Bad quality

VIRTUAL REALITY - Οver the past 60 years, the quality of Philippine governance has declined, considerably.

- TONY LOPEZ

I am not sure if this deterioration is related to or the consequence of the increasing stupidity of the Filipino.

Today, 75 of every 100 Filipino teeners (those 15 and below) cannot read, cannot write, cannot count beyond 20. They cannot even read or write their own names.

Even if they can read they cannot understand what they read. They don't know simple science or to explain the how and why of simple day-to-day experiences. In the 2022 tests given by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 75 percent of the 7,200 Filipino students who took basic tests in reading, math and science failed. A massive failure.

I am not sure if the depreciation in the quality of our elected leaders is the result of the horrible income inequality among Filipinos. Or the fact that malnutrition is worsening, with 93 kids dying from malnutrition daily or 34,000 deaths yearly.

Just 20 families own most of the 286 companies listed in the stock exchange. Only ten families produce half of the Philippine GDP.

Only 100 families have ruled this country in the last 100 years. In the past 65 years, Philippine presidents came from just five families - in a nation of 116 million and 25 million families. Three presidential families have ruled for a total of 55 years.

Along with the drop in quality of our elected leaders has been a horrendous bloat in the sense of entitlement and impunity of our elected officials.

They treat the government treasury as their private piggy bank. They simply steal and steal big. Up to 40 percent of the budget is stolen, equivalent to P2.5 trillion a year, enough money to make the so-called 15 million poor Filipinos cross the poverty line for good.