Not many Filipinos know it, but September is designated by the national government as "National Clean-Up Month."
This occasion was created by the late President Fidel Ramos through Proclamation No. 244 in 1993, to encourage communities to be responsive in cleaning and protecting the environment.
But let's talk of a very different (although related) kind of cleanup: getting rid of the invasive pest of corruption and greed in our government.
Disconnected, yet related, as it had been revealed in past weeks that massive graft and corruption had, in part, resulted in the devastating effects of natural calamities Filipinos have endured (and are still enduring) in the past years.
That corruption has become part and parcel of politics and society in the Philippines is never a surprise. But what triggered the growing frustration of the Filipino in the past days is the shocking extent of how the pestilence of corruption and greed has managed to infect nearly every agency, every official, from the top down to the bottom.
Already, various sectors are in talks of mobilizing the masses for yet another People Power revolt, while netizens are also valiantly taking to social media to express their sheer rage at the continuing revelations of gargantuan greed and profiting off the sweat, blood and tears of an overburdened people.
The recent events in Indonesia (and now in Nepal, where angry protesters burned down the Nepalese parliament building) should serve as a warning to our government officials: that people are fed up – and let’s put it in capital letters, FED UP – with a system that benefits a few greedy individuals at the cost of an entire populace.
Will we ever reach that extreme point where people will not only take to the streets but also resort to violence to lash out their anger? Will that even force our government officials, some of whom have earned the ugly distinction of “makapal ang mukha”, to start a massive, genuine cleanup of our government?
As a timeworn phrase made popular on social media once said, “Papunta pa lang tayo sa exciting part.”
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonEditorial #NationalCleanUpMonth #