Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Inquirer Article - The Filipino Engineer

I am overwhlemed by the reaction of our countrymen to my post in Inquirer.net about our government's policies in doing national infrastructure projects. To those who believed that the Filipino can do it, here's to you.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view_article.php?article_id=151275

Philippines has enough means to build new railroads

Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 00:57am (Mla time) 07/29/2008
This is a reaction to the news story “Gov’t scrambles to save NorthRail.” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7/14/08)

The Philippines is a very rich country in terms of natural and human resources. Metals, natural energy, marine life and technical know-how are abundant and readily available in our country. It’s just a matter of having a policy ensuring that the Filipino people as a whole gain from and enjoy these natural resources.

We don’t need the Chinese to do our railroads. The United Kingdom, Australia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dubai and several other countries import our engineers to build their roadways. We must believe in our homegrown talents. We don’t need Chinese money to line the pockets of the robbers in our government.

The government just has to intensify its campaign against corruption and I am sure we can build three more railroad systems.

We don’t need to act like beggars before Chinese government officials. If President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo really means to lead this country well, she should show some decency and give us Filipinos some reasons to be proud. Yes, we can build our country a better future. With a little help from MalacaƱang.

My salute to the few good people in our government.

RYNOR G. JAMANDRE (via email)