RESHAPING OUR COMMUNITIES. RESHAPING OUR NATION

RESHAPING OUR COMMUNITIES, RESHAPING OUR NATION

by Sen. Kiko Pangilinan

In 2001, when we ran for senator under the People Power Coalition, we adopted the slogan Kumilos Kasama si Kiko to capture our brand of politics. It was a brand that drew from and continues to draw from our background as a former student leader and activist in the early ‘80s. This slogan captures the very essence of our philosophy about governance and political leadership—a philosophy we wish to share with others in the hope that, with more adherents, we will finally see the change that we seek for our nation and our children.

The slogan is a call to action. It recognizes that there is a direct causal relationship between the quality of life for our citizens and the quality of governance. Poor governance means poor quality of life. As such, governance is everyone's business; we all have to be involved in it in one way or another. It recognizes and respects the fundamental role of our people and the pressing and urgent need for their participation and involvement if we are to succeed in reshaping our communities and reshaping our nation.

Immediately after our victory and with this slogan in mind, we put our vision and our philosophy into action. From Day 1 as an elected senator, we have never wavered in our belief that in effecting genuine change in politics and governance, it is the people, committed to doing their share together with dedicated and capable leaders, who are the “messiah”.

THE SEARCH FOR THE TEN ACCOMPLISHED YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS (TAYO AWARDS).

A few months into our first term as Senator in 2001, our Senate office launched the first search for Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations—also known as the TAYO Awards. In recognition of the vital role of the youth in community and national development, the search challenged young people everywhere to use their skills, their talents, and their creative energies for the cause of helping shape their respective communities through worthwhile projects in various fields such as education reform, environmental protection, livelihood and employment, and health, among others.

Participants were required to submit their respective project entries, activities, or projects that they themselves undertook in their communities. The search was undertaken in partnership with the National Youth Commission, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and in partnership with the private sector that included MIRANT Corporation, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and others.

One interesting project was done by a group composed of Computer Science students in their senior year in college. They provided computer training to 85 public elementary school teachers—some were their own teachers—who until then had been computer-illiterate. Another group of high school students who were proficient in Math and Science gave free tutorials to Grade 6 public elementary school children for a period of 3 months, thereby increasing the test scores of these elementary students in government-administered examinations. Another group of Business Administration students in a state university in Ilocos Norte provided basic bookkeeping tutorials to a farmer's cooperative, which helped lead the cooperative to determine that they had an excess of funds in their custody. This surplus—some P70,000.00—helped jumpstart the cooperative's other activities.

Now on its 7th year, a total of 120 youth and student organizations have reached the finals and 60 have emerged as winners. The winning entries are as diverse as they are compelling. They are a testament to the vibrancy, the dynamism , and the creativity of the Filipino youth today.

OUR GAWAD KALINGA PARTNERSHIP.

Upon our election in 2001 and based on our stint as Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement on the same year, the challenge of reforming the Housing sector was immediately put to bear. With a housing backlog of some 4 million homes nationwide, the challenges were indeed formidable. We knew that government alone could not hope to address the huge backlog without private sector participation. At that point, the overall performance of government agencies directly tasked to oversee the nation's housing programs left much to be desired; reforms were urgently needed. Consistent with our election campaign commitment of strengthening citizens’ involvement in helping shape the community and civil society involvement in governance, we immediately engaged the private sector.

We sat down with a Catholic Church-based national organization called GAWAD KALINGA (GK), which was committed to providing decent housing and community development for the poorest and the most marginalized sectors of society. These were poor families living in shantytowns located in urban centers throughout the country. We immediately pushed for the allocation of greater government funding to social housing in partnership with GK. Funding that would be coursed through the GK directly and not through the traditional government disbursement process. This innovation turned out to be crucial in getting the support underway, as previous efforts have failed to bear financial support.

In 2001, GK had 20 housing sites outside of Metro Manila, the nation’s capital. By the end of our first six-year term, the committee was able to allocate the largest amount of government resources to socialized housing in a decade with the GK as private sector partners. Local governments throughout the country numbering over 200 likewise partnered with GK by providing land for socialized housing. GK organized nationwide through a grassroots organization provided the human resource requirements to build the homes and to organize the communities. Because of the strong commitment of its leaders, GK was able to source support not only from the government but also from the private sector, whose donations were tax-deductible from their corporate income taxes.

All told, by the end of six years, GK sites rose from 20 to 1,200. Today, there are nearly 2,000 GK communities nationwide. The GK experience is by far the largest, most significant development in the socialized housing sector in the country in the last 10 years. Without housing champions in government and in the private sector working closely and on a day-to-day coordination, the GK experience would not have been possible.

