WHO LISTENS TO THE POOR?

(Photo Caption: One of the poor landowners in Asik-Asik who complained that she has not received the promised payment of P100,000 for her 1 hectare lot which was taken by the government to establish a receiving area for tourists in the magnificent water falls. For more articles and photos please go to: www.mannypinol.com)

There is a story in the Bible about how the Lord Jesus Christ asked the blind man Bartholomew what it was that he wanted.

Of course, Jesus Christ obviously knew that Bartholomew dreamed of being able to see again. But He wanted to listen to the blind man himself in a very clear display of consultative leadership.

In the many years that I spent in public service, I have come to appreciate the fact that the biggest problem in governance is how to make our political leaders realize that the poorest of the poor and the least among our brethren should be heard out.

How many of our Governors or Mayors now get out of the comforts of their offices to meet and talk with the ordinary people in the streets or out there in the remote barangays?

How many of our political leaders now even ask themselves whether the projects that they are implementing would really uplift the lives of the poorest of the poor?

You see overhead concrete bridges spanning wide highways, structures which cost millions of pesos in people’s money but which are rarely used by pedestrians in crossing the street.

In contrast, out there in the remote barangay a farmer only dreams of three culverts costing less than P10,000 so he would be able to bring his produce across a creek to the market.

You see huge billboards and colorful tarpaulin streamers displaying the faces of politicians bragging about their accomplishments while a poor family wonders where they will get the next kilo of rice to feed their children.

How many of the victims of injustice could get just a moment of their leaders’ time just to share with them their grief and their desire to see that justice is served?

This reality in the lives of the poor is the reason why for sometime in the history of this country the Sparrow Unit of the New People’s Army (NPA), a liquidation squad which was supposed to mete out justice in behalf of the poor and the downtrodden, stood out as the defenders of the oppressed.

That was until the Sparrow Unit overdid things and clothed itself with the authority of a judge and executioner and started committing mistakes by executing innocent people.

Who listens to the poor?

Very few among our government leaders now do.

When I went up to Asik-Asik Falls last weekend, I virtually became a huge receptacle which received the tales of woes unloaded by the displaced owners of the land near the magical wonder of nature.

It was only after I left the area when I received a report that the landowners, who have complained that they are now being considered as eyesores in the area and are being asked to stay by the side as tourists come, were finally summoned to the provincial capitol to discuss their problems.

The move obviously is an act of damage control rather than a genuine effort to really listen to the tales of the poor.

Pity the poor.