A Lesson in Arithmetic: Subject: Fr. Ed Panlilio - Governor of Pampanga

This was sent to me over yahoomail.  I just want to share this to everyone to show that all is not hopeless in our beloved Philippines. 

The newcomers in the local political scene (let us not talk about the people at the national level please) are changing the color of our politics in the countryside.  There is Padaca of Isabela, Umali of Nueva Ecija, and Santos of Batangas, among others.  Among the veterans are Lim of Manila and Fernando of Marikina.  If only the leaders in the national level would be as revolutionary as the abovementioned persons, our country will be like Singapore or even Canada in my own lifetime and I am now counting 34, 35 in a few weeks time. 

Read on and be amazed by THE man, a  former priest, named Ed Panlilio.  A side note: for the critics of the Catholic Church particularly those who distort our history because of ignorance and personal agenda, here is a present day Catholic (in the very real sense of the word) who shows in his actions--in your face!--that you are wrong.

Now the article:

"I'm 100% sure this income disparity is replicated in all the  provinces of the Philippines.
If we had more Ed Panlilios in our government, we would be just  like Singapore in a short  time. Read on......

We hope we are witnessing what will be a sustained revolution in  good governance in  the Province of Pampanga , under its newly elected governor, Fr.  Ed Panlilio.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer of August 26, only one month  after Fr. Panlilio  assumed his gubernatorial duties, the province's income from the  quarrying  of volcanic  ash from Mount Pinatubo had reached P29.4 million. (Haulers
pay a  fee of  P300 per truck  of volcanic ash that they haul from the quarry.)


By contrast, during his predecessor Mark Lapid's term as governor,  the province's income   from the same quarrying operations amounted to only P29 million a year.
This gaping variation in official incomes from the same activity should  inspire a new set of  textbooks in Arithmetic, especially for the school children of Pampanga.

There is nothing  like local color and local situations to cultivate comprehension in  young  minds.

Sample problems: If Fr. Ed's provincial government can collect  P29.4 million in 26 days  (we assume no quarrying on Sundays), how much does it collect in  one  day?

Answer:    An  average of P1.130 million.

If Fr. Ed's provincial government collects an average of P1.130 million  a  day from quarrying
operations, how much can it collect in one year of 313 days (365  days  less  52 Sundays)?

Answer:    P353, 690,000, or P354 million.

If Fr. Ed's provincial government can collect P354 million a year,  and Mark Lapid's provincial
government collected only P29 million a year, what is the  difference in  their official yearly  collections?

 Answer:
   P325 million a year.

If Mark Lapid was governor for four years and his provincial  government's  annual collections
from quarrying amounted to an average of P29 million, how much did  his provincial govt. officially collect in four years?

 Answer:   P116 million.

If Fr. Ed manages to remain as provincial governor for four years,  and  his  provincial government's annual collection from quarrying were to average P354 million, how  much will his provincial  government collect in four years? 
 
Answer:    P1.416 billion.
 
What is the difference between P1.416 billion and P116 million?
Answer:    P1.3 billion.

Where did this P1.3 billion go?
Answer:   Only God and the Lapids know.  ('Lapids' is in plural because  Mark, as a second  generation political dynast, succeeded his own father,  now Sen. Lito Lapid. 
               
We don't know how much Lito's provincial government officially collected from quarrying operations  during his watch. Should be a good investigative project for media.)  

 

If Gawad Kalinga spends an average of P75,000 per low cost house,  how  many  low-cost houses  can P1.3 billion build?

Answer: 17,333 low-cost houses.

If the average Pampanga family were to consist of five persons (father,  mother, three children), how many people would be benefited by 17,333 low-cost houses?
Answer:     86,665 persons.    
 

End of Arithmetic lesson.

Fr. Ed is to be congratulated for setting a high benchmark for  collection  from quarrying operations against which his predecessors have a moral obligation to explain  why their collections were so low,  and against which future governors will be judged by the people of  Pampanga.

Volcanic ash, by the way, is a superior building material. Many of the buildings, aqueducts &
monuments of the Roman Empire that have survived for almost 2,000 years  are  known to have been  built w/ volcanic ash, quarried from the environs of Mount  Vesuvius after it erupted in 79 AD.  

We don't expect Fr.Ed's moral victory in Pampanga to be  remembered for
the next 2,000yrs.

We would be happy with five, ten or 20 years, enough, we hope, to spawn a  moral-revolution- by-  example to save the Filipinos from their worst enemies - themselves.
GOOD  LUCK  Philippines ! 
  

'Therefore, the primary cause of poverty is not overpopulation of the Phil!
It's because our counrty is overpopulated with corrupt officials'"