REFORMS IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM.

As Chairperson of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the 2001, we took the cudgels for the Judiciary and the reforms that were urgently needed at that time. Upon our assumption of the chairmanship of the said committee, the situation facing the Justice system was alarming.

One-third of the nation’s courts had no judges. The compensation package was so low that lawyers opted to stay in the private sector because earnings there were 5 to 10—to even 20—times higher. The situation was worse in the first-level courts or in the Municipal Trial Courts, where the vacancy rate nationwide was 44 percent. Nearly half of the first-level courts nationwide had no judges. In the National Prosecution Service, the vacancy rate was also even more alarming. Nearly half of the available government positions of public prosecutors had no takers. The main culprit in both instances was the unattractive compensation package for government lawyers. The private sector just paid so much more.

The immediate solution was to introduce legislation that would raise the pay of government lawyers and judges and bring them to levels comparable to the private sector. The net effect of the glaring lack of judges and prosecutors was a serious delay in the dispensation of justice and the disposal of and resolution of cases. The whole system of justice was under severe constraints and, needless to say, the faith and the trust of the public in the system of justice had been adversely affected.

After 18 months of legislative work that saw the unprecedented mobilization of the legal community, two pieces of legislation saw the doubling of the pay of judges and justices nationwide and the increase of the pay of public prosecutors. A third piece of legislation was the establishment of a Voluntary Arbitration regime in the country to declog the courts of quite a number of civil cases. Involved directly in the efforts to pass the measures were the stakeholders themselves through their respective organizations. Among those organizations directly involved in the effort where the Philippine Judges Association, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Philippine Bar Association, Association of Law Schools of the Philippines, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, and Crusade Against Violence, among others.

The immediate effect of the increase in salaries and compensation was the rise in applications for judgeship positions nationwide. By 2006, or three years after the laws were passed, the vacancy rate of judges in the courts nationwide had dropped to 16 (from a high of 30) percent and the increase in applications to various vacant courts nationwide jumped to as much as 1,000 to 1,500 percent in certain areas. More lawyers were applying for these positions. This meant that there was a larger and deeper bench from which to choose the best and the brightest.

This effort also had serious challenges. For one, the pay of judges and prosecutors involved some 4,000 positions. Excluded from the measure were over 17,000 court employees who also wanted increases in their pay. (It must be noted that the rank and file positions in the judiciary did not experience huge vacancies because in their levels as non-lawyers, pay was comparable to the private sector or at the very least was not too far off.) As earlier stated, this was not the case for lawyers in the government service. The Association of Court Personnel, a national organization of all rank and file employees in the judiciary, threatened to strike if their demand for increases in their pay was not addressed. The matter was addressed by a combination of persuasion and accommodation. In such an instance, the strong partnership between civil society and public sector leaders made it possible. Aside from the court personnel who had misgivings regarding the effort, the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Finance opposed the raising of the compensation package on two grounds namely 1) that the country was experiencing huge budget deficits at that time and that funds were not available and 2) that raising the pay of one set of public officials and employees would cause demoralization in the bureaucracy wherein other agencies too were clamoring for better pay.

In sum, the package had legal, administrative and financial stumbling blocks. All the necessary ingredients to make it fail were present. It was in the constant dialogues and meetings with the various stakeholders spanning 18 months total that the common goal of improving the compensation package was decided upon, reiterated, and constantly reviewed and updated so that all the stumbling blocks would be addressed and hurdled. Without the strong day-to-day engagement with civil society and the various stake holders of the legal community, it is difficult to see how such a controversial measure would have reached first base given the attendant circumstances.

EDUCATION REFORMS AND INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS QUALITY EDUCATION: THE FILIPINO CHINESE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM

Sometime in 2003, the office of then Senate President Franklin Drilon embarked on a project involving the ‘outsourcing’ of the building of public elementary classrooms to the private sector. The project saw the tie up between the Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (a national civic organization with over a hundred chapters in cities and municiapities nationwide) and the Office of Senator Drilon that saw the building of classrooms at half the usual cost of the classrooms built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)!

The country was facing an acute shortage of classrooms and yet government was building very expensive classrooms. The option of outsourcing became compelling. Why not allow the private sector takeover if it can do a better job?

As the then Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education, I sought the permission of Senator Drilon to adopt this project and implement it as well. The result saw our office allocate nearly P100 million for the construction of 200 school buildings and classrooms all over the country, in partnership with the Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the local government units. The program covered 12 regions, 45 provinces and 200 cities and municipalities.

