Corrupt youth leaders [editorial]

Title

Creator

Go, Manuel S.

Language

English

Year

1959

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

ScUteiiat Staff MANUEL S. GO Editor JUNNE CAn IZARES B. C. CABANATAN Senior Editors AMORSOLO MANLIGAS Artist RODOLFO JUSTINIANI FILEMON L. FERNANDEZ TEODORO BAY ALBERTO RILE Associates Epimaco Densing, Jr. Francisco Robles, Alfredo Amores, Nelson Larosa, Beffy Antonio, Carmelita Rodrigues, George Barcenilla, Lorna Rodrigues, Ricardo Go, Redencion Alcantara, Florencio Gabales, Rodolfo Babiera, Potenciano Isaac Staff Writers ADELINO B. SITOY SIXTO LL. ABAO, JR. Contributing Editors MISS ALEJANDRA FERNANDEZ Ad riser REV. JOSEPH BAUMGARTNER, S.V.D. Moderator Editorial CAROLINIAN Official Publication of the Students of the University of San Carlos Cebu City, Philippines SEPT. OCT., 1959 of d^ateaU REGULAR COLUMNS LITERARY FEATURES MISCELLANEA News Review REGULAR SECTIONS Pictorials ROTC Kviiort. IllHi.lo Seccion Casteliana Wikang Filipino SHORT STORIES CORRUPT YOUTH LEADERS R RAW LI NG, hustling, mudslinging, right in the heart of the present political turmoil; horse-trading, scheming, right in the melee of conference halls are young people. Youth leaders, they call themselves. Oh, yes, indeed, youth leaders, hut corrupt ones! Ask them why they are in the midst of the struggle, and they will brazenly tell you that they are there for the money and the power they derive from the racket. Ask them if they are willing to make the littlest sacrifice for some common good, and they will tell you to go to hell. This frankness, of course, they very easily cast aside for expediency’s sake. Listen to young campaigners, in real or in campus politics, and you will hear nothing but junior versions of dirty politicos: promising, misrepresenting their identities, telling audiences of their altruism and selflessness — in short, lying. No, there are no longer any starry-eyed idealists among these youth leaders. There are only hardened schemers with feet of clay. And yet, these youths should have been the fair hopes of the fatherland, the promise of salvation. For when the men at the helm of government today will fade aivay, even as all men must, they will come to take their places. And. they will give all their youthful dreams and devotion and vigor to the service of the country. They will wash away the stains of dishonesty and opportunism that their predecessors, calloused by practical politics, had left upon the face of the nation. But will our youth leaders do this! Will they really revitalize the government! Will they really rid it of graft and corruption! The indications, as seen from the actuations of our youth leaders today, point to the contrary. They will carry on the same kind of dirty politics, the same kind of heartlessness and opportunism, the same kind of public-be-damned attitude, that their “models” are displaying now, and which they are learning with surprising facility. The difference between them and the old politicos they will succeed will only be that they will carry on the racket with the vigor and earnestness that the latter may have lost. The problem posed by our corrupt youth leaders may not be so ostensible as that posed by juvenile delinquents who maul each other in the streets, but it is actually a thousand times greater. For these youth leaders will, in due time, steer the Ship of State and will be in a position to wreck the whole nation. We cannot now present solutions to the problem in this editorial. That is beyond our scope. We are only voicing out a sentiment whose intenseness compels us to express it. We can only conclude with a sigh, May God deliver us all! M.S.Q.

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