Norberto B. Gonzales
October 10, 2010
The Political Challenge
A “do nothing strategy” is probably the safest political position today. There are strong indications that the current government could self-destruct sooner than we expect. But this position is alright if we are merely after seeing an end to the present reign of hypocrisy.
We cannot assume that an acceptable process of government change will automatically happen. That the prevailing system can still be relied upon to effect a non-violent transfer of political power. Add to this is the questionability of the last election. While majority of our people may for now believe the announced results of the last election, we know that manipulation and cheating did take place on a major scale, and that sooner or later the legitimacy issue will come out. If we are to undergo another leadership change let us make sure the process remains non-violent, democratic, and truly leading to the kind of change our people need- systemic change rather than a mere change of leaders.
The Shadow Cabinet
Political practice in the Philippines is focused primarily and one-sidedly on electoral victory, to the neglect of preparation for governance. The disastrous consequences of such a skewed political practice should be obvious by now.
Our choice to put up a shadow cabinet to lead our political initiative underlies our conviction that preparedness for governance is as important as, if not more important than, winning elections. What is electoral victory for if we end up bungling the future of our people?
There are many variations of shadow cabinet in various countries of the world, especially in states where the parliamentary system is the established form of government. Our version of the shadow cabinet in the Philippines will be similar with those existing elsewhere simply in the matter of intent: we will prepare to govern, as we strive to secure state power. Our governance will be cabinet-led and our political initiative will be led by a shadow cabinet.
Philippine politics is still elitist in character and this is reflected in both the theory and practice of governance in our country. The people are actually reduced to mere spectators. There are no formal organizational structures and mechanism linking people and bureaucracy as a symbiotic forces for nation building. The adjective “social” in social democracy emphasizes the need to correct this defect in Philippine politics. Social democrats believe that governance is a symbiotic responsibility of government bureaucracy and organized citizenry, and that prosperity and progress for all will not be achieved without the active and formal participation of at least the great number of the people.
Mobilization is at the core of our efforts. Our shadow cabinet-led organization model will allow us to mobilize our people and together we shall secure state power, govern well, and build the future we deserve. We shall be a combined force of the governed and those who will govern.
We will be joined by authentic mass leaders with proven love and true knowledge of the nationalities, classes, and sectors of our people. We should not begin from zero in the matter of human resource in governance. We will gather the experience of those who have served and are currently serving in government. We will reverse the vindictiveness of the present government leadership and their unjust condemnation of our civil servants. We will give just punishment to the bad but in the same vein we will provide our public servants the proper system, the correct government philosophical framework, and most of all the respect and the honor every public servant presumably deserves.
We will also invite the leadership of strategic sectors of our society to lead with us. The strategic sectors of our society should be made aware of the dangers threatening our democracy and how the revolutionary situation can be used to advance selfish ambitions through the continuing deception of our largely uninformed public.
Our Vision
Becoming a First World nation is our vision of tomorrow. Many of our woes are because we are poor and have internalized the attitudes that produce and perpetuate poverty. We continue to be a poor nation because we continue to allow the persistence of the deep and vast divide between rich and poor in our country. We are not about to trigger a war between rich and poor or to suppress and eliminate either group by class war and persecutory force. We accept that there will always be distinct levels of financial status among people in societies. But what is essential is for government to pursue a universal public policy standard common to both rich and poor and for our society to pursue and commit as one, to a vision with guaranteed set of universal benefits for all.
Preferential option for the poor is one way of expressing our people’s adherence to the common good. As a matter of policy, in our society, benefits available to our poor should be of a quality good enough for our rich. Anything public should have a universal character, meaning its effect or result does not distinguish between rich or poor. The object for example of our education and health budgets is to make sure that the quality or standard of our education and health services is at least on par with accepted international standards and accessible to all.
We must view our economy as jointly owned enterprise of all, where every citizen, rich and poor, contributes his or her talents, effort, and taxes. It should not be said that the poor are mere beneficiaries or dependents of society. Taxes, whether direct or indirect, should be paid by all. Taxes are not mere obligations extracted from the people by law. Taxes are our joint investments to create more and more wealth.
Our Strategy: Principles and Tasks
In summary our strategy will be guided by several principles:
· The quest for state power is a period of preparation to govern well;
· Nation building is a symbiotic effort of the governed and those governing;
· Creation of public wealth is by all, and the application of benefits derived from it is universal.
