Do your job, Duterte. I am doing mine.

Lashing out on the netizens who have complained and criticized him, Duterte shot back by asking, “Ano ang nagawa ninyo para sa bayan?” (Translation: What have you done for the country?”).

“What have you done for the country except to talk and criticize and talk?”

This rhetoric has been a prevailing response to those who continuously denounce the government’s actions against the pandemic. Criticism has no value, the DDS say. It achieves nothing, they say. Do something instead of criticizing the government, they say.

Ok then, let me list the things I have done for this government.

First and foremost, I pay my taxes. A whopping 32% is sliced off my salary. There is a 12% value-added tax that also goes to the government. I get taxed for every centavo I make, even from the paltry interest I make from my savings account. My taxes go to this administration so that they can do their job of running this country. When I purchase something from a company or I avail of a service from a company, that company pays taxes which theoretically could have been passed on to me by reducing prices. My taxes pay for the salaries of administration officials. My taxes are supposed to fund the programs that help Filipinos.

Secondly, I try not to be a burden to this government. I try not the break any rules. I follow road signs and speed limits and traffic signals, else I get into an accident, cause a traffic jam, and contribute to delays of essential goods. Simple things like throwing trash in garbage bins relieve the work of street sweepers. If all of us follow rules, there would be less policemen on the streets. If we make the effort to follow the law, there would be less burden on our justice system and on our prison system.

Thirdly, I make sure that my family are not a burden to this government. I educate them, get them to good schools, pay for tuition fees, teach them the discipline of being a good citizen, and making sure that they have the skills and the know-how to work and contribute to society.

Lastly, I work and thus I produce goods and services that benefit other Filipinos, thus further relieving their reliance on dole-outs from the government. My work requires other people to work for me, thus those people get salaries and thus pay taxes. The goods we produce can be exported to other countries, providing income to our government.

So do I have the right to complain? You bet I have every right to complain! If the government is self-sufficient, capable of providing services to the Filipino people with no taxes from citizens, then maybe I don’t have the right to complain. But the fact that I pay taxes gives me the right to demand quality service from this government. I want to get something from what I give to the government. Criticism is feedback to the government. How else can we tell them that they need to do a better job? Shouldn’t you be angry if you pay for something and you don’t get what you pay for?

Do your job, Duterte. I am doing mine.