SIMPLE AND HEALTHY LIVING

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco 

Folks, why do we need electric current? To run our household appliances, our lights, radios, TV, and computer. Outside, we need it to light the streets at night, to keep the traffic lights going, and to light up the signs on the road. 

Without electricity, our leaders will not be able to hear each other well inside the halls because their microphones would not be working. The hall will not be properly lit up as well and the air con won't be working. 

Without electricity, the manufacturing firms will have a hard time creating and finishing their products.Without electricity, the theatres, moviehouses, entertainment houses will not be able to conduct shows or present movies. In other words, Folks, electric current is a very basic need for a society and a home to function well and allow the human beings to achieve their utmost potentials, attain their dreams, and create a humane society. 

In other words too, electricity should not belong to the commercial side of our economy. It should be subsidized by the government because it is supposed to take care of the citizens, and not milk them for cash in order to keep up the lifestyle of the officials. 

Meralco earned P17B in 2013 which translates to P 46,575,342 per day of 365 days. Earning P47 million a days is not chicken feed Folks. We are making the stockholders of Meralco rich everyday. And who are they? 

The fact is that electric current in this country has become a commercial undertaking not anymore a utility that should serve the interests of the public. We deserve an explanation why this government continues to hold us hostage to the extremely high charges of Meralco despite the fact that we are protecting their interests -- not really going out into the streets to protest about the high charges -- not yet anyway. 

I think it is highly terrible for the government to have deregulated the oil industry and allowed the rates of Meralco, the oil prices to go up and down, and mostly up. We can no longer lead a normal life. Our days are always filled up with fears of how much we are going to pay for electric current usage, how much transportation fares will go up, how much vegetable prices will be raised. No, this is not normal living. We should not be subjected to the ups and downs of an economic state that can be controlled if we wish to. 

Apparently, political will is very much important here. PNoy banked on the good records of his parents, are pure idealists and nationalists who wanted human rights to be restored in our country. Sure, we have so-called human rights, but how about our right to live daily without threat of getting impoverished by electric and water bills? Human rights should cover our ability to live peacefully, to sleep well at night without always thinking where to get the next earnings to cover the bills that we will pay for breathing and being alive. 

I think that our government should start asking and answering the question, what is government of the people, by the people and for the people. Let us stop just merely quoting statements that look good at occasions. Let us make them a reality, and the people are you and me, the hoi-polloi, the pedestrians, the commuters, the readers, the ordinary folks who watch the movies once a month or not at all, who hardly take the taxis or who occasionally eat at restaurants if only to taste good food once in a while and not the food that could be quickly eaten like noodles or fried eggs and boiled rice. 

PNoy should live up to the expectations of the people -- that the name Aquino signifies a better life than what we have known in past administrations that did not carry that name. To be an Aquino is not to be a name in the marquee, but rather a fighter for justice for the people, our right to simple but healthy living.