The Kingmaker Documentary

by

Lauren Greenfield

“The Philippines was once a rich country”.

I always heard that phrase from some people around me when I was a kid. I wonder where was
that riches now? As a member of not so fortunate people of the Philippines, we are the one who really
felt the hardship of being poor. It is so hard for us to cope up with our everyday lives. It is so hard for us
to see our family starving to death. It is so hard to be in the lower class level of the society. The
documentary entitled, “The Kingmaker” directed by Lauren Greenfield became an eye opener to the
public that the Philippines was a lair of a corrupt officials. We can’t deny the fact that we, the Filipinos
were robbed by those corrupt officials. I remember in our history class way back when I was in
elementary, the Marcos administration was praised by my teacher because of the way the late President
Marcos ruled the country that time. According to the documentary, Marcos plundered about 5 to 15
billion us dollar of money to the fund of the citizen. And I wonder, was there really an ill-gotten wealth
of the Marcos? Some of the property, money, and jewelries of first lady Imelda Marcos were being held
because they believed that these were stolen from the fund of the people.

To be a good Filipino, it is not enough to just pay taxes. We should act according to what our
country needs. It needed people who are determined to do something that will help the country to rise
again. Yes, paying taxes is very important because this is where the government fund came from to
support its people but I think if we have the kind of officials in the government who are just thinking of
their own then I can say it is not enough to just pay taxes if the taxes that people are paying are just go
in vain. I must say that a taxpayer cannot call a good Filipino just because they pay their tax in good faith
because they should also know if the taxes are being used properly for the public or just for the benefit
of the corrupt officials. I was thinking if it was true that there’s an ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos then I
think it would be a big help to the country for we are facing so many debts right now. Imelda Marcos
said that she has money from 170 banks in different country that being held. I think it is not smart
enough to just hold that money forever because I think if Bong-Bong Marcos would be the president of
the country, if he would be willing he can use that money for the country and we might rise again from
the quicksand of the poverty. In addition, I think we must be a wiser citizen than those officials for our
own good and for our country.