Understand How People Abuse their Powers

Filipino people should learn their lessons about their past. They should learn now to express their humanity to find hope and peace in these times of crises and worries. They should be considerate towards people. As well, they should uphold moral integrity and respect to other people. They should show some concerns about other people in the country with compassion, love, and mercy. However, all these attitudes and characters are lost. The Filipino people do not represent the standards of moral codes and values. They do not appreciate others and fail to think the best in people. All these things happen due to the abuse of power and the lost morals and values of the Filipino people.

For example, a group of administration lawmakers now pushed further reviews and House of Representative investigations against the ABS-CBN network. After the plans to shut down the TV network over the issue of not airing political campaigns and of promoting Antonio Trillanes’ political propaganda, the ABS-CBN network faced extinction. The rejection of the franchise renewal served as a form of revenge despite the reasons for violations.

The effort of the House of Representatives to investigate the so-called condonation of loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to the Lopez company and owner of ABS-CBN could be one form of abuse. The action of the House of Representatives materialized was based on House Resolution No. 1040. This resolution was filed on July 9 by Deputy Speaker and Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte, Deputy Speaker and Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Yap, Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla, Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., and Dumper PTDA Rep. Claudine Diana Bautista. These lawmakers were busy finding the loopholes for ABS-CBN to face more charges. This abuse of authority of some lawmakers became the face and the fight of the lawmakers in the Philippines.

The following actions of these lawmakers to escalate the situations and breakdown of ABS-CBN appeared to be an aggressive abuse of power.

    • Firstly, Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta sought to look into the authenticity of the title of a 4.4-hectare property on Mother Ignacia Street in Quezon City where ABS-CBN’s head office and most of its broadcast facilities.
    • Secondly, Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla would search for the alleged violations on the franchise of Amcara Broadcasting Network Inc., an ABS-CBN subsidiary company. He would also question the “block-time arrangement” between AMCARA and ABS-CBN that permitted its television broadcasts beyond the termination of its permit.
    • Thirdly and lastly, the National Telecommunications Commission made a second blow to shut the broadcast down. The lawmakers, who supported the network’s franchise renewal, objected to these sustained inquiries.

Apparently, these lawmakers have had ample time to make plausible actions to help the government ease the current situations. They can, also, expedite other actions to help the Filipino citizens and the business organizations recover from their losses. If these lawmakers think about these issues, they can provide actions and strategies to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, things happen differently and the constant fights between the red and the yellow banners produced horrors in these challenging times.

Well, what do we expect? This is who we are. There are crabs in all of us – the crab mentality. That is the truth that we cannot escape. We need to re-think the next time we brag about our accomplishments and our Filipino nationality and pride. We need to re-consider how we fight one another for power and revenge. We have nothing to blow our horns. If we fail to stop, we, in the end, can see ourselves fighting towards our destruction and ruins. 

References

Gascon, M. (30 July 2020). Administration lawmakers push more probes of ABS-CBN. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1314217/administration-lawmakers-push-more-probes-of-abs-cbn

Know Why Telcos Have Had Poor Services

Telecommunication companies, such as Globe and Smart, could hardly secure local permits to build their infrastructure to augment their communication and connection services. This circumstance happened because local officials and regulators made it hard for them to obtain permits.

Senator Grace Poe urged these Telecommunication companies to mention names to those local officials and regulators so that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte would deal with them. In other words, these telecommunication companies could simply provide their clients and consumers viable services by building more cell sites and towers if these culprits, such as the local officials and regulators, did not push their financial agenda.

In the joint assembly of Congress on Monday, President Duterte reprimanded Globe and Smart Telecoms for their pitiable services. He even threatened these two telecommunication companies with government expropriation if Globe and Smart performance services continued to deliver poorly. As well, he mentioned that this sanction would materialize if these telecommunications would remain the same by December.

Senator Grace Poe hoped that any whistleblowers should appear to expose this issue and expect that somebody would explain to Mr. Duterte that more than a few local officials and regulators failed to deliver their jobs due to their corrupt intentions.

Indeed, Senator Grace Poe added that President Duterte could call the attention of these regulators like the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and local officials to accelerate their replies to the needs of the people. Hence, she said that the government should enforce the red tape law.

References

Salaverria, L. B. ( 31 July 2020). Telcos urged to name officials delaying cell site permits. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1314721/telcos-urged-to-name-officials-delaying-cell-site-permits