Hold the Government Accountable

Everyone in government must be held accountable. Congress must ensure that the Commission on Audit is carrying out its constitutional mandate. We need to know how taxes collected and borrowed monies were used, and that they were spent appropriately. We need to know that current financial statements being prepared by government agencies are being presented fairly in accordance with generally accounting principles.

Pero kung tutuusin, it is only the people who can effectively hold elected or appointed public officials accountable. The Filipino people have only themselves to blame for the current political and financial mess that we are in. Wala nang ibang dapat sisihin.

We have a recurring corrupt government because voters who elect those in positions of power keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Dapat madala na tayo. Our current situation demands that the voting public undergo a self-examination. As a first step, we need to ask ourselves questions like:

• Am I intelligently supporting a qualified person with a proven record or am I foolishly thinking of voting for a celebrity who has no idea what governance means?

• Am I intelligently supporting a candidate who is God-fearing and has integrity or am I foolishly thinking of voting for someone from whom I can benefit somewhere down the road?

• Am I intelligently supporting a candidate who possesses the political will to do what is right for the sake of the country or am I foolishly thinking of voting for someone because he or she is a friend or a relative, or a relative of a friend, or a friend of a relative?

• Am I intelligently supporting a candidate who can actually articulate his or her political philosophy and has a concrete plan on how to make things better for our people or am I foolishly thinking of voting for someone who keeps saying that he will cross the bridge when he gets there?

Remember, true People Power is when politicians actually care about public opinion.