ROUGH CUTS | Making success an election issue

Vic N. Sumalinog

INDEED in politics anything bad or good can be manipulated to appear the opposite if only to boost or destroy the person target of such manipulation.

     Yes, and one classic example is the present day treatment of issues that are evolving in this challenging times of our country. We are referring to the ongoing global pandemic that has brought down the economies of many countries in the world to its knees. Our country being still in the so-called developing economy, is among those worst affected by the pandemic more so because in times like these when people are called upon to rally as one behind the efforts of their government to contain the plague, instead of helping, those who are in the other side of the political divide and those who see nothing positive in government actions or just simply playing the so-called critics they continue to bludgeon every measure the government undertakes. These people claim that all the solutions adopted to deter the pandemic are failures or that the people tasked to implement them are not the ones with the right expertise to implement such.

     The decibel of their noise in criticizing government was in fact at its highest when the CoViD infections in the country surge to a high of as many as 22 thousand cases daily sometime in June to July this year. The swivel chair-sitting lawmakers even implied that they are more knowledgeable than the experts that government has tapped to run the battle against the pandemic. And there were others who, instead of concentrating on their responsibility of introducing legislations that will facilitate government actions, instead acted as sales agents of certain pharmaceutical companies in marketing their products. They even initiated their own drug distribution activities to strengthen their sales pitch. Wow!

     Despite all the stumbling blocks strewn on the journey of government warriors in the battle against the CoViD pandemic slowly but surely they successfully inch their way. Now the figures of new cases are diminishing on a daily basis. The latest reported was the figure did not even reach a thousand.

     This very encouraging development is something that is beyond argument that success is already at hand although the government remains steadfast in its warning to the Filipino people not to be complacent in the light of the threat of a new CoViD variant, the Omicron discovered in South Africa.

     There is no doubt that the credit for this achievement cannot be given to any other group of people but to the government and those who worked hard to implement the various programs that were made in place to deter the pandemic, notwithstanding the vile criticism.

     However, the desire of anti-administration politicians and government critics appears to be insatiable. With the help of their scheming strategists they now want to make the government success in reducing the CoViD infection a major election issue. Their propagandists want the people to believe that government authorities have “doctored” the data on CoViD to make it appear as diminishing because it would work in favor of government-endorsed candidates. They want to instill in the minds of the people that once the election is over the real figures will come out and it would be devastating to the population.

     In fact some senators, all aspiring for election to higher positions, or wanting to get reelected, have launched investigations on government transactions related to the pandemic response. Without doubt the real intention of the probe is not just to expose supposed anomalies but rather to divert the people’s attention from the government’s gains in the fight against the dreaded disease. And somehow they succeeded in a way.

     There is no doubt however, that the continuing reduction on a daily basis of the number of new CoViD infections is one issue that definitely works in favor of the administration without necessarily doing some spinning. It just evolved by itself. And the administration need not even do anything to cushion any impact of the issue that the figures are doctored as claimed by some sectors. After all, is it not that the present societal behavior of people has almost gone back to the pre-pandemic normal mode?

     To quote the favorite campaign pitch of the father of Davao City Mayoral candidate Ruy Elias Lopez, the late and only Bagobo city chief executive Elias Lopez. “Let the accomplishments do the talking and not the talking accomplish the projects.” In Cebuano dialect, “Ang nabuhat maoy pasultihon, dili ang sulti maoy pabuhaton.”

                                                                   

    

ROUGH CUTS | Making success an election issue
Source: Viral Media Philippines