By Joy Aceron

CHANGE BEGINS NOW

by Niel Lim, Team RP

MANY people dismiss the strength of a youth vote. In the last three elections (2001, 2004 and 2007), the youth have constituted a bulk of the votes, enough to make a candidate win, but these votes were dispersed. Pundits say that because the youth’s voting patterns can’t be classified as much as other demographics, a so-called youth vote does not exist.

But the youth definitely has an agenda to pursue. In 2005, the National Youth Commission (NYC) reported that across regions, education, employment and health ranked as the top three survival and developmental issues of which the youth were most concerned. Substance abuse, juvenile delinquency and child abuse were also cited as the top protection issues and governance (national, local and in the Sangguniang Kabataan), youth involvement and access to information as the top participation issues. So how can a demographic with a concrete agenda and shared aspiration not constitute a powerful voting bloc?

Hi Team RP!
 
We received this invitation from PAGASA, and some of the officers will meet with PAGASA before the event to see how we can participate as a group. Please stay tuned for more updates, but in the meantime, please find time between June 19 and 21 to check out the events they've got planned. Mukhang masaya 'to =)

Dear Friend,

This coming June 19, 2008 marks the 147th birthday of National Hero Jose Rizal. The significance of commemorating Rizal’s birthday is made more urgent in the light of the socio-political-economic challenges that our country is currently facing. Even in his own time, Rizal determinedly stood for the same issues. And using his creativity and artistic capabilities, he defended and committed to TRUTH as the main foundation of nation building.

A group of artists and cultural workers led by the Artists Welfare Project Inc. (AWPI), People’s Assembly For Genuine Alternatives Against Social Apathy (PAGASA), the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), National Commission for Culture & the Arts (NCCA) and the Station Square East Commercial Corporation, all converged to plan and implement a unique and meaningful celebration of our hero’s birth anniversary aptly billed as PEPE GOES TO MARKET: Sining Selebrasyon ng Birthday ni Rizal which will be held at the Market, Market! Mall from June 19-21, 2008. The celebration will be a three (3) day Arts Festival where artists from all disciplines converge for choral performances, band concerts, film screenings, art exhibitions, theater productions and an artists market which will all be opened FREE to the public. There will also be the First Philippine Vision Café for the youth, where students from everywhere can gather, share and exchange their visions of the future of our beloved Philippines. The festival will surely be an educational and highly interactive event for the whole family and the general public.


On a personal level, I'd like to invite everybody to the Philippine Vision Cafe, something we've been feverishly working on for the past few. It's scheduled for two one-hour sessions on June 20 and 21, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. We're in the process of inviting students from various high schools and universities across the metro, so you can think of it as a massive kapihan at chikahan-slash-speed dating exercise. :)

The Philippine Vision Cafe is a forum where the youth can come together and freely articulate among themselves a vision for the Philippines. Its process of emergent dialogue is based on the premise that people, if given a chance to radically participate, have the wisdom and creativity within themselves to face the most difficult challenges. Driven by questions that matter, participants engage in animated discussion in small groups. In this relaxed, non-hierarchical setting, every opinion is important.

As a challenge to the supposed apathy pervading Filipino youth culture, the Philippine Vision Cafe will allow the youth themselves to speak out on issues they truly care about. Rizal once famously said that the youth is the future of the nation. With this in mind, we frame the future not as a faraway abstraction but as a concrete reality where each citizen has a role to play.

This is to be the first of many Vision Cafes, a step towards a national process of visioning. By starting it with the youth, we hope to plant the seeds of deep-seated cultural change for the Philippines.


The schedule of the festival can be found here. For more information, do visit www.pagasa.net.ph.


