Filipinos’ lack of dedication at work

About 100 dead bodies, victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” lie exposed to the elements in Tacloban City awaiting burial.

The decomposing bodies pose a health hazard to the people living in the area where they are left unattended.

The bodies can’t be buried until they are identified.

Forensic experts from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) assigned to identify the bodies have gone on leave for the holidays.

What happened to these people’s dedication to duty?

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The lack of dedication on the part of government people assigned to rebuild Tacloban City and other places in Leyte and Samar devastated by Yolanda will slow down the rehabilitation process.

It’s understandable those NBI forensic experts had to rest after weeks of filthy and backbreaking work.

But aren’t they supposed to work in shifts so that when one group goes on rest, another takes over?

Aren’t government officials or employees supposed to sacrifice their personal convenience for the welfare of the public?

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I asked a Korean businessman years ago about why South Korea, devastated by the Korean War in the 1950s, was able to attain economic progress in a couple of years and is now an industrial nation.

I said that in contrast, the Philippines was already a very progressive country in the 1950s and well into the 1960s.

But how come the Philippines was overtaken by a country which lay prostrate as a result of the Korean War?

“Our people worked day and night. We worked in shifts so that while people worked in the daytime, an equal number worked at night. We sacrificed a great deal so we would recover from the World War II and the civil war of the 1950s,” the Korean businessman told me in broken English.

The laziness of the Filipino, who works less and rests more, is the reason for the country’s slow economic growth.

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Here are tips for a healthier and wealthier 2014:

1) Bless the rich and successful people, instead of cursing them due to envy or jealousy.

Their qualities will rub off on you when you bless them.

What you wish upon your neighbor comes back to you through the law of karma.

2) Forgive and bless your enemies not for their sake but for your own.

People who carry a grudge develop illnesses that lead to cancer or a heart attack.

3) Avoid miserable people or those who complain too much about their ill health and lack of money.

Their negative attitude is contagious; they will pull you down with them.

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I fully agree with reader George Jimenez in his letter to the editors yesterday that former President Erap, now mayor of Manila, was used by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio as a propaganda prop for Mike and Gloria Arroyo.

Erap visited former President Gloria, who plotted with some military generals, resulting in his ouster from office in what is now called “Edsa II,” as a gesture of forgiveness.

Erap’s gesture was genuine.

His principal virtue is forgiveness; he has forgiven all the people behind his ouster and conviction for plunder.

Erap, gullible as he is, didn’t know that the Arroyos, through Topacio, planned to make his visit to Veterans Hospital a publicity stunt.

Months before that visit, Erap told this columnist that he wanted to secretly visit Gloria to show her that “everything is forgiven and forgotten” between them.