Well... A Promise is A Promise

I'm a pretty reactive person, but I've been trying to minimize it on print for the past years because I've ruined past blogs because of them. Yes, I tended to rant...  a lot. When I made this one, I made a promise to myself that I would try to avoid it this time. Sometimes though, you just have to speak up because choosing not to might be more of a travesty. That's exactly how I felt when I wrote the one below. And yes, I really did send this to his FB account as a private message. I bet they disregarded this as some insignificant garbage from an equally insignificant pesky Cebuana. Well yes, I am a "nobody", if you really think about it. I am just a blogger (which are a dime a dozen, these days) who likes to write online, mostly about food... sometimes about things she's passionate about. I have no grand delusions about being a great "somebody"... or "anybody". But I AM a FILIPINO... and a tax payer... and no I didn't vote for him. Oh yes, I have the right to rant.

But I've been so busy lately that I forgot about it... until now.

Still... a promise is a promise. Right? ^_^

• Conversation started December 10
• 

  12/10, 12:40am
  

  Line Arias
  

  
  

  Good day, Sir!

  I am well aware that you may be very busy with your work as the second most powerful person in the country. However, I would just like to ask if you have seen this bit of news lately?

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519974/Philippines-aid-scandal-Food-flown-Britain-ends-shops-hundreds-miles-typhoon.html

  Kindly read and be made aware of this particular national embarrassment.

  I remember you were so proud to declare on TV several times a day during your political campaign that "your Makati" is so much more well off than the rest of the country. Well then, can you please help resolve this matter and delegate a task force or investigative body to put a stop to this embarrassment/atrocity? I expect you have clout more than ever to get things done in Makati. Makati, after all, is still a part of the Republic of the Philippines. Kindly have this investigated immediately before the country, and the current administration -- of which you are a part of, gets even more embarrassed in front of the whole world for being among the most corrupt and most unmanageable country in existence. There are still people going hungry in some Yolanda-affected areas when we have more supplies than ever before from other countries. Why is that, Mr. Vice-President? I'm sure you understand where my concern is coming from. So I hope you see to this problem as soon as you are able.

  I'm usually not so assertive with regards to politics because I don't trust politicians. I hope though that you may be one of the few who can show me that I may not be wholly right in that regard.

  Sincerely yours, An Extremely Concerned Filipino Citizen

  P.S. This is , for now, a private message because I don't really relish the spotlight and I hate undue attention of any kind. However, if I discover that my concerns (which is also the concern of many Filipinos actually) are pushed aside (as often does happen in this country with most politicians), I will not hesitate to make this a public letter. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hope you have a good day.

************************

By the way, the photos in the daily mail article are not of relief goods from the UK but from the US military. But the UK relief goods mentioned in the article are still questionably not getting through to the intended recipients -- the Yolanda victims. 

I have since read that some general from the Philippine military might be the one selling the "ready-to-eat meal packs". There are even some being sold online. *facepalm*

Hopefully, someone in the government would get embarrassed about this and start to try to really clean up their quarters. It's definitely a long shot, given the Philippine government's history. But hey, at least I haven't given up hope on our race.