I hope you guys can come. If you feel that this is something worthwhile, pass it on. If you or your organization wants to be part of it, all the better. Just send me a PM. See you there! :)

Tell Me What You Want—What You Really, Really Want

By Niña Terol

There were two periods in my life when I was fortunate enough to have a large room, and I used to enjoy using their large blank walls as canvasses for my dreams. I called them “vision walls,” and on them I would post photos, drawings, magazine cut-outs, quotes, and other visualizations of goals, hopes, and ambitions that I wanted to materialize. Back in college, I would make mock grade reports and try my best to make my actual grades match those on my wall (yes—I was a grade-conscious student); after I graduated, I replaced them with “life maps” and photos of women in chic power suits. Later on I replaced them with my own artwork or collaged visualizations of my ideal life.

Now that I don’t have too much wall space, I make “vision scrapbooks” or “vision slides” (or movies), depending on how much time I have on my hands. What matters is that these are accessible whenever I need a mood lift, or whenever I need to remind myself of my real priorities and values.

Defining a personal vision—and actually creating a visual representation of it—has proved to be a very grounding exercise for me. If I do it often, it’s not because I need to redo my vision (that has pretty much remained constant for the past 10 years), but because I want to make it clearer, sharper—such that I can almost see, taste, touch, and smell every bit of it. Call me a “vision junkie” if you want to; I’d say that there’s no such thing as too much clarity in one’s life.

In the course of my readings and “social conversations” with other Filipino changemakers, I realized that it is precisely this that our country sorely lacks: a clear, articulated, and compelling vision that excites every pore of our beings and gets us to move every time the temptation for inertia takes over. When I look at my vision art and see the possibilities that await me, I get excited; I find alternatives to roadblocks; I try to do whatever I can to bring the dream closer to my current reality.

So now I wonder: what is OUR collective vision for the country? When we think of our ideal Philippines, what do we see? What kind of Filipinos live in it? What kind of systems govern it? What kind of leaders help push it forward? Can you see it? If you did see it, will you be able to recognize it?

I’m not sure I can see it yet, but maybe you can help me.

In my work with Team RP, as well as with a few other groups that are working for genuine reforms in this country, it has become increasingly important to start from where the people are—from YOUR life, YOUR concerns, your vision for YOURSELF. It is only after we have articulated a clear vision for ourselves that we can really come together to crystallize a vision for our country.

So if you have a bit of time on your hands, and if you think this is a worthy exercise, please email me back (nina.terol@gmail.com) with your answers to the following statements:

1. I am <your name>, <profession>, from <location>.

2. I see myself to be <your vision for yourself>.

3. I look forward to living in a country <your vision for the country>.

4. I will support a leader who <your ideal leader>.

If you want to take it a notch further, you can email me photos, images, quotes, links, etc.—anything that will help crystallize your vision for YOURSELF and the country YOU would like to live in.

So, go ahead, tell the world what you really, really want. (And you just might get it.)

Copyright © 2008 by Niña Terol

Whether you’re an office worker glued to your desk for most of the week, a Net junkie who loves blogs and social networking sites, an overseas Filipino looking to connect back to home, or simply someone with something to say, the power to set this country right is within your reach.

By Niña Terol

In these times of social unrest, when media focus hops from one controversy and “crisis” to another, Filipinos everywhere are saying, “I don’t want to condone these actions, but I don’t know how I can help.” They resign themselves to the fact that corruption exists everywhere, that their well-intentioned actions may not amount to anything, and that it’s perhaps best to leave political action to the politicians. After all, they would reason out, politics is dirty business.

But it wasn’t meant to be that way. In his 350 B.C. work, Politics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote: “Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good; for mankind always act in order to obtain that which they think good. But, if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good [italics mine].”

Maybe politics has become the dirty, bastardized creation that it is today precisely because we, the citizens, have let go of it. We left it up to the crooks, the unscrupulous, the malicious, and the ethically ignorant to take hold of it—thereby strangling us and taking the power away from the real state: the people. In a supposedly democratic government such as ours, we should be part of the political process—and this doesn’t end during elections.

We have the power to save the Philippines. And we can do it even while sitting down.