Under the leadership of then Secretary Florencio Abad of the DEPED, there was a plan to implement the program in full. Unfortunately, because of the political crisis that erupted after the ‘Hello Garci’ controversy in 2005, support for the project was discontinued. There is no reason why the said project cannot be revived under a new administration.

ADDRESSING POVERTY THROUGH JOB GENERATION BY SUPPORTING SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT: THE PROPEL EXPERIENCE

Buoyed by the successes of the partnerships with local communities through GAWAD KALINGA, the office embarked on yet another innovative program to help address poverty through support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs account for over ninety percent of all enterprises nationwide. SMEs employ seventy percent of the nation’s workforce and contributes to one third on the nation’s annual GDP. In order to address poverty by way of generating more jobs, therefore, there was an urgent need to support the development of small and medium entreprises. The entreprenurial spirit, particularly in the countrysides where development was sparse, needed to be promoted and supported.

With this in mind, we entered into a potent partnership with Philippine Chamber of Commere and Industry and the Department of Trade and Industry, giving birth to a project concept that will help address social inequity by opening opportunities to SMEs in the countryside through the conducting of livelihood training and seminars, capability enhancement, product development and packaging, product branding systems, and implementation of technology-transfer activities. The PCCI, is a business organization with over a hundred chapters nationwide. Its

PROPEL, or Promoting Regional Opportunities for Enterprise and Livelihood Development, envisioned to help increase economic activities in 20 pilot provinces in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in line with government's poverty alleviation and job creation thrusts and consistent with the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTDP) 2004-2010 and the SME Development Plan 2004-2010.

The PROPEL is supported by the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to enable local chamber proponents to implement identified activities and projects that promote the growth and development of MSMEs. The office committed P24 million pesos as fund assistance to propel projects for the identified pilot areas nationwide, which are being implemented by PCCI local chambers. In 2009, the office helped by providing additional budgetary support for PROPEL to the tune of Php 34M for various PROPEL projects initiated by PCCI chapters nationwide.

Perking Up Coffee Farming in Benguet. Benguet is one of the very few places in the Philippines that have the ideal conditions for growing Arabica premium coffee. With assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Benguet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Benguet Organic Coffee Arabica Enterprises Limited (BOCAEL), Inc. embarked on an aggressive information campaign to orient local farmers and encourage them to cultivate coffee farming. Aside from the production process, farmers were also introduced to marketing strategies and entrepreneurial skills.

A few years ago a kilo of coffee would only sell for 75 pesos. It now fetches up to double that amount. The BOCAEL is now set to establish the Benguet Arabica premium brand.

Carne Ybanag and Sto. Nino’s Pride. One of the top producers of the Pinoy breakfast favorite longganisa in Tuguegarao is the Light house Cooperative. But inferior packaging and labeling diminished the product’s quality. In 2004, the cooperative sought the assistance of the Department of Trade and Industry to improve their branding. Acquiring P500, 000 for package design and product development, the Lighthouse cooperative now averages P400.000 in monthly sales for its ‘Carne Ybanag’. Its investment already reaches P1.5 million pesos, and it is now diversifying into retail trade, particularly computers, furniture, and school and office supplies.

Another product that Cagayan has been known for are green and ripe ‘carabao’ mangoes. The town of Sto. Nino is acknowledged as one of the top producers of ‘carabao’ mangoes in the country today. But while there is an abundance of the mango variety in the area, producers face low farm-gate prices and short shelf-life of their harvest. With the help of the Rural Improvement Club (RIC) Federation and the DTI, the farmers were able to come up with the brand name ‘Sto. Nino’s Pride’, and have established mango processing firms all over the country. PROPEL and the Cagayan CCI helped the cooperative and local famers acquire additional equipment and facilities.

CONCLUSION

TAYO, GAWAD KALINGA, Reforms in the Justice system, FILCHI School building program and PROPEL. These are programs that have been implemented by the office in the past 8 years that is proof that genuine change and real reforms can be undertaken provided there is synergy between government and the private sector. It is in a sense, a glimpse of what governance ought to be if there is strong a partnership between government and the private sector founded on a common goal of seeking real solutions in order to address the numerous problems facing the nation.

Decades old problems that have plagued our nation can and will be addressed if the people in the millions, mobilied throughout the country come together with committed leaders and rally behind an agenda for genuine change and reforms.

We all cry out for change. We all want better. TAYO, GAWAD KALINGA and the other people driven programs we have enumerated above is proof that government and the private sector together can effect real change in our communties.

