FREEDOM FROM IGNORANCE PAVES THE WAY FOR ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

June 12, 2007

Today is the 109th Philippine Independence Day. We celebrate the Philippines' independence from Spanish Tyranny way back 1898. After more than a century, Filipinos remained economically dependent and deprived. Majority of our people remains poor despite the abundance of natural resources, worse many are still ignorant, although we pride ourselves of having good and competitive universites and schools and having the brilliant minds in different fields of endeavor.

Some local governments have started re-engineering public management by focusing on their local economies by attracting investors and promoting livelihood oppotunities through entrepreneurship and micro-financing. This is not enough, education still plays an important role in eradicating poverty. You could not just give a person a seed money to start a car repair shop without first training him or her to become an auto-mechanic. The person has to be educated on the basics of car repair and management in order to become an effective service worker. Said person must get rid of his ignorance in repairing cars and running a small business so that he or she will be able to manage the car repair shop well.

Freedom from Ignorance must prevail so that people will do what is right. Ignorance is an impediment to progress. Addressing the issue on ignorance paves the way to economic independence. What the Filipinos need now is Political Education. Candidates and Voters should be politically educated in order to attain political maturity. People should be able to understand how government works so that they can avail of its services and at the same time perform their responsibilities as citizens.

Let us free ourselves from ignorance! Let us strive for economic independence!

Let us work for a truly INDEPENDENT PHILIPPINES. MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS!