August 26th: we can all be national heroes

Tomorrow, August 26th, is National Heroes Day in the PH, an excellent opportunity for ordinary citizens to be this generation's heroes as we collectively call for the abolition of the congressional pork barrel and the prosecution of all those who have swindled the Filipino public. 

I am joining because this is my responsibility as a Catholic, as a Filipino, and as an Iskolar ng Bayan.

Let us pray that the gathering will be peaceful and orderly and that all participants will show that they/we are also responsible by not littering, spitting, smoking in public, destroying public property, or resorting to violence. If we expect our political leaders to be responsible and law-abiding, we must expect the same from ourselves and each other.

This should be a wake-up call not just to those in government but also to ordinary citizens: we all have a role in nation-building, and we should take this role seriously.  It is both stupid and cowardly to demand for our rights if we do not also act responsibly for the public good.

Janet Napoles’ Pork Barrel Scam: Theft from a Nation?

Although the enormous size of the tobacco pandemic remains a good reason to keep writing about it, I'm going slightly off target for now by pointing readers to another blog article, one that focuses on the ongoing "pork barrel" scam in my country and the role of Janet Napoles and her shell companies, as well as the online boasting of wealth by her children (link below). 

Reading this article is enough to make your blood boil, and that's how I feel when I read about how the tobacco industry continues to make millions in profits at the expense of smokers, at least half of whom will die prematurely if they are regular users of these lethal products.  And of course, these rich tobacco companies have more than sufficient funds to buy off senators and congressmen to protect their vested interests.

Make sure you read the comments at the bottom of the article.

http://momandpopmoments.com/2013/07/31/janet-napoles-pork-barrel-scam-theft-from-a-nation/

Janet Napoles’ Pork Barrel Scam: Theft from a Nation?

Here is a snippet from the article (and I urge you to read it in its entirety):

This news, however, has taken on a new dimension with the revelation of Ms. Napoles’ children’s extravagant lifestyles taken from their own personal blogs that they have neglected to discontinue in time.  (See full article and video here: Napoles’ daughter blogs about lavish lifestyle andNapoles daughter flaunts family’s wealth) This information only strengthens the possibility that the accusations against Ms. Napoles and the senators just might be true.

How can someone who does business in a nation where over 70% of the population live below the poverty line afford this kind of lavish lifestyle without any legitimate business to explain it? Even the country’s biggest businessmen: Henry Sy, Lucio Tan and the Gokongwei families don’t have this kind of extravagant lifestyle even though they have more concrete businesses and assets to show for it.

In my curiosity, I went to the website of Ms. Janet Lim Napoles’ corporation called JLN Corporation to check out whether or not her claims of legitimately earning her wealth have any grounds.  Surely, if they had this huge business capable of sustaining their lifestyle, it would reflect in their websites and will have an impact on some business news if I search it online.

Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zero.