It is not just about money, Sen. Drilon

AFTER being in public office for more than 30 years now and with his (possible) aspiration to also be hailed as a ‘statesman’ by Filipinos, we would like to believe that the proposal of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to “kill” the P16.4 billion requested budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is simply a product of his blissful ignorance of what had happened to the country during all those past decades—and not another subtle attempt to aid the cause of the CPP-NPA.

We are compelled to be quizzical over Drilon’s stand given the fact that their Liberal Party (LP), dating back to the time of their party’s “stalwart,” Sen. Ninoy Aquino, has always been too “liberal” and accommodating in its dealings with the CPP-NPA to the extent of Ninoy personally “birthing” their existence as the unearthed recent historical facts have now shown.

Last week, Drilon was all over town proclaiming that the P16.4 billion needed by the NTF-ELCAC to strengthen the resolve of more than 800 villages in resisting the return of the CPP-NPA in these areas could find better use by giving it instead to the Department of Housing.

Curiously, the “legal democratic forces” of the CPP-NPA in Congress have been desperately themselves trying to also remove the allocation but thankfully, to no avail.

Of course, Drilon’s proposal not only plays into the hands of the armed radicals in our society, it also manifested his utter failure, up to now, to see the political and social realities in our remote areas caused by a 52-year old insurgency that has devastated these communities the whole time.

For clearly, without the pestering communist insurgency, it is most probable the government would not have to spend today, P16.4 billion just to bring these communities back to the mainstream of society.

For surely too, they would have long ago experienced a “better life” thru their own efforts and would have most likely contributed to the economic growth of their own regions and provinces.

There too, lies the problem of politicians wholly disconnected to the lives of the ordinary people who have their own dreams and aspirations and hope for a “brighter future,” especially for their children and loved ones.

These politicians tend to think and decide within the confine of their own comfort zones that they can be so reckless in making decisions that can only pull back the government’s gains in bringing lasting peace and genuine development for the country.

Or maybe, the likes of Drilon are simply too lazy, arrogant, wholly uncaring and mainly focused on transactional politics to even take a close and careful look at what the P16.4 billion actually represents?

To our mind, it is not just money. It is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to its own people of providing them with the necessities they need to live a decent life, free from fear and where they can again have an opportunity to dream, aspire and work for a brighter future.

In other words, after falling victims to deceptions and exploitations by the country’s armed enemies, this “seed money” would help restore their faith in government and our democracy.

Or would Drilon rather want them to remain as they are so they can be repeatedly used and abused by our “trapos” as was their fate before?