Big challenge

Let us not be carried away by the present practice of this administration to simply rely on the number of people in determining what is right and just. What is good or bad is not determined in a popularity contest. Public opinion that can easily be manipulated should not be used in justifying wrongful decisions or actions.

This is especially true with regards to the evil effects of the pork barrel system used by the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. Dwindling attendance at the protest rallies and marches for the abolition of this pernicious practice by the President and Members of Congress should not deter us from pursuing our goals in this regard. Nor should we be distracted by supervening events which may have equal or greater adverse impacts on our country and people. The bigger the distraction, the more intense should our determination be in solving this problem at hand.

It is about time for us to shed off our forgetfulness and short memories. Let us not fall into the same mistake of the past especially after martial law regime. Remember that right after the 1986 People Power revolution, we resolved that “never again” should we allow the same kind of oppression and corruption to prevail in our country. Yet even at the onset of the Cory regime that took over, our resolution gradually died down as our government officials started backsliding into the same old corrupt practices.

Right now, we seemed to be back to square one when it comes to corruption in government due to this pork barrel system that PNoy is tenaciously trying to keep and preserve. So this time let us not fall into the same mistake. Let us persist and persevere in outrage through peaceful mass actions and other legitimate moves in other forum like the judiciary until this harmful system is finally scrapped by the present regime and until those who used it to enrich themselves are prosecuted and punished.

As confirmed by the current exposes now under investigation, the pork barrel is the biggest source of corruption in the government. This is the very same corruption oppressing our people especially the poor where the rich not only become richer but also continue to hold the reins of power which is very much like the dictatorship we had before.

Moreover, the pork barrel system has also spawned the kind of dirty politics we now have and rotten breed of politicians in our midst. Our current crop of politicians indeed acquire and retain power by seeing to it that the greater number of our people remain poor so that they will continue to be dependent and grateful to them especially during election time.

So side by side with the abolition of the pork barrel, we should also strive to change our brand of politics. In fact as early as 1997, our Bishops have already point out that “Philippine politics–the way it is practiced–has been most hurtful of us as a people. It is possibly the biggest bane in our life as a nation and the most pernicious obstacle to our achieving of full human development.”

”If we are what we are today – a country with a very great number of poor and powerless people – one reason is the way we have allowed politics to be debased and prostituted to the low level it is in now.”

This is definitely one of the biggest challenges facing us now — how to clean up our present kind of politics. Several attempts have been made before by some well meaning citizens. I remember that there was once a Citizens League for Good Government which was able to have some of its members elected in local government positions. However the system eventually overcame them until they also faded into oblivion.

It may be helpful if we can revive and try once more to heed the exhortation of our Bishops last 1997 when they asked the laity to “explicitly promote the election of leaders of true integrity to public office.” This is not at all a call to form a “Catholic Party” or to have a slate of “Catholic Candidates” that must be supported by all but an encouragement for all to be more discerning in their choice among candidates for office and to work actively for their election”.

For this purpose, they prescribed the following (shortened and edited):

1. Catechesis and Political Education so that “our faith will have a say in our political activities” that would change our political culture characterized by deception, dishonesty, fraud, violence, corruption, pay-offs, and patronage. It should be done as part and parcel of regular catechesis in the family, in schools, in Basic Ecclesial Communities, covenant communities of lay people, religious organizations —”in season, out of season.,”. They should be taught how to evaluate their options in politics to see whether or not they are in accord with the Gospel and the teachings of the Church.

2. Choosing Political Official out of conscience and not because of family relationships, popularity (often in another field of work such as sports, TV and movies) or the prospects of political and economic rewards, money and gifts–and a wrong sense of utang na loob. Competence, honesty, personal integrity and an acceptable program of government should be the primary considerations.

3. Preparation for Political Leadership through programs where persons of integrity and political knowledge can be prepared to participate in the noble but difficult art of politics. If economic managers are schooled in their field, political leaders should also be formed so that they may discharge the burdens of public office with competence and integrity.

4. Conversion to New Values or conversion in our priorities by not putting a high premium on power and money, making compromises, subveringt the, truth, abandoning principles rigging elections, perpetrating frauds, investing tremendous amounts of money on candidates; nor should the candidates themselves spend so much to be elected because of the power and the easy money they seek.  Church leaders — whether clerical or lay—should not accept special gifts and privileges from so-called trapos or allow them or their immediate relatives to take positions of authority in religious organizations, or abet their deeds of dishonesty and fraud, graft and corruption, and helping them maintain their power.  

5. Active Participation of Civil Society to renew politics and rid it of its evil dimensions. Civic organizations, peoples’ organizations, associations of lay people and religious, school associations, etc. should band together in true and active solidarity to create awareness of our social ills and conduct values education in politics through their own network of resources and means of social communications..

6. Political Advocacy, by knowing what bills are being considered by Congress, what positions regarding important legislations are being taken by its members. In solidarity, civil society must articulate their support for laws, policies, and structural changes that will improve our lives in society and our political processes. It must lobby to defeat bills that militate against the aspirations of the poor, the integral development of our people, the integrity of creation, moral values in the family, the welfare of women, children and the young. It must work for laws that will bring about genuine prosperity, more equitable distribution of income and wealth, the promotion of the rights of the poor and of indigenous peoples. It should lobby for electoral reforms so that the peoples’ will may not be subverted.

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