Did your government work for you, asks Albay Vice Gov. Grex Lagman

The Philippines needs a strong government, especially in this time of a pandemic.

But did our government perform well, asked Albay Vice Gov. Grex Lagman.

This is the question that people will be forced to answer after the pandemic, although things do not look rosy at the moment.

In a Facebook post, Lagman noted that the economy is down, and there is no more money for dole outs and payouts.

The government’s social contract with the people has been breached, he said.

Later, we will need to answer the difficult question of whether the government and our leaders failed us, he said.

We also need to answer the question of whether we failed ourselves, he added.

Judging by how things are shaping up, what do you think?

“For a developing country like ours, there’s always a need for strong governments. This pandemic has shown how the private sector cannot substitute the function and role of government. Some people think that we must have less government and that most services and utilities can be privatized. However it’s always the government that bails out the private sector and not the other way around. Problem is our public economy has already flatlined. There’s no more public money for doleouts and bailouts. The social contract government has with its people has been breached.

After this pandemic ends, how government responded will have to be assessed. And we’ll all be forced to take a long hard look and ask the hard questions: 1. Did government fail us? or 2. Did our leaders fail us? or 3. Did we fail ourselves?” Lagman posted.