By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion. — Blaise Pascal
http.com (how thick is the face in the palace.com)

The outgoing president who is presumed to be much hated by many of the citizens is still insisting that she has done lot of good things for the Filipinos. Her words: “Nine years ago, I came to the presidency at a time of great turmoil in our nation. I accepted the challenge of the office when it was thrust upon me… At that time, our country was reeling from political intrigue and a distressed economy…” So on and so forth. She even boasted that when she assumed the presidency even if she was not the choice of the people she had to raise taxes in order for the people to have better education, health services and job creation.

Yes, it is true as she said that the fisherman to the farmer, the taxi driver to the teacher that we are a nation of industrious, hardworking people.Yes, the people must work harder as life under her nine-year rule had been unindurable.

She says this is the face of change. Yes, it is right to consider it change, from worst to “worster” situation. Many Filipinos grew hungry and became poorer because of her economic policies. Institutions of the government crumbled because of her ambition to cling to power.

She still thinks that she is well-loved by her people when many have died because of her anti-people policies. Countless activists, leaders and those critical to her way of governing fell victims of her counter-insurgency campaigns. Many wives and husbands were killed and children orphaned and countless were left homeless as her fascist administration unleashed war against her own people.

And now the end is near for her presidency and many surely are glad. She will vacate her seat at last, which would have been more hallelujiah if she had done it earlier. She thinks she can just say that she will be moving into a “quieter public role”. Her grave crimes against the Filipino people especially the millions of workers who lost their jobs will not allow her to be so.

History will judge that she was the leader of the country that made millions of her own people suffer and regret that they ever knew her. Her “sa totoo lang” ads will not erase nor clean her blood-stained hands. The truth is that her misdeeds are far more than those of the previous three presidents of the Philippines.
The Filipino people will go after her, they will not allow her to go free. The workers will never agree that she will not be prosecuted of her crimes.

But we Filipinos should also be ready as she will still be in power in the House of Representatives in its 15th Congress this coming months. They will expect that she and her allies will again do antics in the congress to satisfy their hunger for power. They will again persist to forward more antiworker policies that will satisfy their greed.

But, the Filipinos as she said are hardworking people and will survive the tests of the times. The workers are used to facing seemingly unsolvable problems as they experienced them every day in their life. The workers, along with the entire nation, through the years fought for their rights and for democracy.

They ousted two warmongering rulers and made them pay for what they have done to the people. Surely they can make this outgoing president face trial and be prosecuted. Telling the nation that she has done well is really an insult to the Filipino people especially the workers she haunted.# nordis.net