1. Be informed. The first step to conquering anything is to know what it is. Wherever you are in the world, stay in touch with the Philippines through online news sources. You can check out www.inquirer.net for comprehensive news articles, as well as podcasts and blog entries. Of course, a lot of us also read the Inquirer for its thought-provoking and often-controversial columnists. If you want meatier stuff, check out www.newsbreak.com.ph. This hard-hitting publication may have ended its print run, but its online presence shows that nothing will stop Marites Vitug and her staff from getting to the bottom of the news. If you want something with a dose of TV on it, log on to www.abs-cbnnews.com or www.gmanews.tv.

There are also some great non-news sites that offer bite-sized, thought-provoking content. My favorites include www.ted.com, our very own WhyNot? Forum (www.whynotforum.com), and ChangeThis (www.changethis.com).

2. Share your thoughts and ideas over the Web. Now is probably the best time in human history to be expressive and outspoken. The Internet has given us tremendous power, and we can harness it by broadcasting our thoughts and ideas over the Web—which is the most democratic space we have seen so far. If you want to develop your own “fan base” and position yourself as a thought leader, start a blog. (Just be a tad more productive than Brian Gorrell, please.) If you think blogging is too tiresome, post your comments to news article, features, blog entries, etc. People do pay attention to comments, so go ahead and make them.

3. Read other people’s blogs. Tit for that: if you want people to listen to—er, read—what you have to say, return the favor. Technorati’s Top 100 Filipino blogs include:
• Jessica Zafra’s http://jessicarulestheuniverse.com/
• Manolo Quezon’s The Daily Dose (http://www.quezon.ph/)
• Inside PCIJ (www.pcij.org/blog)
• Jim Paredes’s Writing on Air (http://haringliwanag.pansitan.net)
• Butch Dalisay’s Pinoy Penman (http://homepage.mac.com/jdalisay/blog/MyBlog.html)
• Newsstand (www.newsstand.blogs.com)

Some other blogs that haven’t quite made it to Technorati’s list, but which I love anyway (aside from them being my friends’ blogs) are Harvey Keh’s www.filipinochangemaker.blogspot.com and Benjie dela Peña’s http://hundredyearshence.blogspot.com/.

4. Participate in online discussions. Back to Aristotle: “Now, that man is more of a political animal than bees or any other gregarious animals is evident. Nature, as we often say, makes nothing in vain, and man is the only animal whom she has endowed with the gift of speech… the power of speech is intended to set forth the expedient and inexpedient, and therefore likewise the just and the unjust. And it is a characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the like, and the association of living beings who have this sense makes a family and a state.”

Let’s face it—whether you openly admit to it or not, you have political opinions, and would love to share them with others who would care enough to listen. Online discussions allow for a democratic sharing of ideas, encourage critical discernment on issues, and allow for an emergence of various viewpoints which are essential to critical decision-making. As a people, we need to listen to each other and consider each other’s perspectives if we are to arrive at intelligent decisions and actions.

Now that 2010 is just around the corner, perhaps we should start discussing among ourselves what qualities we think are important for a true leader, and which of the public figures around us really do exhibit and live out these qualities.

5. Sign online petitions and campaigns. Online petitions and campaigns have the potential to wield great power over political and social action because they help educate people about issues and gauge public opinion. A successful signature campaign trains media’s lenses on particular issues and forces public figures to make important decisions or stands on concerns that would otherwise be left in the back burner. It encourages discourse and debate, legislative action, and policy reforms.

For instance, we at Team RP have an ongoing signature campaign pushing for the Philippine Access to Information Law (PAIL). In our quest for truth, accountability, and reforms in Philippine government we saw that, while freedom to information is enshrined in our Constitution, there are no enabling laws that ensure this right. Whenever one goes to a government office to request for public information, the burden is left to the citizen to prove why he or she needs this information. It should be the other way around: government should offer access to public information, and the burden of proof should be on them if they do not make this information available. We are currently aiming for 10,000 signatures so that we can begin engaging media and incumbent legislators to file such a bill and enact such a law. Those who wish to support the campaign for PAIL may email team.rp.pail@gmail.com.

