By Dr. Jess Estanislao
We are once again at EDSA. Another big demonstration is being organized for late November. We are back, walking the street in protest against massive, systemic corruption and bad governance. We demonstrate against a system that has become deeply rotten. We have not lost faith in God, nor in ourselves. But many of us may have lost faith in the democracy that we—under the leadership of Cory Aquino—have re-established through People Power in 1986.
We need to pray. We must think as constructively as possible what we must do next.
We must be prepared for something systemic, something radical, and something deeply transformative that will take us many years of sustained effort. That effort calls for an effective, basic change of minds and hearts.
What all this tells us is we need to pursue good governance and responsible citizenship. We must band together and build a country that we all can be proud of, a Dream PH that we—collectively, as a people—can deliver by 2046, when we celebrate the first centennial of our independence as the Philippine Republic.
Where do we begin?
We start with ourselves. We take the first critical step, by staging a genuine revolution for the transformation of our country, by having all of us—Filipino citizens—become the governance assets of the Philippines. Each of us can bring into our personal life and work the core values that we profess, and as mandated by law. We should all be “maka-Diyos, maka-Tao, maka-Kalikasan, and maka-Bansa.” We “cascade” these values into every Filipino’s heart and mind: we make them alive in our day-to-day life at home, at work, in our social interaction with each other, and in our observance of “good manners and right conduct,” every day, everywhere.
We follow this up with how we carry ourselves in school, at work, and in our respective local communities. This is the second critical step: we work in small teams; and within those teams we reinforce each other. We work together to meet certain performance targets that the transformation roadmap for the school where we study or for the institution where we work demands of us every week, every month, every quarter, and every year. We aim to produce results, to deliver outcomes. And these should bring about improvements in the character we are forming in ourselves, in the quality of work our team contributes, and in the service to constituencies our respective institutions provide. In the process, team premises are maintained at high standards of cleanliness and functionality; and through proactive social outreach—in solidarity with others from outside the school or our institution—the standards of cleanliness, functionality, and comeliness are set ever-higher in our respective immediate neighborhood or local community.
We do not stop with our immediate neighborhood or local community. We take the third and final step: we forge solidarity networks so we help improve the bigger picture in the broader environment, which we can help transform. We all can take social responsibility for an area or region, for an industry or a sector: all these must become building blocks for our Dream PH. They need to be coordinated, sustained transformation such that the common good is attained for the benefit of everyone. In the process, we bring down levels of poverty and corruption; we bring up cohesiveness and systemic mutual support; and we spread civic-mindedness, giving it a concrete face and specific orientation towards “ESG” initiatives. These are undertaken, over the long term, for building our country, our Dream PH within a foreseeable future (e.g. 2046).
All this would remain “pie in the sky,” however, unless we get our institutions—the schools where we study, and where we work—become “islands of good governance and responsible citizenship.” Schools and, through them, families, can and should be the oases for the observance and transmission of the core national values. Indeed, every enterprise and business corporation, every national government agency, and every local government unit must formulate and execute an institutional roadmap: this they follow for their continuing transformation. And this necessarily includes their taking the lead and acting as the principal advocates and facilitators for the three critical steps indicated above.
All these steps would clear the ground for us to grow our economy at higher rates; to make our polity work for the general good of every Filipino; and to strengthen our social institutions—starting with the Filipino family—so every individual is guided, equipped, and encouraged to do their part in the bigger and wider task of nation-building.
For this task, we all need to do our part in building on the three platforms for transforming a nation.
The first relates to our human resources. We must be smarter in drawing the highest possible value for our economy, society, and polity from the investment we make on our people. We need to equip every one of our citizens with skills, proper work attitudes, and social orientation so they become an economic asset for national governance.
The second involves our natural resources. Here too we must be smarter and more coordinated such that the highest possible productivity can be attained through connecting the dots, and upgrading the efficiency of our internal value chain. Waste is avoided. Costs are cut. Systems are improved. Inefficiencies are removed. Graft and corruption are eliminated, or at least drastically minimized, to insignificant levels. We act as good stewards for our natural endowments for the benefit of current and future generations of Filipinos.
The third refers to our financial and capital market resources. Financial literacy is spread to secure wide financial inclusion. MSMEs are provided with incubation facilities. Access to banking, bond and equity markets is broadened and facilitated. In the process of raising our savings rates, every opportunity is taken to ensure that financial support can be strengthened for the start-up, growth, and further development of all business enterprises, of whatever size.
Building on these three platforms for national governance, we foster and give ever-greater substance to solidarity. We create links and make these ever-stronger for the sustained high growth of the economy: this should enable us to bring down poverty levels quickly and permanently. We also promote social and economic equity, by ensuring that those who have been marginalized and left behind are given wide and broad opportunities to do some catching up, mainly through their skills, effort, spirit of innovation, and entrepreneurship. And in a dynamic world, which presents new problems and opens ever-bigger opportunities, we must prove ourselves to be a people that also look outward and create for ourselves a special niche within the family of nations.
We may all have our hopes and aspirations for change. The status quo cannot hold. Indeed, there is a cry out there—among many of our fellow Filipinos—for systemic transformation.
This cannot be brought about by playing musical chairs, or by rearranging furniture on deck of a sinking ship. We cannot limit our thinking to elections and political positioning of the same dynastic leadership we have been putting in public office.
We do need a radical change—one that starts with ourselves. It strengthens our institutions. It builds the base for the platforms of national governance, where we can work in solidarity to address the endemic problems that have been keeping us down: poverty, corruption, and lack of civic-mindedness.
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