Change is inevitable. The challenge is to hasten change by mobilizing government and the private sector to reshape our communties, to reshape our nation. It is leadership with vision and integrity and a people united, mobilized and rallying behind an agenda for change that will move our nation towards real reforms.

On the current political situation and our own 2010 plans

Quite a number of our supporters and friends have been asking me about the current political situation and how it affects our own plans for 2010. I thank you for your genuine interest in our preparations for the campaign and I owe it to you to provide some clarity and direction amidst the confusion brought about by the quick turn of events. After all this is what leadership is about: Providing clarity and direction amidst the dizzying confusion.

It has been 4 years since July 2005 when the ‘Hello Garci’ controversy led to the Liberal Party call for the resignation of President Arroyo. Since then I had been searching for an alternative political path for our nation.

From 2000 to the present, our nation has been plagued with grave political crisis after political crisis brought about by leadership that failed to provide real solutions to the country’s ills. To my mind, the old, inutile and bankrupt political order had to give way to a new, dynamic, people driven political alternative. The urgent task for those who wished to see genuine change happening was to help work towards providing a viable alternative to ‘trapo’ politics. The people together with reformist leaders needed to work towards providing genuine leadership that was inspiring and principled.

I told myself then that our bankrupt, mindless, trapo politics had brought us to the political mess we found ourselves in. What we needed to chart was a new direction for the nation provided by leadership with vision, with courage and with principles. It was this type of leadership that would inspire our people and lead us towards the ‘promised land’.

It was this burning desire for an alternative to ‘trapo’ politics or ‘politics as usual’ that led us to assert that we needed to do things very differently if we wanted real change to take place. That doing the same thing over and over again in our politics and our elections would yield the same ugly results and would not bring us the desired change. We needed to experiment, to be creative, to think out of the box, to take risks in order to lead and inspire our people to act.

It is my belief that only when leadership is inspiring can it mobilize a critical mass of our people towards an agenda for real change. Only when the people themselves take on the burden of reshaping our nation, only when they are mobilized, can we move the nation to greater heights. If we are to reshape our communities, if we are to reshape our nation, the people in the millions must be mobilized to actively pursue change.

It was this desire for an alternative and the firm belief that we needed to do things differently that led me to run as an independent candidate in 2007. It was this same belief for an alternative that likewise led me to pursue an independent Vice Presidential bid. We needed to be willing to stick our necks out and do things radically different.

It is with all these in mind that I made the controversial yet necessary decision to urge Senator Noynoy Aquino to seek the Presidency. The events that developed and unfolded right after the death of former President Aquino has reshaped the political landscape entirely. The death of the former President, a beloved leader, unleashed a torrent of emotions that pined and yearned for the days of heroic leadership and sacrifice as exemplified by the death of Ninoy Aquino and the simple, unassuming and selfless leadership of President Cory Aquino.

In less than a month, the impact of President Cory’s death and burial snowballed into a clamor for Senator Aquino to seek the presidency in 2010. The reluctant Noynoy did not ask for this. He was literally pushed into the limelight by the sudden turn of events. Yet the clamor for his candidacy continues to grow. It is, to my mind, snowballing. In fact, other prospective candidates have began to make way for his candidacy in recognition of this clamor. The urgent need to have a rallying figure in whom the people will be willing to sacrifice and give of themselves for the cause of change has been filled.

After my own prayer and reflection, I came to the conclusion that it is Noynoy, given the unfolding of recent events, who is in the best position to bring out the massive outpouring of support of a people so tired and exasperated with bad governance and failed leadership. He can, as an icon and symbol of the Aquino legacy of sacrifice and honesty in public service, inspire the broadest support from all walks of life in effecting real change for the nation.

Noynoy alone no matter how well intentioned will not be able to single handedly solve the nations ills. He must inspire the people to do their share in sacrificing and contributing to the cause of reforms and genuine change. Amongst all the prospective presidential candidates, I sincerely believe it is Noynoy, whose family has sacrificed so much for the cause of democracy and freedom, who can achieve this.

What we need to do to usher in genuine change and to effect sweeping reforms is to launch a people's 'electoral revolt' come 2010. It is only in a 'revolutionary atmosphere' can sweeping reforms be effected by a leader with a fresh mandate. I sincerely believe that Noynoy together with committed reformists leaders can and should lead this people's 'electoral revolt'. Only when we win differently by way of an 'electoral revolt' of the people can we hope to govern differently. It is not just about winning in the elections but the manner we secure the victory that will determine how we will govern and effect reforms. It must be a people's victory brought about by a people's electoral revolt.