You can play an active role in strengthening Philippine policies by signing such petitions and campaigns. And it won’t even take you two minutes.

6. Share information with your friends and online buddies. Don’t you hate it when friends forward useless chain letters? (“If you don’t pass this on to 5 people within 5 minutes, something bad will happen to you.”) I do—I really do, and I find it amazing that people actually believe that stuff like this works. I would rather forward information that people will find useful and relevant, such as news about new rules and policies that will affect their industries or their daily lives, information on breakthrough ideas or movements that will benefit a great number of people, new causes and organizations that people can support, or even trivia and tips that will make people think and, perhaps, help them make small but useful changes in their daily routine. Information is power, and it is something that we cannot take for granted. When you’ve got useful information, pass it on and spread the love.

7. Use the power of the Net to recruit members and solicit donations to worthy causes.

There are so many great and worthy causes out there that need all kinds of support—from volunteer time, to material donations and in-kind support, to donations and financial support. Likewise, there are many of us who are looking for “something to do” or something to which we can contribute, but we just don’t know where to look. We can do both cause-oriented groups and do-gooders a favor by patching them up online. It won’t take much time or effort: simply forward messages about causes and movements to friends, family members, and online buddies, then let them build their “relationship” on their own. Who knows? Something great might come out of it someday—and they’d have YOU to thank for it.

It really doesn’t have to take so much of your time, energy, and resources to help save the Philippines. Each of us can realistically do only what is accessible and interesting to us, so take advantage of online resources to do as much good as you can with the least amount of effort. You’d be surprised at how the daily act of contributing and sharing information can make a big difference in a country that is still enveloped in ignorance and intellectual poverty. And you won’t even have to get up from your chair.

Niña Terol, 28, is the Vice Chairperson for Internal Affairs of Team RP, a youth-led movement that pushes for truth, accountability, and reforms in Philippine government. She is also a writer, editor, and communications consultant, and is a regular contributor of MEGA, Entrepreneur Philippines, Starfish, among other Philippine publications.

To know more about Team RP, send an email to team.rp.official@gmail.com, log on to www.teamrp.multiply.com, or join the Team RP e-group by emailing team-rp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Copyright © 2008 by Niña Terol

We hope to see you there!

Please make sure to confirm your attendance so we can include you in the headcount. Refreshments will be served.Ü

I am Change, Are You?

By: Harvey S. Keh

Last March, I was very fortunate enough to be invited to be the Commencement Speaker of Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) in Zamboanga City, one of the biggest state universities in the Philippines. During my brief stay at WMSU, I was able to have a session with 30 of their student leaders who are leading their student council and other student organizations in their school. During this session, I started with a question, I asked them, Who among you here still believes and supports President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Around 10 of them raised their hands. Then, I asked again, Who among you here wants the President to resign and step down? Around 14 of them raised their hands. I pressed on and asked again, Who among you here is still undecided? 6 of them raised their hands. Finally, I asked again, Who among you here wants Change and Reforms in our Country and Government?

All of them raised their hands.  

When I got back to Manila, I did the same activity with about 25 student leaders from Miriam College in Quezon City, one of the top schools here in Metro Manila. I got the same response from them, 7 were supporting President Arroyo, 12 wanted her to resign/step-down while 6 were undecided.  When I asked them who wants change and reform in our Country and Government, all of them raised their hands as well.