We cannot build the kind of nation we deserve unless we succeed in acquiring state power in the manner that we prefer. “The way we win elections will determine how we will govern.” If in our efforts to win control of government, we decide to participate in the cheating, the bribery that has been rampant and remains prevalent today, what will prevent us from doing the same when we are in government?
To say the least, our electoral and voting system is flawed. And yet this is the democratic option to gain state power and the basic mechanism if the nation needs to change its fundamental systems. We need to ensure that our electoral and voting system is effectively reformed. And this is not just about corruption in the COMELEC or the highly disputed automated elections of May 2010. Significant segments of our society already question these extremely serious flaws of our electoral and voting system, and are campaigning for major reforms/changes therein. We should support these campaigns for these urgent reforms.
In relation to our electoral and voting system, and particularly in relation to the May 2010 elections, we need to raise a moral issue. Our society is already accepting that cheating, selling, and buying of votes are normal to Philippine politics. Blaming poverty for this implies that we cannot expect this practice to go away in the near future. And this kind of reasoning, in a way, is loading the blame for the corrupt and violent election and voting system on our poor again. Not raising this moral issue means allowing vested interests and the moneyed to continue manipulating our electoral process.
We should not allow our people to be deceived into treading a “straight road” to a problematic future at the hands of a leadership with neither the competence nor the character to govern well. Yet we cannot also go about proclaiming ourselves as the authentic agents of change without clarifying where the change that we are promoting will bring us.
The direction of that change should be made clear from the beginning. We need to reaffirm with our people our common vision of a good society and a truly great nation founded on the effective and consistent pursuit and promotion of the common good. We have to make sure that this vision of society, nation, and common good becomes the foundation of our way of life and our laws, especially the fundamental law of our country- the Constitution. Arriving at a consensus among our people on these issues is therefore a prerequisite to changing our Charter in a manner that favors the renewal and reinvigoration of our life as a nation.
The time for change in our country is upon us. The people are increasingly impatient with the dysfunctions of Philippine society, and so the process of change cannot be stopped. But it can be guided towards a better future. Let us end the hypocrisy that holds government and nation in its grip, and reclaim our right to bring about the change our people deserve.
October 10, 2010
The Political Challenge
A “do nothing strategy” is probably the safest political position today. There are strong indications that the current government could self-destruct sooner than we expect. But this position is alright if we are merely after seeing an end to the present reign of hypocrisy.
We cannot assume that an acceptable process of government change will automatically happen. That the prevailing system can still be relied upon to effect a non-violent transfer of political power. Add to this is the questionability of the last election. While majority of our people may for now believe the announced results of the last election, we know that manipulation and cheating did take place on a major scale, and that sooner or later the legitimacy issue will come out. If we are to undergo another leadership change let us make sure the process remains non-violent, democratic, and truly leading to the kind of change our people need- systemic change rather than a mere change of leaders.
The Shadow Cabinet
Political practice in the Philippines is focused primarily and one-sidedly on electoral victory, to the neglect of preparation for governance. The disastrous consequences of such a skewed political practice should be obvious by now.
Our choice to put up a shadow cabinet to lead our political initiative underlies our conviction that preparedness for governance is as important as, if not more important than, winning elections. What is electoral victory for if we end up bungling the future of our people?
There are many variations of shadow cabinet in various countries of the world, especially in states where the parliamentary system is the established form of government. Our version of the shadow cabinet in the Philippines will be similar with those existing elsewhere simply in the matter of intent: we will prepare to govern, as we strive to secure state power. Our governance will be cabinet-led and our political initiative will be led by a shadow cabinet.
Philippine politics is still elitist in character and this is reflected in both the theory and practice of governance in our country. The people are actually reduced to mere spectators. There are no formal organizational structures and mechanism linking people and bureaucracy as a symbiotic forces for nation building. The adjective “social” in social democracy emphasizes the need to correct this defect in Philippine politics. Social democrats believe that governance is a symbiotic responsibility of government bureaucracy and organized citizenry, and that prosperity and progress for all will not be achieved without the active and formal participation of at least the great number of the people.
Mobilization is at the core of our efforts. Our shadow cabinet-led organization model will allow us to mobilize our people and together we shall secure state power, govern well, and build the future we deserve. We shall be a combined force of the governed and those who will govern.
