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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Not a sterling example

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It turns out that the chairman of the National Youth Commission isn’t such a great example to the youth.

Not a sterling example

This week, Ronald Cardema urged President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an executive order removing the government scholarships of all anti-government scholars.

Cardema’s earlier statement on Tuesday also “reminded” the scholars that “the Filipino people formed the government to govern, to regulate, to discipline, to collect taxes and to allocate the Filipino people’s funds into government scholarships and programs. Fighting the government means fighting the majority of the Filipino people and also not fulfilling their roles as the expected breadwinners who will uplift their families and as our hope in strengthening our country.”

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Later on, when the Palace and lawmakers alike rejected his notion, he qualified his statement, saying he referred only those scholars found to have taken up arms against the government. He said he only wanted the revocation of the scholarships of “very very few” anti-government students who have joined or are supporting the New People’s Army.

Cardema also later said in a television interview that dissent was a healthy element in any democracy.

Of course by this time he had enough time to think about how he should correct his earlier pronouncement, likely made in his eagerness to show loyalty to the powers-that-be. He is, after all, chairman of the party-list group Duterte Youth that is seeking a post in the coming polls; his wife is first nominee.

As head of the commission that is supposed to champion the interests of and empower the youth, Cardema cannot afford to be vague, confusing or ambiguous. What he says reflects not his sentiments but the government position with regard to the youth.

For example, discouraging the youth from being critical of the government is outright wrong. It is, after all, not any one administration or politician who is enabling them to get an education.

Second, to be learned is to be critical of anything and everything that is heard. We do not succeed when we produce a generation of “yes” men and women who do not question the actions of their leaders. Questioning what they see and hear does not make young people automatically rebellious or anti-government. They do so always with what they think best serves the interest of the country and its people.

A bigger question is whether Cardema truly espouses the interest of the Filipino youth when the conflict of interest is so flagrant.

Then again, it is useless to point out that all this would be in violation of election laws. The Commission on Elections, a constitutional agency that is ideally independent of any branch of government, has shown itself to be only able to selectively implement the law.

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