The Rotary Balita no. 705 (September 25, 1952)

"Here in the Philippines, we dissipate our energies in petty squabbles and seem to base our confidence in the future on the philosophy of 'bahala na'," declared Senator Quintin Paredes, He claimed that in the United States, the Democrats accused the Republicans of doing this and that. In the Philippines, he continued, "Collaboration" is still made an issue. He admitted that the saying of Democracy is not true in our country today. Paredes advocated the administrative investigations to weed out the undesirable from the government service with swiftness by causing the immediate discharge of any public official. He called for strong methods in purging the government of corrupt and inefficient officials so as to make the government free from political pressures and considerations, Paredes said that crime and criminal responsibilities were personal matters and the fact that one or even many government officials are corrupt does not make the whole administration of the government corrupt. He added that President Quirino is doing everything within his powers to benefit the people at large, cleaning the government ranks of grafters and corrupt officials. "This is not a one-man job," he "and the President could not be expect to go after everybody to find out when his orders are complied with." "He needs help," he continued. "He m have his so-called 'arms' in the exec department to carry out his plans." Paredes stated farther that due to present setup of our Legislative bran with the House of Representatives compos mostly of Liberals and the Senate by Nationalistas, many important bills have been passed. He added that when the d position of cases or complaints are delayed when investigations are conducted in secret, when decisions are withheld, the complainants and those who learn of the matter begin to doubt the motives and they end up by losing faith, not only in the official who is expected to apply the law but also a the whole administration and, indirectly, the government itself. He made a brief report of his recent trip to Geneva, Switzerland where he attended the interparliamentary conference. He said the Philippine delegation gave a brilliant account of itself. Another speaker, Major General Ewart Plank, who was in Manila with the liberation forces in 1945, spoke on his impressions of the Philippines today. Miss Betty Feliciano contributed two vocal solos accompanied on the piano by Miss Lourdes Ocampo. Arsenic Luz was the finemaster. The first one he called upon was Woody Wood, who was fined P20.00 for exceeding his vacation abroad for 10 days. George Vargas, for shaking hands with Miss Universe when he was in Finland as head of the P. I. Olympic delegation, was fined P20.00. The re- cent arrival of Peg Green from abroad cost him P20.00. For addressing the Lions, Gil Puyat was fined P20.00. Danding Romualdez was fined P20.00. Elbi Monzon's message in connection with the Education Week cost him P20.00. President Hans fined himself P10.00 for making a mistake when introducing Arsenic Luz.