What am I trying to say through these two stories and experiences with these Filipino Youth Leaders in our country?

a.) Yes, our country is divided right now in how we view President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. You have on one side, a group supporting President Arroyo despite all the anomalies, allegations of corruption and scandals that has rocked her administration. On the other side, you have groups and highly-influential leaders which have called for her immediate resignation and ouster from power. This then leaves us with a political stalemate since President Arroyo is not weak enough to fall while the Groups calling for her ouster and resignation are not strong enough to push her out.

b.) However, it seems that judging from my experiences in dealing with these student leaders, the people I talk to and the emails I get from Filipinos from here and abroad everyone wants to see Change and Reform in our Government. We are all united in wanting to see positive and lasting change and reforms in our Government.

That is why I think that if we want to be able to help in bringing our nation together towards a common vision which helps move our country forward then this unity should not be based on certain personalities like President Arroyo or our other Government Leaders. Rather, we need to join and work together towards working for concrete and lasting reforms in our Government Institutions that would eventually make it more responsive to the needs of the poor and powerless in our communities.We need to work together towards building, strengthening and transforming our democratic institutions. For example, Isn't it sad that we now have to face a growing Food Crisis when we were once one of the world's top Agricultural countries? This is an indirect effect of the 1 Billion Fertilizer Scam that was allegedly used to fund the election expenses of President Arroyo and her allies. If this 1 Billion Peso Fertilizer Fund together with other government funds was used properly and for the right purpose then we might not have to face this crisis now or if we do, the effect wouldn't be as big as we are facing now.

As such, I'd like to invite every Filipino based here and abroad to join us at Team RP as we try to develop a proactive and dynamic movement that is built and organized primarily by ordinary Filipinos like you and me whose only vested interests is to be able to contribute his time, skills, talents and resources towards pushing for Truth, Accountability and Reform in our Government. How? Allow me to share with you some of our concrete action plans:

For Truth: We hope to push for the passing of a Philippine Access to Information Law (PAIL) that would give every Filipino an opportunity to access government documents especially documents that would show how our hard-earned money is being spent by our government officials. Through this law, greater transparency can be achieved thus and more importantly, we are able to make our government leaders live by the saying that Public Office is a Public Trust.

For Accountability: We plan to file proper charges on Government Officials and Private Citizens who have taken part in Graft and Corruption practices and activities that have bankrupted our government coffers. If we do not do anything to hold these people accountable for their actions and curb corruption, then the cycle will just continue with new faces and sadly, with new techniques. Corruption has to stop because the 30 Billion Pesos that is lost to it every year can amount to provision of basic services that will ultimately uplift the lives of more than 20 Million Filipinos who continue to wallow in poverty.

For Reform: We plan to work and lobby for the extension and improvement of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law which expires this year. We believe that every Filipino should be provided with equal opportunities to be able to own his or her own land. In addition to this, we plan to pursue electoral reforms as early as now by developing projects and activities that will encourage and motivate First-time voters to register so they can exercise their right to choose our next President in 2010.

These are just among our concrete plans towards institutionalizing and working for genuine Change and Reform in our country. Since we are not a personality-based movement, Team RP will continue to push for these ideals and programs regardless of who becomes President, Vice-President, Senators, Congressmen, etc. We are doing this because we believe that many of our Government Leaders have Failed us and that its time for all of us to take control of our own future and work together for that genuine and lasting Change that we all want to see in our country. Let us all stop the all our excuses, iinaction, hopelessness, despair, indifference and complaining, these will all amount to nothing if we ourselves don't move ourselves to do anything for our country. 

Change is now. Change starts with each one of us. Hope lies not in our country's leaders and those in power but it rests in every Filipino.

I am Change, are you?  If Yes, then join us at Team RP by emailing us your complete name and contact information to team.rp.official@gmail.com . Help us as well by forwarding this email to your friends and posting it in your blogs so that many more Filipinos can join in our cause to take control of our own future.  

We would also like to invite all of you to our upcoming Team RP General Assembly on April 26,2008 (Saturday), 1pm to 430pm at the Foyer of Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila. Please send us an email with your contact information at team.rp.official@gmail.com if you are joining us for this event.

