Does the End Justify the Means?

People love to debate about the rightness or wrongness of keeping Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in office. Some are almost like rabid dogs in their hatred of "President Evil". Others are still staunchly defending her right to the highest office in the land. Still, a lot of Filipinos are already dead-tired of changing presidents every few years. President GMA is seen as the lesser evil and some would actually just want her to finish her term till 2010.

If you see your children already dying from starvation, what would you do? It's easy to give lip-service to honor, honesty, love for country and those noble ideals if we only have ourselves to look out for. It's easy to cry outrage over rumors of election-rigging and other sordid details. Of course, everyone wants to come off as noble and selfless and good but when you see your children dying from starvation and you see no other way but to steal so that they may have something to eat or just "panawid-gutom", will you still philosophize about the rightness of the means or just that the end would bring relief however small?

Foreign investors stay away from the Philippines because of the political instability. GMA's economic reforms are actually lauded by the business community as they would reap long-term benefits. Yet, local politicians seem to disapprove of the progress that we may get from these reforms. All these talks about kicking GMA out of the office will only have fatal drawbacks as we do not have someone competent enough to be President of the Republic. If the opposition really wants to remove GMA from the picture, they must have a replacement with the capability of governing the country and the credibility that would draw foreign investors back to these shores.

The Filipinos' hands are tied, it's hard to choose between a rock and a hard place, especially if you have to ensure your kids' immediate needs.. not the long term, not the noble ideals, but their empty stomachs right now.