heart of someone who has more than just a passing knowledge of Lianga and its people. As such it deserves a reply.

Why indeed can't Lianga be handled like the municipal corporation that it really is? One that can be progressively run like a corporate business with the emphasis on using assets to borrow funds for investments in community projects and programs that would spell sure profits and economic growth in the long run.

Why can't the local government stop depending on the IRA or the internal revenue allotment coming from the national government for its own operating expenses and allotments for development programs? And why is it unable to free itself from myopically dreaming of economic recovery based on a resurgence in the presently moribund logging and mining industry that had once fueled its growth and prosperity in the not so distant past?

Why can't the municipal leadership break free of that kind of outdated mentality and find new directions for economic expansion specifically in the field of eco-tourism which a coastal town like Lianga with magnificent beaches and pristine mountain scenery can truly excel in? Why is this town seemingly stuck in a rut, not certainly sliding backward economically but also not moving forward fast enough to provide a healthy, growing and competitive economic environment for its people?



It is easy to blame the local political leadership for all of the above and indeed they do deserve to be hold accountable for the avarice and lackadaisical thinking that predominates at the town hall. After all, what can you expect of political leaders that are the products of a corrupt political culture that view political constituencies as territorial fiefdoms to hold, control and exploit for their own interests rather than as communities of real people who have entrusted to their elected officials the control and management of their collective welfare and well-being?

The truth is that Lianga's corrupt and inutile political leadership came into power because the very constituency that has empowered such kind of leadership is itself corrupt, ineffective, naive and unsure of what it wants for itself and its future. Such lack of political maturity, civic involvement and concern for the protection of the very institutions of democracy that it is supposed to uphold and defend from power seekers, greedy parasites and political adventurists has created the very negative political climate that plagues towns like Lianga today.

I have, like so many other well-meaning citizens of this town, pointed an accusing finger at the current local officials for the current sorry state of this town and the lack of a coherent vision and sense of direction with which the leadership of the town has directed its affairs. That may be the comfortable and even appropriate thing to do in most cases.

But if the officials at the town hall are corrupt, unsavory and self seeking opportunists, what does it say about the many of us, the ordinary men and women on the street, who have put them there or allowed such a travesty to happen in the first place? Isn't this the case of us merely getting our just desserts? Didn't we, from hindsight, get the government we justly and truly deserve?

I say we did.

3 comments:

  1. Benjie,
    You forget one thing in your post. Where is the necessary support services and ancillary business here in Lianga Municipality? When we have to get ice from Butuan. Lumber from Butuan or Tandag, concrete blocks from San Francisco. Everything that makes money for the local economy and in turn for taxes to make major changes, to support the government bureaucracy. Whether you like them or not our government officials are there for a purpose, we may not like that purpose, but it's there, we have to accept that. And we have to work within the framework of the government under which we find ourselves. Our government officials deserve our support for what few things they are doing with so little to work with.
    What Lianga needs is a strong support mechanism, where adequate lumber, concrete blocks, and other hardware is available for producing a strong eco-economy here. While Kansilad is one of the greatest, it's not enough to support eco-tourism, we need much more. We need more resorts, we need scuba diving (and a scuba diving class), we need eco-tourism shops, we have non of these right now. What's up? Where are the ones in this town who have the money? Where are they when we need them to invest in the community in which they live. We need so much more than we now have here. We need results soon to, with our newly concrete road we can expect some tourists soon. So lets all get busy and do something to improve this place we love.
    Mark and Merejen

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  2. Anonymous9:39 PM

    Well, it is simply ending the war without firing a single bullet.

    Thank you guys for making a second thought of my view. Yes, you're right jie, it is the people who are indirectly to be blamed and I agree that it is the people who is the cause of the evil cause.

    But one thing that I'd like to share and hope it make sense.

    "The ONLY WAY that the EVIL will triumph is for the GOOD TO DO NOTHING" -Edmund Burke

    I think Indog Lianga is still lying down and needs help.

    2010 election fast approaching, hope we can make a good chance of carving "change Lianga with the best" and let's statr it with letter C.

    Thank you guys!

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  3. Don't know who the Anonymous comment was from, but he is right. Have a better economy and there will be no need for bullets. A good economy will cure the problems.
    Mark and Merejen

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