I am Ericka

See-through Agenda

            The political race begins and the candidates are honing their tongues to prepare for their flowery speeches of hidden agendas.

            The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set the one-week filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC) from October 1-8 2021 for all elective positions for the May 9, 2022 National and Local Elections. Citizen now will know the aspiring next leader in our country and anticipate their stunts in electoral campaign. It is very evident that that there is runaway corruption in the pillars of the justice system and this reality has stayed for too long that it became part of the Philippine political culture and other countries were known as the one of the most corrupt countries in the whole world as we cited by Transparency International (IT).

            Sadly, because of this tragic reality the stereotype of politicians are just often joked at by the Filipino citizen. The vote-buying, the plundering, and such cases became abundant and a part of the norm that justice practically lost its value. But this status quo has to break. Political dynasties and institutionalized corruption could be destroyed, and the solution is on the hand of the Filipino themselves. They are vested the power to choose the best for the nation, so putting it to waste by joining the bandwagon and giving into vote-buying will only benefit the bad and steal the privileges bestowed to the citizen.

             But what does it to be a good politician?

            Two most important qualities of a good politician are honesty and integrity. This commonly advertised by the candidates but never walked their talk once they get elected, the main reason why up until now the Philippines is in the quagmire of poverty. The current situation of the economy only reflects the incompetence of the ruling body to manage the nation’s resources. Another factor is the capabilities of the running candidate to become a role model for the citizen. It is a given that politicians are smart and have good comprehension abilities, but rocks can sometimes be mixed with diamond. And the worst is, the rocks are sometimes deliberately added to the pile to serve as cronies.

            It is bad for the tax payers have to pay incompetent politicians of their salaries and put up with their dishonesty and lack of civility. But for years of this cycle, isn’t it time to put an end to it?

            Filling of Certificate of Candidacy has begun and the elections are waving in the distance. This is the high time for the Filipinos to make use of their right and choose a leader that will not just enrich themselves but also the nation as a whole.

            The political race begins and this is the time to choose a candidate that has no flowery words and only see-through agendas.

Education: A Key to Success

 “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." 

-Benjamin Franklin 

These days many occupations require higher education, and while there are endless benefits to consider when it comes to earning a college degree, it is essential that we know the reasons why college is important. Based on my wide research, college grads are less likely to be unemployed according to Basic Life Support (BLS) data in March of 2018 that stated only 2.5 percent of workers with a bachelor's degree were encountering unemployment compared to 4.6 of workers with a high school diploma. In addition, the recipient of a degree is more likely to enjoy their jobs. The Pew Research Center found in a 2016 survey that 77% of workers with a post-grad degree and 60 percent of workers with a bachelor's felt that having a degree helped their sense of identity. Another thing is college graduates are financially savvy. Working adults with a bachelor's degree are nearly 10 times more likely to have a bank account than high school graduates according to a 2016 Lumina Foundation report. College graduates were also less likely to use valuable payday and rate refund loans according to the report.

Furthermore, the holder of a degree is more likely to own their own homes. Base on Zilla report in 2016, 75% of homebuyers were college-educated compared to the 14 percent of new home buyers who had some college background but no degree and 11 percent who had only their high school diploma. Also, college graduates marry more and stay that way longer. Did you know a college degree can even help us with our marriage? In 2015 Pew Research Center reported that nearly two-thirds of adults over 25 with a bachelor's degree were married in 2014 compared to 53% of those with less education. Additionally, college graduates tend to live longer according to a Brookings Institute report that an additional year of college can decrease your mortality rate by 15 to 19 percent which tells people with only their high school diplomas that have a mortality rate approximately twice that of those with a university degree. 

Those things prove that finishing college is very significant in our lives. It gives many advantages and benefits. It is very useful in reaching our vision in life. That is why for me, we should not put our future in "lucky" like what the others are saying – we must secure things to make our dream possible and make our future brighter. Let us put in our sense that the mind is our crucial resource and hence everybody should invest in knowledge because it pays the nicest interest. Even if it is not enlisted as one of the three basic human needs, education is equally important. Learning is a lifelong progression. Self-learning begins at a point where institutional education stops and the process of self-learning proceeds throughout one's life. After all, we can say that education is truly a key to success.