YEARS back, many were opposed to the national ID system pointing out privacy rights violation as their solid wall of argument. After some time, opposition was stifled and there it goes, it was business as usual for the proponents of the national ID system.
The icing on the cake was it was like a high-tech ATM-card in glossy color and an all-around card for all business transactions in the Philippines.
The card was supposed to address the perennial problem of many Filipinos to present various IDs in both public and private business transactions that resulted invariably in delays, corruption and overall inconvenience and red tape in government dealings.
But when the result came out, it was an utter disappointment to all the paying recipients.
Apart from the long wait, the paying recipients were asked to print the form themselves and have it laminated. The picture was blurry and misspelling of names and other personal circumstances was a common.
There was no ATM-like card at all.
And worse, some business entities like commercial banks refused to honor the blurry card that was supposedly the high-tech card that was promised by PSA.
Yes, the promised high-tech card turned out to be a dud.
Public frustration focused on erroneous information on the cards, misspelled names, poor printing, fading or blurry pictures and inconsistent format of the official document itself.
With the mounting complaints, the PSA found a logical alibi – the COVID pandemic.
And of course it was a valid explanation, at that time. Nobody questioned the reasoning of the PSA with the pandemic as a convenient alibi, hoping that things will turn out fine after the pandemic.
But with the COVID in check, the result did not improve one bit.
* * *
With the mounting complaints from a dissatisfied paying public, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas decided to terminate its contract with card supplier AllCard Inc (ACI) and cited breach of contract for its failure to deliver the goods as specified in the contract.
The BSP also moved to black-list the ACI, which the ACI of course, appealed for reconsideration.
This costly PSA fiasco is not the first or only one of course.
We are still mindful, and spiteful, of the LTO license plate fiasco.
Many years back, motorists were required to pay hefty fees for the new, modern and high-tech license plates for all motor vehicles.
There was no escaping the payment of the new plates because it was mandatory for all vehicle registrants.
But just like in the case of the national ID cards, there was no license plates at all, only honeyed promises from LTO offices nationwide.
These honeyed promises later on transformed into a blaming game as the LTO offices nationwide washed their hands of liability and pointed at the central LTO office as the ones to blame.
Yes, no plates but they already have the money.
And even in the passage of time, the money was not returned to the paying public.
Daw sa bula nga nahanaw lang pero didto diay tugdon sa bulsa nga lawom kaayo.
* * *
Question – where are the culprits? Asa na man ang mga balhiboon og kamot, gikasohan ba?
* * *
There was one politician of yore who was quoted as saying that their party will make sure that from then on, there will be no more turncoats from their party.
How to do that?
Well, that is party secret so let us not waste our time with that query because methinks, this is like asking for moon, Philippine politics is as usual, balimbingan when the time calls for it.
Di man gani tumanon ang pirmado ug notariado nga kasabotan – nga kunohay usa ka term ra or dili na molansad or ihatag sa kaatbang ang pwesto inig ka human sa term – unsa na kaha nang yawyaw-yawyaw ra.
Anyway, the party is telling new recruits about the “new” policy on “no turncoatism” as if this is a novel idea and also “implementable.”
Well, to me, implementing this “no turncoatism” policy is like Congress finally passing the law against family dynasty, or asking commercial sex workers if they are still virgins or asking politicians if they are honest.
* * *
A few weeks from now, the period of courtship will begin.
Candidates, old and new, will try their best tack to woe, convince and make bola with the madlang people. In fact, some of them have already started the courtship ahead of the others by posting their faces in colorful tarps bearing their huge names and smiling faces.
They will try every tested, and untested, ways to convince the voters that they are worthy of their trust, they will be very friendly, very accommodating, easy to do selfies and groupies, very concerned of your health, wealth and have plenty of bright and wild ideas to make living in this world something to long for.
The madlang people in turn, are also aware of the bola-bola thing, yes because they are not born yesterday, and they also know that the culmination of this courtship is the sample ballot stapled with money, for each and every candidate, plus another last-minute ballot for the special ops few days or hours before they cast their ballots.
It’s the same old political cycle every 3 years.
The kind of political leaders we have reflects our kind of political maturity or immaturity.
Maayo na lang nga wa na mobalik ag Insik, magpa-special ra ba gyod to siya kanunay.
