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NANAY SELYA DECIDES TO DIE

She opened her eyes unaware that the sun grew solace as the chills of the night’s cold breeze fainted in the slums.

She woke up unaware that her eldest son was already dead- shot last night for snatching a purse in downtown Metro Manila- a desperate attempt to save his brother’s failing health. And as his blood gushed out from his nearly lifeless body, he died holding the memories of his brother, the sorrow of his mother’s tears, with his last remaining breath.

She cried unaware that the dusk will carry yet another death in the slums, in the darkness and the solemnity of the slums. Her hungry mind was flooded with the pain of losing a son, and now another.

Nanay Selya greeted that night with an eroded smile. As the visions of her dead and dying sons cascaded in her mind, she clinched a rope and tied it to the corroded ceiling. She smiled. She laughed. She gestured at shadows her disillusioned eyes kept on seeing. She smirked. She moaned. And as the night crept, she slumbered in peace… never to wake up again.

That night died with Nanay Selya.

It was morning, crowds gathered as they witness the horror as though a festivity in its climax, crowds gathered racing with the flies. And as her cold, dead body was lowered to the floor, Nanay Selya and her two sons became just another “isolated” case that can never see justice until the last night draws near its end for the disheveled economy.

The curtain draws at the end of another day as the slums in the Philippines becomes a city of their own.

The need for development in the Philippine society is as clear as its need for good leaders. Yet, perhaps the first step we all must take for this all-too important cause is to face the fact that we need development in the first place – realization that we all are wearing a corroded necklace of “Eastern Pearls” where the beads are strung by corruption, underemployment, illiteracy, crimes and socioeconomic disorders.

The death from poverty is seen today as an unclear description of the Philippine’s ailing health. Where the only apparent solution, justified by our politicians, is to increase taxes and to import foreign investors as though advertising the Philippine economy for business tourism.

“It’s not just a laxative, it’s a bowel regulator”-

A laxative- yes, that is what politics is for the common people. Yet, politics is not just a laxative, it’s a bowel regulator, it regulates the “flow of everything.” Where a new issue brings new opportunities, new scandals bring new investment- and with these, a step to progress turns into a leap of misery.

The Philippine government itself is the seat that drives us back in our effort. Through their popular dirty politics and parlor games, the government draws herself closer and closer to success- the success of dying out. But we must not take the government as vaguely and narrow-minded as to compare it to a self-destructing bomb. Well, as any sane man knows, the government is just as “mentally and physically fit” as the people behind at and the people it serves.

Without the aid of its people, the government breaks down. Without a government, the people break down. It’s a simple mutual understanding really, both needs each other- yet, as seen in today’s widespread hatred for the current administration and various coup d’etat attempts, the government and her people seems to be in a “lover’s quarrel.” This is the kind of quarrel people need to concentrate upon, to ponder - and not those political interests for power and a seat in the government, for this is the kind of separation that slowly creates a bigger and bigger tear until the whole piece comes apart.

Surely, tomorrow is another day, yet tomorrows can never be certain.

There is more than one reason why Juan dela Cruz is currently living in a third-world country- the continuous proliferation of human life aka population explosion, the unstoppable inflations in market stalls (from two pesos yesterday, 2.50 today, and three tomorrow), the one-peso-rollback-ten-peso-increase in petroleum products, the different colors of the Pinoy bills (orange for 20, red for 50, purple for 100) aka illiteracy, underemployment and many more things that can make an economist insane.

Let’s start with the continuous proliferation of human life. Common sense would dictate that if you continue to produce more and more, you eat less and less. So, how do we stop 86 million plus a 1.9 % growth rate from producing hoards of hungry masses?

The need for equal distribution of wages and employment paves the way to maintain a low population growth and to create an opportunity for the youth to become a part of the labor force. With more money to spare, there is no need of making children as a source of investment plus with this, a happy family can certainly be happier.

In the 1990’s, a ten centavo coin is a treasure, now it’s hardly worth a second glance.

There is no easy cure for the inflation in the market or the rollercoaster path petroleum products take nearly every week or illiteracy or underemployment. Yet, there will always be hope for the Filipino people, there will always be hope that someday, a year from now, a month from now, or even a week from now, the Philippines will finally become a first-world country.

Sad to say but a utopia is quite impossible, well, why not settle for the next best thing?

Now, we can’t just pray for a miracle but a prayer can help. And with 86 million praying, there’s no reason that God can’t hear us.

How the Philippines become a developed country depends on how we decide what certainty tomorrow should bring. Nanay Selya decided that herself.

There’s no reason for us not to change the future. #