Saturday, September 25, 2010

My Letter to the President

My Search for a Silver Lining

Mr. President,

In your visit to the US, you were quoted saying “I was elected to office on the promise to fight corruption and do better for the poor. I recognize that in order to do that the engines of commerce must be running at full throttle. Robust economic growth, fueled by the private sector, combined with thoughtful government spending on social services, is the solution over the long term,” Mr. Aquino said. (Philstar.com - Saturday, September 25).

I have made many attempts to contact you regarding our situation in Lianga, Surigao del Sur. You can see my story easily at stchristine dot blogspot dot com, Dealing with Problems article, you may also be interested to check my past articles to see how long I've been trying to help the economy of this community. My goals are in line with if not exactly as yours.

I will add now to my information for you. I have been witness to a local CENR official who asked for 50,000 pesos to get our permits completed, in front of 3 other witnesses. I'm not certain if the one gentleman will be willing to testify, but the other two was my wife and her father a Barangay Captain. And all of us are willing to testify to this act, as well as other acts where I was not present. I also have 3 representatives who repeatedly are asked for SOP's for our Transportation Permits in our Mini-Sawmill. A Mini-Sawmill which only cuts planted trees, and is using these woods for making pallets for the Banana Shipping Companies.

For two and a half years the DENR has repeatedly asked my representatives for SOP’s, and yet failed to do their jobs. When we first started with this, I refused, and refused to allow my representatives, to give SOP's. So as a result, we were bounced back and forth between the CENR office, and the PENR office, claiming we didn't do something at the other office. All of this, because we refuse to give SOP's. Finally after almost running out of funds I gave in to the point that I would allow my representatives to give SOP's, in the hopes that we could finally have an ROI. I still personally would not give an SOP; it goes against everything in my being to even give a few pesos to the kids on the streets. I believe by doing so, I am helping to teach them to be subservient and that is something I detest.

There is much more I have to say and I'd give anything to be able to get this off my chest. But I want to be brief. The economy here and the reasons for it bothers me, that's why I made the decision to live here as a Permanent Resident and try to do my part in helping to rebuild this economy. Perhaps my timing was not the best in the world. Please I ask you to put an end to this mess.

Mark Borders
US Investor

http://www.kuro-kuro.org/bb/topic.php?id=38

2 comments:

  1. good day mark.i appreciate your courage to divulge in public what is truly happening in our community.i will do what i can to make this reach the office of the president of our country.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i appreaciate your courage. thanks for setting the reform in motion. i will try to make your message reach the office of the president of this country.

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to express any opinions about our businesses here or the way we deal with our neighbors. We will try our best to respond to all who make comments if you include an email address.

We are trying our best to support our community in every way we can. Sometimes we face struggles, which interferes with our timetable, but we can only do so much. Please be patient with us, we are doing the best we can.