Citizen Bored

I once e-mailed this to a friend when I was 7 months pregnant with my little girl, probably out of sheer exasperation that no one in our town even mind what was happening. (They were about to demolish our old municipal town hall to give way to the new) Imagine! Instead of converting it to a museum and public library, the geniuses of our town council opted to demolish it to widen our town plaza?! No wonder our town is going to the dogs! As a bored citizen educated in a Franciscan Institution, I stepped forward and did what I was taught to be right. Here it goes:

Hi girl! Sorry if I haven't e-mailed you this picture agad- I have a pretty interesting and hectic week kasi:

Tues- Follow up check -up with my Pulmonologist and OB GYN
I also went to SSS for my maternity and my mom's death benefit

Wed- I conducted a signature campaign to several barangays in our town, asking the Municipal counselors to go for the preservation of our old Municipal hall and convert it into a museum and public library.

Thurs- Gathered some signatures and went to our municipal hall for my unscheduled--As the counselors put it-“privileged speech”

Even I am surprised that everything happened within this week. I am not sure if I have convinced the Municipal Counselors to consider our voice, but I am hopeful- considering the number of counselors who are listening intently to what this “bored” pregnant woman was saying in front of them yesterday.

I am also surprised that I am capable of doing such things...But to think that they are demolishing a 70 year old building which served as our town's landmark and quasi evacuation center without having a clear plan as to what will replace the structure? Pretty stupid huh? Well, I still have to gather signatures next Monday, hopefully our town Mayor will change his mind and opt for public service instead of other interests- after Monday, Pahinga na ako, I'll just update the signatories and show them what kind of counselors they have elected.

That's the problem when I'm “bored” I tend to do stuff. My mom thought I have plans to run for public office since it’s near election time- but I don't have any- I'd rather be this ordinary citizen doing ordinary stuff, and making sure that every hard-earned peso my husband “contributes” to this freakin’ country will go to the right hands and serve them- citizens of this country well…

Till my next “boredom”

Don’t get me wrong about my “boredom”. I am basically bored seeing people do nothing, I am simply bored because only a few EVEN CARED what our present public officials are doing, I am bored that the same literacy problem had been existing for decades and made even worse every year. I am bored at the present state of our education system-- that only the First Two Sections are the ones prioritized and the ones in the lower section sadly have been constantly left behind. I am bored that the present states of cultural and historical knowledge of our generation have fizzled-- nor they even cared to do something about it. I am bored of the common sight that public official this and that had acquired a new car, SUV, or property in so in so; or have a new dealership business of this and that beverage, or a big house worth millions in so and so.

-The signature campaign proved to be futile since I was informed by a reliable source that the decision had been made already –even before speaking in front of them. But heck, it felt good to voice out what we felt about the demolition thing-even by my lonesome. Now the town hall is reduced to rubbish, we still don’t know what the mayor and his counselors would do about it- probably the biggest plaza in Bataan?

I know that in this country of ours-elected officials become kings who are to be served than to serve by the very own people who feed their families- I wouldn’t blame scores of people immigrating to other countries since the people whom they expect and entrust their votes only squander and forget the responsibilities entrusted to them post election time. Given the chance, my family and I would rather look for a country that deserves our taxes too, so that it wouldn’t be too painful to work and see our pay slips- being robbed by the real enemies of the state.

Till my next foray…