In effect, after years of searching, I have found the leader who I believe will inspire a critical mass of our people to rise up and act and rally behind an alternative to ‘trapo’ politics come 2010.It is for this reason that I did not hesitate to immediately support his bid for the Presidency early on.

I have also said categorically that I am willing to give up my own independent VP bid in order to help unite and rally our people behind Noynoy’s candidacy. My independent VP bid was meant to pursue an alternative path to politics but now with the outpouring of support and sympathy for Noynoy and the legacy of his parents, I can see that it is in his candidacy that the alternative path to politics, that the people's 'electoral revolt' can best be pursued. At the proper time when I am called upon to do so, I will give way to the Vice presidential candidate who can help unite all reform forces behind Noynoy.

For all those who continue to support us and our bid for higher office, I can never thank you enough for your trust and confidence in our candidacy. But I will continue to need and seek your support and this time to include supporting the bid of Noynoy for the presidency. We will need all the help and support we can get for the 'electoral revolt' to succeed. The battle therefore is not over. It is just about to begin.

Above all else, we are firmly committed to genuine change and are resolutely committed to finding solutions to the problems of genuine public sector leadership for our nation. If someone else will be more effective in resolving the problems and achieving lasting solutions, I will not hesitate to have him or her step up and I step back to be a committed supporter in the background. Our country cries out for solutions and for sacrifice to see these solutions through. We must all act towards achieving this, regardless of the personal costs.

A challenge to all reformists: LET US UNITE FOR CHANGE!

From my visits to various parts of the country I can sense a brewing political upheaval, a massive outpouring of people in their millions--all geared towards the 2010 elections. People want regime change, and they want it through our electoral process. The urgency of building a national consensus for genuine change cannot be underscored enough.

We urge civic groups such as Kaya Natin!, Ang Kapatiran Party, Movement for Good Governance, Akbayan, Bayan Muna, PAGASA, and Bangon Pilipinas--as well as religious groups such as the Iglesia ni Kristo, the El Shaddai, the CBCP, among others--to come together and unit for the sake of genuine change.

Our country is in a mess. We need to do our share and help free our nation from decades of failed leadership. We are headed towards greater political disasters unless something is done to help change the course of our nation.

Faced with these challenges, do we simply watch and wait? Do we throw our hands up in surrender? Do we just stand idly by? Do we stare at the mess and do nothing? NO! WE FIGHT! We struggle mightily against the old bankrupt order and this is how we will defeat it and help usher in real change for our nation, for our children.

Let us help build a national coalition for change!

4 Proposed Solutions to Help Fix the Philippines

1. Ending Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Economic Growth

The Philippines has been in a boom and bust cycle for several decades now. We have failed to achieve the necessary GDP growths to bring us to developed nation status relative to other East Asian nations (i.e. 8 percent growth of South Korea in the last 50 years and double digit growth rates of China in the last 20 years). The best in 19 years we have achieved is 7.3 percent growth in 2007. The rest of the decade it has been 3 to 5 percent growth on average annually, too small to overcome poverty levels pegged at nearly 1/3 of the nation.

To achieve economic prosperity we must begin to hit 8 percent GDP growth annually for say at least a decade or so.

How do we begin to achieve this in the next 6 years? Where do we start?

By focusing initially on the following economic engine drivers with relentlessness and zeal namely agricultural and fisheries modernization, rapid infrastructure development, tourism and education.

Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization/Protecting the Environment. If we are to achieve developed nation status in the next decade or so, we must address the incomes of those in the agricultural sector who comprise nearly half of our nation's population. Close to half of the population's incomes come from agriculture. Without a successful modernization of this sector we cannot hope to move away from poverty. The boom and bust cycle of our economy will not end. Upping the incomes of our farmers and fisher folk are fundamental and modernizing our agriculture and fisheries is key.

We must move towards self sufficiency in rice and food. We must ensure that the capacity and productivity of our farmers are increased by way of access to credit, training and other support services. We must mobilize agricultural communities in the local level with strong partnerships with the LGUs to make agricultural and fisheries modernization a reality.We actually have a program called the AFMA or the agricultural and fisheries modernization Act but it has been implemented haphazardly and inconsistently.

Private sector investments in agriculture have also been less than ideal. There must be an effort as well to encourage the private sector to engage in agricultural enterprises.

The vision of AFMA was to pump in funds for the agricultural sector in the form of irrigation projects, farm implements, support services, research, post harvest facilities among others but funding has been minimal for the last decade since its enactment because of budget shortfalls. Also, we have had 5 agricultural secretaries in the last 6 years. Talk about consistency. Of course there is corruption that has taken away meager resources from the programs and benefitted a few rather than the farmers and the fisher folk. This too must be addressed and we will discuss this later on.