We will be joined by authentic mass leaders with proven love and true knowledge of the nationalities, classes, and sectors of our people. We should not begin from zero in the matter of human resource in governance. We will gather the experience of those who have served and are currently serving in government. We will reverse the vindictiveness of the present government leadership and their unjust condemnation of our civil servants. We will give just punishment to the bad but in the same vein we will provide our public servants the proper system, the correct government philosophical framework, and most of all the respect and the honor every public servant presumably deserves.
We will also invite the leadership of strategic sectors of our society to lead with us. The strategic sectors of our society should be made aware of the dangers threatening our democracy and how the revolutionary situation can be used to advance selfish ambitions through the continuing deception of our largely uninformed public.
Our Vision
Becoming a First World nation is our vision of tomorrow. Many of our woes are because we are poor and have internalized the attitudes that produce and perpetuate poverty. We continue to be a poor nation because we continue to allow the persistence of the deep and vast divide between rich and poor in our country. We are not about to trigger a war between rich and poor or to suppress and eliminate either group by class war and persecutory force. We accept that there will always be distinct levels of financial status among people in societies. But what is essential is for government to pursue a universal public policy standard common to both rich and poor and for our society to pursue and commit as one, to a vision with guaranteed set of universal benefits for all.
Preferential option for the poor is one way of expressing our people’s adherence to the common good. As a matter of policy, in our society, benefits available to our poor should be of a quality good enough for our rich. Anything public should have a universal character, meaning its effect or result does not distinguish between rich or poor. The object for example of our education and health budgets is to make sure that the quality or standard of our education and health services is at least on par with accepted international standards and accessible to all.
We must view our economy as jointly owned enterprise of all, where every citizen, rich and poor, contributes his or her talents, effort, and taxes. It should not be said that the poor are mere beneficiaries or dependents of society. Taxes, whether direct or indirect, should be paid by all. Taxes are not mere obligations extracted from the people by law. Taxes are our joint investments to create more and more wealth.
Our Strategy: Principles and Tasks
In summary our strategy will be guided by several principles:
· The quest for state power is a period of preparation to govern well;
· Nation building is a symbiotic effort of the governed and those governing;
· Creation of public wealth is by all, and the application of benefits derived from it is universal.
We cannot build the kind of nation we deserve unless we succeed in acquiring state power in the manner that we prefer. “The way we win elections will determine how we will govern.” If in our efforts to win control of government, we decide to participate in the cheating, the bribery that has been rampant and remains prevalent today, what will prevent us from doing the same when we are in government?
To say the least, our electoral and voting system is flawed. And yet this is the democratic option to gain state power and the basic mechanism if the nation needs to change its fundamental systems. We need to ensure that our electoral and voting system is effectively reformed. And this is not just about corruption in the COMELEC or the highly disputed automated elections of May 2010. Significant segments of our society already question these extremely serious flaws of our electoral and voting system, and are campaigning for major reforms/changes therein. We should support these campaigns for these urgent reforms.
In relation to our electoral and voting system, and particularly in relation to the May 2010 elections, we need to raise a moral issue. Our society is already accepting that cheating, selling, and buying of votes are normal to Philippine politics. Blaming poverty for this implies that we cannot expect this practice to go away in the near future. And this kind of reasoning, in a way, is loading the blame for the corrupt and violent election and voting system on our poor again. Not raising this moral issue means allowing vested interests and the moneyed to continue manipulating our electoral process.
We should not allow our people to be deceived into treading a “straight road” to a problematic future at the hands of a leadership with neither the competence nor the character to govern well. Yet we cannot also go about proclaiming ourselves as the authentic agents of change without clarifying where the change that we are promoting will bring us.
The direction of that change should be made clear from the beginning. We need to reaffirm with our people our common vision of a good society and a truly great nation founded on the effective and consistent pursuit and promotion of the common good. We have to make sure that this vision of society, nation, and common good becomes the foundation of our way of life and our laws, especially the fundamental law of our country- the Constitution. Arriving at a consensus among our people on these issues is therefore a prerequisite to changing our Charter in a manner that favors the renewal and reinvigoration of our life as a nation.
The time for change in our country is upon us. The people are increasingly impatient with the dysfunctions of Philippine society, and so the process of change cannot be stopped. But it can be guided towards a better future. Let us end the hypocrisy that holds government and nation in its grip, and reclaim our right to bring about the change our people deserve.
1 comment:
Yes, I agree we must make a change. We start off with ourselves.
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