Young Love

Location: LRT
Circa: 2011

College Student 1: Si Diana na lang ligawan mo. Naglalaway ka kaya 'dun!
College Student 2: Si Diana? Hindi naman nagre-reply yun pag tine-text ko.
College Student 3: Ay, pag hindi nagre-reply, wala kang pag-asa dun.
College Student 2: Si Karen na lang. At least, kahit di ko itext yun, nagte-text sa akin.
College Student 1: Yun, pwede na yun! Maganda rin naman si Karen.

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing as a citizen of this country. No, you don't know me, Sir, and neither do many of our contrymen recognize me because I'm just this ordinary Filipino citizen who does an ordinary work and lives an ordinary life.

I am writing, even though I didn't vote for you (and I don't deny to anyone that I voted for an unpopular candidate), because the moment you won in the elections and took that mandate of leading this country, you became my president and I became your constituent.

Mr. President, one and a half year has passed since you assumed office. One and a half year has also passed but all I saw in my limited mind was how the government has been turned into a big prosecutor's office whose main priority is to file charges and find fault against our former president. And while there is nothing wrong with running after her misdeeds, it seems that the more pressing issues on poverty and economic development has been grossly neglected.

While some intelectual groups may argue that doing business has become better in the Philippines because corruption has lessen, the ordinary people don't care about it.

The ordinary people's simple concrens are higher salaries and lower costs of living.

Unfortunately, Mr. President, to my humble knowledge, no salary increases has been given since your term. Instead, what we have experienced are the continuous increase in oil prices, toll increase, electricity power rate hike, and a lot more increases in the common tao's daily expenses.

We carry on like this for the rest of your term, and we will see more people migrating and working abroad. We carry on like this and we will see more people getting poorer and hungrier.

But four and a half more years are still ahead. That is, to say, there is still time for change.

Mr. President, your people are waiting.

It is your time. Now is it.