Environmental protection and the promotion of environment friendly policies in agriculture and fisheries isa also a must if we are to ensure that development is sustainable. Global warming and climate change issues need to be forcefully addressed if agricultural and aquatic resource productivity are made optimal.

Rapid Infrastructure Development. We need more 6 lane highways throughout the country, more seaports, more airports and more railway systems to move us to developed nation status in a decade. Infrastructure will provide jobs. It will boost tourism providing easy access for tourism spots to tourist arrivals.

We must modernize our infrastructure. Our road systems are antiquated. Our railway and mass transport systems moreso. We need to upgrade our seaports and our airports. All these require massive spending and government alone wont be able to do it. An Infrastructure Modernization Act similar to AFMA is a must. The private sector must be involved in helping fund these projects with a reasonable rate of return.

It is time to rethink how our infrastructure programs are laid down and implemented in the country. It has been riddled with corruption and has been slow in its implementation. The bureaucracy is slow to absorb the funds available for infrastructure. It is time to put in place out of the box solutions to decades old problems that refuse to go away. It is time put in place an Infrastructure Modernization Act (IMA) that will re energize the bureaucracy (or sidestep that part of the bureaucracy that refuses to adapt) and bring it to the level of its counterparts in ASEAN in terms of swiftness and efficiency in the implementation of these infrastructure programs.

Tourism Development. We must aggressively put in place the needed strategic plan to increase our tourism arrivals by 100 percent or some 6 million tourists by the end of 6 years beginning 2010. Data shows that each tourist arrival is equivalent to one job. To achieve this, we must take advantage of the recently enacted Tourism Development Act of 2009 and put in place a system that would harness private sector participation in tourism related enterprises.We need to create more hotel rooms, more transport businesses, more restaurants and more tourism related enterprises to absorb the influx of tourists. We must ensure that the culture of tourism is instilled in the service sector. We must provide the tourism and service sector the needed philosophy and paradigm shift that would make us competitive in ASEAN.

For every tourist arrival, a job is generated. Tourism revenue will boost our economy and provide the nation the needed revenues to fund other projects and programs. We must encourage overseas Filipinos to invest in Tourism related enterprises such as hotels,inns, bed and breakfast lodges, transportation and food businesses.

Ensuring Access to Quality Education and Health Services for All. There are studies that have shown that there is a direct relation between poverty incidence and the level of educational attainment. The higher the level of educational attainment, the less the incidence of poverty. Hence quality education is a means to address poverty reduction. It is also a means to ensure that our economy has the educated and capable workforce it needs to remain competitive in the 21st century where knowledge based economies it has been said will have the edge.

To ensure that quality education is achieved throughout the nation, the education sector must be mobilized down to the grassroots. The Local Governments, Parents Teachers and Community Associations, the DEPED and the CHED must come together. Each play a crucial role in moving the education agenda forward. The national government must work towards providing LGUs with a greater role in pushing for quality education in the public schools system nationwide.

With the huge backlog of classrooms, teachers, desks and textbooks, legislation is necessary to modernize our education system by focusing on decentralization and devolution of both the funding and the responsibilities of the task of providing quality education to the local governments and local school boards.

We must likewise develop a progressive health agenda that will ensure that the poor have access to affordable health care. Productivity of our work force is greatly hampered when access to quality health services are minimal. Rural folk in particular must have greater access to health services if their productivity is to increase. Incidence of malnutrition among children must be curbed if they are to gorw up as productive and responsible citizens of the nation.

In sum, agricultural and fisheries modernization, infrastructure modernization, tourism development and providing quality education for all should serve as the economic growth strategy that will bring us to the initial phase of finally ridding our nation of the poverty is has been saddled with all these decades. We say initial phase because to be sure, there are other key areas and sectors of the economy that need to be developed but what we have laid down are the key areas at this stage. In the medium and long term we must build our manufacturing and industrial capacity. We must strengthen our power and energy sector.


2. Ending Pervasive Corruption; Modernizing the Justice System

Pervasive corruption will not cease unless we punish more and we punish swiftly and we cannot punish more and punish swiftly unless we modernize our Judiciary and provide it with the necessary resources to do so. So many politicians decry corruption yet apart from exposes, they have not presented concrete steps to address corruption. Here are concrete, doable steps to address the scourge.

Increase Conviction Rates. The conviction rate of the Ombudsman in the Sandiganbayan (the anti graft court) for corruption cases is pegged at an estimate of less than 20 percent. For every 10 cases filed, less than two end up in conviction the rest of the cases are dismissed. No wonder there is no fear of committing corrupt acts. More than 8 out of 10 get away it. This is in sharp contrast to the conviction rates in Hong Kong for corruption cases which is pegged at 79 percent. Nearly 8 out of 10 are convicted.

