His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal has expressed his pity for the beleaguered Catholic faith defender and mayor of Talisay City, Socrates Fernandez, especially now that his son, Joavan, is in jail. Many others expressed support for the mayor and empathized with him.The mayor had an altercation with a local newspaper's reporter, accusing the reporter of working for a public relations firm, but I don't think the mayor's allegation is true. Honestly, there is no need to hire a PR firm to destroy the mayor because Joavan's misdeeds and the public's perception that Mayor Soc has been unreasonably coddling his son are enough to affect the mayor's standing among his supporters. Mayor Soc practically dug his own hole in the way he handled the charges filed by the alleged victims of Joavan's abuses. Mind you, Talisay is a small city and it would too difficult for the mayor and his son to hide their machinations before the public. Talisaynons hope, now that his son is in jail, that the mayor would not intervene to have Joavan prematurely released from jail because it would be damaging to him personally and to his political future. If I were the mayor, I would voluntarily submit my son for rehabilitation regardless of what his lawyer advised. * * * The crash of the United States' financial sector has sent shock waves in major economies the world over. Stock markets of in Europe and Asia are plummeting and bankruptcy has almost become a byword. This global financial crisis is perhaps the worst the capitalist world has had.
In the US, credit cards have become useless. Getting a loan has become next to impossible. A number of jobs have been lost. Despite the $700-billion bailout by the US government, the effects of the Wall Street crash continue to be felt by top economies in the world. European leaders are trying their best to help their countries' financial institutions, but despite the efforts of both the European Union and the US government, the International Monetary Fund is still cautioning developing countries that the worst is yet to come. In our country, people are jut scraping by, mindless of the financial woes experienced by rich countries. So far the ill effects of the Wall Street crash have not yet been felt by the people. And many are saying that we are blessed as a nation because we know how to cope with difficulties. We've always been a poor nation and our poverty has given us the courage and creativity to endure any hardship.
It is said that among the nations in the world, we Filipinos may be in the best position to cope with the collapse of the world economy. Our government's resources have been mismanaged by politicians for too long. Our tax money is fodder for the mighty and greedy. What could be worst than that? * * * October is Children's Month but there's no question that our children are the government's lowest priority. Frankly speaking, children have no political value as far as politicians are concerned. Just look at the budget of any local government unit and check the fund it allocates for programs for children, especially the rehabilitation program for children in conflict with the law. See how scandalous our government can be in compensating personnel at the Pink Building of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. The Pink Building is a valuable institution that helps women and children who are victims of all kinds of abuses in the hands of men (in the case of women) and adults (in the case of children). While a lot of our people recognize the valuable contribution of the Pink Building, the national government has not provided a decent plantilla for its personnel. Luckily there are private and government institutions that support the Pink Building's operation and upkeep. Still, the Pink Building lacks personnel just because the national government, in particular the Department of Health, has not provided it with enough staff commensurate with the services it offers and the number of victims it serves. Under the new juvenile justice law, local government units are mandated to establish rehabilitation centers for children in conflict with the law, but many LGUs refuse to do so. They would rather have arrested children rot in jail, instead of having them rehabilitated to become good and useful citizens. And, of course, many of our parents are so irresponsible that a lot of kids end up neglected and find themselves in bad company. I suggest that parents who fail to rear their children responsibly be held accountable by the state. And we must obligate government institutions to be equally responsible in providing our children quality education, health care and, for offenders, rehabilitation. The time has come for parents and government institutions to take responsibility for our children if we truly want them to become the hope of the fatherland. | 
