Atty. Levi compares himself to Goma
THE Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta of politics will be admittedly lawyer Levi Baligod and his mestiza wife, Malot.
“Maitim din ako tulad ni Richard Gomez,” said Atty. Baligod, the high-profile lawyer of Benhur Luy, the whistle-blower in the P10 billion pork barrel scam of Janet Napoles. “Pero mas gwapo siya (Richard).”
Atty. Baligod, an anti-corruption advocate, is venturing into politics while his wife, Malot, is also running for mayor in Biliran, the 5th District of Leyte. Goma, meanwhile, is presently the congressman in Ormoc, Leyte’s 4th District.
On the number of showbiz celebrities venturing into politics, Atty. Baligod insisted there is nothing wrong with that. That is not even prohibited.
“The only requirements of our constitution is you must be a Filipino citizen, able to read and write, as well as a resident in a given period in a place where you want to be working on,” he informed.
Public service is a serious responsibility, Atty. Baligod maintained. “Kung sa tingin ng kandidato ay kaya niyang bitbitin ang responsibility ng isang government official, pwede naman.
“Walang tao ang nagsabi na ‘Ako lang ang nagmamahal sa bayan.’ Anybody and everybody can claim love of country and they can do the job. But my only wish to all those entering politics, huwag tayong mangarap maging pinuno or huwag nating pangarapin na tayo ang mamumuno.
“We need to aspire to first become role models. We should not just dream to become leaders of this country. We must endeavor to become role models to our people. We must not be corrupt.”
Every Filipino has the right to express their sentiments. “Bago sana sila mag post sa kanilang social media platform, dahil influencer sila, kailangan nilang pag-aralan mabuti at magbasa muna,” Atty. Baligod explained.
“Mahirap maki-debate sa isang legal issue na hindi ka well-acquainted in the legal principles or doctrines. Let the law scholars discuss among themselves for the benefit of the general public.
“What you put in the minds of others is your responsibility. They should think about their responsibility. “
The lawyer is aware that showbiz celebrities have a big edge and built-in advantage when they run for politics, because they are already recognized around..
“Look at Willie Revillame, he has a big edge in the (senatorial) survey,” Atty. Baligod said. “Kilala na siya ng tao.”
This time, Atty. Baligod decided to run for congress based on his own credentials, because of the things that he has been personally observing in our country and our government.
“Sa tingin ko, makaka-ambag ako para baguhin ito,” he said. “From the food security policy, our rice farmers are being discouraged to produce rice and the government wants to merely opt to import rice from other countries.”
Atty. Baligod detests that other politicians meddle in the annual budget for the country. “Dapat congress lang ‘yan,” he said. “And the bicameral conference committee. Ngayon gumawa pa sila ng technical working group.
“May nag-defacto,” added Atty Baligod. “Ang balita ko, si Rep. Zaldy Co, ang chairman ng Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives in Congress ang siyang nag decide.”
Co is a party list representative from Ako Bicol. Last January 13, he was removed from his post as chairman of the house appropriations committee. His office released a statement that he stepped down due to health reasons.
“At present, the focus of our education system is employment, not creation of ideas,” said Atty. Baligod. “Other developed countries encourage their students to become entrepreneurs and create ideas.
“In the Philippines, getting employment is enough. They don’t encourage students to become entrepreneurs and become innovators and even inventors. We always subscribe to liberalist ideas.”
“Developed countries went through five stages. First, they imitated. When they perfected that, they improved what they were copying. Then they started to innovate. That’s a progressive idea. Then they start to invent.
“Look at the US, they merely copied the rubber industry and the flour industry from England. China also copied a lot of things. Sometimes even intellectual property violations. Japan also imitated other things.
“Yet, the Philippines refused to copy anything because of intellectual property laws, which are also enforced in other countries.”
Atty Baligod attributes what’s happening around to “culture decay” in the Philippines that was long theorized by James Fallows, an American author and former director of speechwriting in the White House.
“Kanya-kanya na at wala na tayong sense of nationhood,” Atty Baligod maintained. “You can see along EDSA, one will open the car window and will throw the trash on the road.
“We need to arrest the situation. Each country will experience political development before it decays. But we, in the Philippines, we haven’t experience yet the political development, yet nag decay na.”