Hence if we are to punish more we must focus on upping the conviction rates to 50 percent within a three year period and perhaps reach 65 to 70 percent within 6 years from 2010. When more are punished and punished swiftly, respect for the rule of law will return. It is the certainty of punishment that instills fear and respect for our laws. It is the task of the Justice system to ensure that the conviction rates are upped. An anti corruption task force must be organized at the highest levels to monitor the big cases and to ensure that government resources are harnessed to ensure convictions within a period of 18 to 24 months from the time of its organization. The proverbial big fish must not be allowed to get away.

Double Judiciary Budget. In addition, we must modernize the Judiciary. The Judiciary Executive Legislative Advisory Council (JELACC) was created in 2007 precisely to address the budget woes of the Judiciary. The Philippine Judiciary receives a measly sum of less than one percent of the national budget. The remaining 97 plus percent goes to the Executive department while some 2 percent goes to the Legislative Department. The bulk of the funds are with the Executive.

By upping the budget of the Judiciary to say 2 percent of the 1.17 trillion national budget we give rise to the swift dispensation of justice, the creation of more courts, construction of justice halls, the filling up of vacancies of existing courts, the augmenting of the compensation and benefits of judges, prosecutors and court personnel. Through the JELACC, the budgetary target of 2 percent or in real terms some 20 plus billion pesos can be achieved within a period of 6 years or within the term of a sitting president.

Reduce Average Case life/Create more Courts. It takes 6 long years on average for a case to be decided upon in the first level courts. This is too long. With the increase in budgetary support for the judiciary, our courts through the leadership of the Supreme Court must endeavor to reduce the average life span of a case that remains pending before our courts. Today, data reveals that the average case life is 6 years. This does not include appeals. This is totally unacceptable. Within a period of six years and with the creation of more courts, appointment of more judges, the filling up of vacancies in the judiciary the life span of a case on average should be reduced to 2 years maximum.

Research provided by the Supreme Court shows that the ideal ratio of the number of judges per number of people is one judge for every 10,000. Our situation is that there is one judge for every 50,000 or 5 times more than the ideal number. We must create more courts to be able to reach the ideal level and to be able speed up the disposition of cases. When cases are resolved swiftly and fairly then the respect, trust and confidence in our justice system is reinforced immensely.

If the nation is likened to a computer, the judicial system is the hard drive and its natural resources, its educated workforce and its economic investments among others its software. No amount of the latest software made available will matter if the hard drive is not effectively in place.


3. Achieving Lasting Peace; Ending Armed Conflict

The Philippines has been afflicted with social unrest armed conflict for several decades, The roots of the insurgency are poverty and underdevelopment. Apart from an aggressive peace negotiations that must lead to a peace settlement and a peace accord amongst the different warring factions, economic growth and good governance must be put in place to achieve lasting peace in war torn areas. The communist insurgency and the Muslim separatists have cost us the loss of tens of thousands of lives in the last half a century. It has also drained our national coffers of meager resources that could have been used to fund basic social services for our people. Achieving lasting peace is therefore essential if we are to truly move the nation forward.

How do we achieve lasting peace? The peace initiatives during the Ramos Presidency of 1992 to 1998 are a rich source of lessons that can serve as a template for future peace negotiations with the CPP NPA NDF and the MILF. The Ramos Presidency arguably was the most successful presidency in terms of pushing for a genuine peace agenda with various rebel groups such as the CPP NPA, the MNLF, the MILF and including rightist rebels from the RAM.

The ceasefire talks and negotiations with all armed groups created an atmosphere of relative peace in the years 1992 to 1998. The peace accord with the MNLF signed in 1996 created a window of opportunity for development in Mindanao. Through aggressive peace negotiations and an aggressive enticing of the private sector to invest in Mindanao, a wave of development was realized which gave way to the development in cities like General Santos, Cagayan de Oro and Davao City. Prior to the 90s, these cities were all backward and underdeveloped. This progress was achieved as well in part due to the emergence of reform minded local leaders in these areas.

The Ramos administration's peace and economic initiatives together with the efforts of strong leaders in the local level made progress in many areas in Mindanao possible. It is a template that should be built upon by future administrations. A second wave of peace and economic development initiatives can lead to the emergence of more progressive cities like Marbel, Iligan, Cotabato and Zamboanga in Mindanao and progress in provinces such as those in Samar and the Bicol Region where the incidence of poverty continue to be very high.


