Breakfast News

I woke up this morning with my father complaining on his first breakfast news in years. My dad finally had the chance of having a short vacation here in the Philippines, and guess what- apparently, news in the Philippines turned out to be too much for him. Why am I not surprised? After years of living peacefully in the US, why would anyone want to go back in this dreaded country? (This is one syndrome every Filipino abroad is affected of. I don't know why.)

Tax on texting. Additional taxes on oil products. Oil price hike. These are the things that welcomed my poor dad as he starts his two-week vacation here. The government seems to not notice how the middle-class people are beginning to hate her style of governance. We may had different decisions on voting during the last elections (Mom voted for Eddie Villanueva, Dad voted for Lacson, my brother and I voted for Roco), but we agreed on one thing- not to vote that anti-people bitch.

Indeed, the government has to look for revenues specially now that this poor country is buried in international debts. By imposing tax on texting? What the hell is she thinking? How stupid and selfish can she and her minions get? If their goal is to make Gloria's popularity sink together with that of Tito Sotto, well, they are definitely doing the right job. It is true that this may solve the problem- imagine how much money the government could allocate since it is a known fact that almost for every Filipino, there is one cellphone. And it is also true that most of these revenues would come from the media, business sector and rich people. But how about the ordinary man who needs to text his family everyday? How about the overseas workers who need to check on their families once in a while? This is one of a few simple pleasures left for the poor Filipino to afford having. Impose high tax on these few guilty-pleasures and there's nothing left for the ordinary Filipino to take pleasure from. We're talking about a greatly demoralized Masa here.

Another oil price hike? It is a known fact that this time, this is due to the additional taxes imposed by the government to the big oil companies. And of course, who suffers this but the end-users, the consumers of diesel, gasoline and gas- us. Mysteriously, this time, the transport groups seem not to care anymore. Have they gone numb after having been ignored by the government? Or have they come up now with a good suggestion- that is, build their own gas company that would support public transport finance? I heard they plan on putting gas stations offering low prices on oil products in jeepney and bus terminals. This seems to be a good idea. Or is it just wishful thinking? Goodluck having the government's approval. We all know how the three bully oil companies Shell, Caltex and Petron have the government on it's knees.

Fast fact: The price of oil products now is higher than it was when the Gulf war happened years ago.

Actually, it's not only the big oil companies that have the government bullied around. Remember Angelo dela Cruz? If it wasn't for the media, particularly big TV networks GMA-7 and ABSCBN, would the government even care letting the news out in public? Let Mr. Angelo thank GMA-7 and ABSCBN, for it wasn't for these media networks, he should be dead by now. But even so, there's always been a question in my mind after observing how the government deals with terrorism: Why the news blackout? No, don't give me national security nonesense. It's already out in the public, why attempt keeping a secret that has already been made known to all? Or is there something that's happening behind the scenes, giving a new meaning to how Gloria deals with "negotiations"? Note: Although not still proven, the people are convinced some AFP generals gained much from the Abu Sayyaf negotiations. Wink wink.

Ok. Going back to the issue of tax imposing. People would definitely ask me that after complaining (or whining) about this, have I the ability to suggest solutions? Yes. And regarding this issue, I'd just refer to Jose Rizal's ages-old and simply effective yet severly ignored solution: Effective tax collection. That is, if the government or Gloria herself has the guts to challenge big names in the country to pay their taxes. Big names such as TV networks and oil companies, among many others. There's a big difference in imposing taxes and collecting taxes. And a lot more difference there is in spending these collected taxes (revenues). Note: Does Gloria's husband, allegedly Jose Pidal, pay his taxes? Or does he just spend our taxes? Hmmm.

Dad, don't worry. You'll be back to the land of peace of mind soon.