6) Scrap the Pork Barrel. Marami na akong nasabi tungkol dito. Pork Barrel is synonymous to corruption and wasteful spending. Maam Arroyo is the biggest practitioner of Pork Barrel Politics. It's how she keeps her tongressmen in line. If you're still not convinced that we should scrap the pork barrel altogether, I suggest you read Connie Veneracion, MLQ3, Bong Austero and Neal Cruz. It's one of the few things we can all agree on.
Here's how to make Pork Barrel an issue.
7) Reverse the retarded Arroyo policy on Family Planning, and return it back to the more progressive Ramos/Flavier approach to stem our high population growth rate. No amount of statistical nonsense from the admin can fool the public about their negligience.
8) We need to create more jobs here so Filipinos don't have to go oustide the country to find work. The reason why more and more are leaving is because of the lack of job decent paying job opportunities for them, and the skyrocketing cost of living (I don't care what the admin's statistics say, tell that to the people, maam). The call center business is nice, pero hindi qualified ang karamihan sa mga kababayan natin diyan. Kasi puro mga overqualified english speaking ateneo and lasalle grads lang ang naha-hire eh. Kaya nga maraming bakante sa call center kahit na sangkatutak ang mga unemployed natin.
We need more jobs, different kinds of jobs na pwedeng mapasukan ng mga kababayan natin. If they want to work abroad... fine, we'll help them find work abroad. If our doctors want to work as nurses in the US, fine, we'll help them do that. If teachers want to work as maids in HK, that's okay too. But our emphasis should be on creating more decent paying jobs here in our country so they have the option of not leaving the country just to find a decent paying job.
Isa pa, if this administration doesn't want to jeopardize the "goose that lays the golden egg", then it better get serious about not tolerating cheating and force the nursing students who took the leak-tainted exam to retake it, instead of playing more politics. Else, baka sabihin ng ibang bansa na padala lang tayo ng padala ng mga nurses, kahit na hindi qualified yung mga iba diyan.
9) Reduce Taxes. Maybe it's just me, but I believe this is a winning issue for the Opposition. A significant part of the middle class, the poor and the businessmen are all for some sort of tax relief, dahil sa taas ng gastusin na nagsimula nung last year. And especially after seeing how our taxes are being used to buy your tongressman's vote with pork barrel, and the admin's involvement in corruption scandals (philhealth cards, road user's tax and fertilizer funds were used in the 2004 elections?) and wasteful spending (Arroyo's CHA CHA and "People's Initiative").
Kung mababa ang buwis natin, it'll encourage businesses to expand and hire more workers and make our country more attractive to foreign investors. Kung mababa ang buwis natin, your average Filipino's spending power increases, which is good for everybody.
But we need to reduce the government's wasteful spending first.
10) For lasting peace in Mindanao, accept the MILF's proposal to hold a referendum on Mindanao, supervised and monitored by the UN and the int'l community. Katulad ng nangyari sa East Timor. The areas in Mindanao where a majority of the population votes for separation will be included in the new Moro homeland. Once the results are out, everybody accepts the outcome. No more appeals.
From the Inquirer:
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it would propose the holding of a plebiscite with the aim of creating “a separate homeland (for Moros) in Mindanao.”
Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, said the proposal, which would be coursed through the MILF peace panel, could be finalized as early as next year after the rebel group has finished a series of consultations with the Moro people and lumad communities.
One of the issues being asked in the consultations is ancestral domain, one of the two remaining issues confronting government and MILF negotiators.
The government and the MILF have been negotiating to resolve the decades-old Moro rebellion, which already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since it first broke out in the 1960s.
Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat, said the MILF already met tribal leaders from Bukidnon, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat, the Davao provinces, and the Zamboanga Peninsula.
The result of the consultations would be presented when the peace negotiations resume.
“Legally and historically, Mindanao is the homeland of the Moro people,” Kabalu said when asked why the MILF still want a separate state.
However, he said the MILF is also willing to compromise on its demand for a separate republic for Moros in Mindanao.
Moro and indigenous peoples account for less than half of the population in Mindanao.
“We recognize that we are only minority.* Our proposal for a separate homeland will only be confined to areas where Moros are majority,” Kabalu said.
He said when the peace talks are concluded, areas with large Moro communities would also be asked if they are in favor of the agreement or not.
We would be foolish not to accept this offer, if this means lasting peace in Mindanao.
* Approximately 20.4 percent of the population of Mindanao is Muslim, according to the 2000 census.
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