Harvey S. Keh, 29, is the Chairperson of Team RP, a youth-led organization that is pushing for Truth, Accountability and Reform in our Government. He is also the Project Director of the Asia Society's Philippines 21 Young Leaders Program which annually selects 10 outstanding Filipino Young Leaders which will represent the Philippines to the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit which gathers more than 200 Young Leaders from different countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. Aside from these, Harvey continues to help make our country a better place for every Filipino through his involvements with the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government and AHON Foundation. You can read his writings at his blog: http://www.filipinochangemaker.blogspot.com

We Each Have a Post to Man

By Niña Terol

The most interesting emails that I’ve gotten lately are from friends who don’t usually participate in political or social discussions in our respective egroups, but who pipe in once in a while—and quite passionately—about where they’re coming from as young professionals trying to build careers and families.

“I am not being apathetic, but my priority now is to establish myself and provide for myself and my family.”

“My role in society is to run my business well, provide opportunities for growth for my employees, and make sure that everyone is paid well and on time so that they, in turn, can provide for their families.”

“I work hard, obey the law, and pay taxes. I think I’m doing my fair share already.”

“I care about what happens to this country, but I simply don’t know what to do.”

“I’m busy enough as it is. I want to make sure that whatever I do for the country will produce concrete results.”

I hear you. And I understand.

* * *

In my work as a volunteer of several organizations I have met many talented, brilliant, and passionate individuals who make their own significant contributions within their own lines of interest and their own skill sets. There is Frankie Varona, immediate past president of the Ateneo Alumni Association (AAA), who worked tirelessly to inspire the AAA and the Ateneo community to work on programs for Gawad Kalinga. There is Niel Lim, Team RP’s Communications Head, who uses his own passion for journalism and political communications to ensure that Team RP’s message cuts through the media clutter (and all this while working on his master’s thesis!). There is Czarina Medina, editor of Starfish Magazine, who contributes valuable time, expertise, connections, and passion to feed the minds and souls of young leaders from around the country. There is Anna Rojas, my “soul sister” from our Globe Telecom days, who went way out of her way to mobilize resources to build a library in Sta. Teresa, Guimaras. There are many people who seem to do extraordinary things simply by giving off a few hours each week to work on something they really believe in.

But then, not all of us can be volunteers. Not all of us have the luxury of time, or flexibility, or liquidity, or emotional support, to be able to give off ourselves without the benefit of a paycheck or a positive performance appraisal or an additional client. Not all of us can take off from work in the middle of the day to attend yet another committee meeting, or build a GK home, or plan a socio-civic event. Most of us barely even have time to really spend time with our loved ones or read a good book or take a walk. How can we be expected to participate in volunteer efforts or—God forbid—engage government in long-term reforms that might even not be implemented?

The answer, to put it quite simply, is this: Man your own post.

Yes, it is true that not all of us can be volunteers—and not all of us can volunteer for the same thing. We each have different beliefs, different value systems, different principles, different socio-cultural backgrounds, and so on, but one thing is certain: we are all good at something. Many of us use this “something”—whatever it may be—for work, while some of us keep “bread-and-butter” jobs and save our true passions for the weekend. But we all have skills, we all have talents, and we all have friends. Each of us can maximize these three elements to make positive change happen in society.

* * *

Use your skills. As a communicator and a project manager, I use my skills to maintain a freelance practice. Fortunately, this has allowed me to allocate a substantial amount of time for volunteer efforts. In my work with Team RP, I try to use my communications and organizational skills to get things organized, to move things along, and so on. I chose Team RP—a reform-oriented group that seeks to engage media, government, and key stakeholders in the pursuit of truth, accountability, and reform—because I love policy work. I enjoyed serving a legislative role in the student council when I was in college, and I enjoy being able to work on changes from a political/legislative standpoint. This kind of work might not appeal to others at all, but it does to me, and so I do it.