4. Making Government Relevant; Reshaping our Nation through Effective Public Leadership and Active Citizenship

Ever since I can remember, we have heard never ending complaints about how government has become a stumbling block for progress in the country. Because of corruption and inefficiency as well as a lack of vision and direction, government has become a deterrent to reforms and genuine change when it ought to be in the forefront of helping make change happen. Many are beginning to realize that the quality of life in our country is directly and intimately linked to the quality of leadership and governance.

Suffice it to say that the old methods of governance have not worked and the old style of electing our political leaders characterized by patronage and money politics has failed us. The old ways of choosing our leaders, the old ways of electing our politicians have not resulted in a better run nation. In fact , we are in a mess because of their failure to lead us. We must get rid of the old ways, reject the previous political approaches and bring in the new. We must be willing and ready to try new methods, new approaches and we must be willing to take risks, to experiment and be daring if we are to expect real changes to take place.

People's Participation in Governance. At the heart of it all is that the saying 'we get the government we deserve' and only when the citizens and citizen's groups are organized to push for community and national development will we see genuine community and national development taking place. When there are less of us interested in wanting change to happen AND are actually doing something about it and there are more of us simply watching, cursing in the darkness and refusing to get involved then the change we seek will happen later rather than sooner.

The key is active citizenship. More and more people are beginning to realize that there is a direct relationship between the quality of leadership and governance and the quality of life. It is fast becoming clear to the vast majority of our people that corrupt and inefficient leadership leads to a poor quality of life for our people. Only when a critical number of citizens begin to realize that governance is everyone's business and are willing to do their share in this regard will governance become more relevant and responsive and doing one's share includes participating in the elections by supporting candidates who are capable or by being a candidate as well if one feels that he or she has the capacity and the commitment for public service.

Supporting and/or Electing Capable Public Leaders; Public/Private Partnerships in the Communities.

In the final analysis, communities will be reshaped and our nation will move towards a new direction when the citizens together with capable public sector leaders come together, partner with each other in pursuit of a common vision for the future. It is essential therefore that citizens be engaged in supporting public sector leaders who are capable and willing to move their communities and our nation towards a new direction.

There are a number of very successful local governments in the country that exemplify this reenergized partnership between the citizens and their leaders. Naga City, Marikina City, Bulacan Province, General Santos, Cebu and Davao and Puerta Princesa Cities are just a few examples of governance in the grassroots that are truly changing the quality of life in their respective areas. The challenge is to further expand these pockets of good governance and bring it to the national level to become the general rule in governance rather than the exception.

The synergy of government and private sector partnerships can bring about sustainable reforms for our communities, our nation. Community development is a necessary first step towards national development. It must be an effort that recognizes that the grassroots is where the hard work is to be done. Local communities are in the forefront of providing a better quality of life for our citizens. They must be given the necessary resources by the national government for them to do the job well.

The Gawad Kalinga phenomenon (this writer has been an active government partner of GK since 2001) best describes how communities can be changed for the better with the active partnership of committed citizens as well as committed public sector leaders in the local and national level.


Building a National Reform Constituency; Mobilizing the Nation

In sum, to be able to address poverty, the quest for peace and ending pervasive corruption among other serious challenges facing the nation, it is essential that various stake holders are mobilized and are involved in the full implementation of these reform programs. Ultimately, the beneficiaries of these reform efforts must be involved in the realization of a better quality of life for all.

It is essential that a national reform constituency is forged and cobbled together by groups and individuals whether in government or in the private sector all of whom are committed to genuine reforms and sweeping change. Crucial in this national reform constituency are the youth and students, civil society groups, faith based organizations, farmers, fisher folk and labor groups, the academe, business groups, local and national public sector leaders and Filipinos overseas. Even the independent media groups must be mobilized to help galvanize this national reform constituency.

Committed and capable national and local public sector leaders together with the active participation and support of a vigilant and mobilized citizenry will usher in the genuine reforms we all wish for our nation.

Finally, we all yearn for a better Philippines. We all have our hopes for a better nation and as a people, we will collectively realize these hopes only when more of us are willing to make a stand, take the risk, move out of our comfort zones and pledge to commit to doing our share in helping shape our communities, in helping move our nation towards a new direction. Given the gravity of the challenges facing the nation, only an effort that is nationwide in scope, inclusive in nature and firmly rooted in the grassroots will truly bring about the change we seek for our nation.

MJ, Rest in Peace!

At least he is now in peace. These last few years have must have been very difficult and painful for him with a string of scandals/controversies, lawsuits and intrigues.