People of different walks in life have called out to one woman for the last month in the Philippines: Janet Napoles, bring back our money. This woman who has had access to billions of Philippine peso from the government has been keeping mum about her part in probably one of the biggest secrets of the Philippine government. She and a couple of senators have been shoved in the limelight because of this million peso scam.
Denials, lies and a lot of death threats and argument from all sides of the opposition and the majority are all over the news. We open the television and see her face. Open the newspaper and there is her face too. She has haunted millions of people at night that has come to think of the wasted time and effort given working for the government and non-private sector and paying these supposed taxes that will eventually fall in the hands of one woman who will just use the hard-earned money of Filipinos to buy herself an expensive car and expensive condos.
Young professionals like me find the issue terrible. It broke my heart that tax that is big enough to pay my apartment rent, just goes to pay for the condominium unit of Janet’s daughter, Jean Napoles. It angers me that the money that I thought went to the government is actually going to individuals who already have more than enough in their table while I am looking at my family without enough viand to make them full.
Even for those who have been in the government for a long time has found it hard to believe and felt dismay against the action that the government is taking against the criminals who have played with our money like it was theirs. A lot of unfinished projects now lie around everywhere in the Philippines – projects that aimed to help the Filipinos but has now been a sense of reminder of the kind of leaders that we have put up there in office.
Janet Napoles is but a bit player in this controversy, but it is her face amongst unknown others that have grazed the magazines and the televisions. She is in jail – but why do we all feel like we are the one who are imprisoned?
The Philippines is a beautiful place, filled with a lot of tourist spots that foreigners visit all year round. Yet, underneath the beauty of our country, lies the crooked and putrid heart of rich, greedy people who want all the money to themselves. Even celebrity politicians who have great stash of money all over the world are involved, and yet again, the impoverished part of the Philippines is still the same, impoverished.
Janet Napoles, people of Philippines are addressing now this to you. Name your accomplices and hand over the money you did not work for. Earn your money with dignity because we, the people who pay you, work as hard as we can to earn a living. Give it back, or suffer the hate of thousands of Filipinos.
Denials, lies and a lot of death threats and argument from all sides of the opposition and the majority are all over the news. We open the television and see her face. Open the newspaper and there is her face too. She has haunted millions of people at night that has come to think of the wasted time and effort given working for the government and non-private sector and paying these supposed taxes that will eventually fall in the hands of one woman who will just use the hard-earned money of Filipinos to buy herself an expensive car and expensive condos.
Young professionals like me find the issue terrible. It broke my heart that tax that is big enough to pay my apartment rent, just goes to pay for the condominium unit of Janet’s daughter, Jean Napoles. It angers me that the money that I thought went to the government is actually going to individuals who already have more than enough in their table while I am looking at my family without enough viand to make them full.
Even for those who have been in the government for a long time has found it hard to believe and felt dismay against the action that the government is taking against the criminals who have played with our money like it was theirs. A lot of unfinished projects now lie around everywhere in the Philippines – projects that aimed to help the Filipinos but has now been a sense of reminder of the kind of leaders that we have put up there in office.
Janet Napoles is but a bit player in this controversy, but it is her face amongst unknown others that have grazed the magazines and the televisions. She is in jail – but why do we all feel like we are the one who are imprisoned?
The Philippines is a beautiful place, filled with a lot of tourist spots that foreigners visit all year round. Yet, underneath the beauty of our country, lies the crooked and putrid heart of rich, greedy people who want all the money to themselves. Even celebrity politicians who have great stash of money all over the world are involved, and yet again, the impoverished part of the Philippines is still the same, impoverished.
Janet Napoles, people of Philippines are addressing now this to you. Name your accomplices and hand over the money you did not work for. Earn your money with dignity because we, the people who pay you, work as hard as we can to earn a living. Give it back, or suffer the hate of thousands of Filipinos.