You might be an account executive, or an entrepreneur, or an analyst. It’s perfectly okay if you don’t volunteer for any socio-civic projects, but maybe you could convince your clients or colleagues to adopt a social dimension to your organizational efforts. Maybe you could adopt a community and tie it in with your brand’s strategic objectives. Or you might sponsor  a video to convince first-time voters to register while it’s still early. You could find ways to help us policy-oriented folk by directing the private sector’s attention to our efforts. Or you could help us craft our messages. Or you could share with us some information you got while researching for a presentation. In your hands (or brains, or PCs) is something that somebody else needs. Maybe the best thing you could do for your country is share a little bit of that. (Or convince your clients and colleagues to do so.)  

Use your talents. Once in a while, I get tapped to do hosting gigs. Just tonight I emceed for the induction ceremonies of the Ateneo Alumni Association. Every so often, I write articles for the AAA website, or for Blueblood—the alumni magazine. I’d do these things—write and host/talk onstage—even if I weren’t paid for it. So I might as well do it to help others.

Meanwhile, my beloved is a performance artist who gets paid to perform his Kali Drum and his water bottles at gigs and events. But every so often he does pro bono workshops to empower barangay children, or performs for free in fund-raising concerts or concerts for a cause because he believes that his music has relevance. Whatever your talent is, whatever you’re most passionate about, you could help bring about concrete change by mixing the two well, even just once in a while.

Use your friends. In this age of social networking—of egroups and social networking sites and blogs—everyone has friends. Everyone has a fan base. We can make the most of whatever influence we have by being part of the all-important social exchange. Let’s share information—about issues, about volunteer opportunities, about causes, about petitions—and let’s engage our friends in the causes we’re most passionate about. Let’s engage in what the folks at YPS (Young Public Servants) call “social conversations.” Once in a while, over a meal or a snack, let’s ask our friends and family members what they think about important issues. Should we go on a “family diet” in view of the looming rice crisis? Should we cut back on our Starbucks coffee session and use the money to donate to a charity? What does your brother think about the necessary qualities for a leader of the Philippines? Talking might not lead to concrete solutions yet—but they help clarify issues, crystallize ideas, and connect people. We sure need a lot of that in an age of snap judgements, shallow thought, and divisiveness.

* * *

There’s a saying that goes “bloom where you’re planted.” Each of us is a different plant (or flower), with different characteristics, and we’re all planted somewhere. Our society is facing so many challenges that it won’t take a single, homogenous group of people to find or create solutions. We need all kinds of people to do different things so that different issues and concerns are addressed. We need people everywhere to work on a specific area so that positive change snowballs and happens sooner rather than later.

So it’s okay if you don’t join my cause, or if you don’t support this particular project. But maybe there is a cause or a project to which you can contribute, either voluntarily or as part of your job. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that people everywhere recognize that change needs to happen, and that they have the power to do something. When we thought of the name for Team RP, we wanted to imbibe the “team philosophy” that permeates through sports teams. Wherever you are in the world, whatever it is that you’re doing, if you’re Filipino then you belong to one team—THIS team. And we each have a post to man. It’s just a matter of knowing where that is and stepping up to the plate.

Questions, comments, reactions? Email me at nina.terol@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2008 by Niña Terol

Why Gawad Kalinga May Not Be Enough

By: Harvey S. Keh

In one of my interviews with ABS-CBN, the news reporter asked me, despite all the scandals and corruption (Hello Garci, 1 Billion Peso Fertilizer Scam, Irrigation Scam and 6 Billion Peso NBN-ZTE Broadband Scam) that have hounded this present administration, why do you think do majority of young Filipinos choose not to do anything about it. She further added that there seems to be no uproar from the Filipino youth and young professionals from all over the country, does that mean that we are okay with all these scandals that are mushrooming almost on a weekly basis? I asked these same questions to my students and friends and here are their answers (summarized already):

Student A: Sir Harvey, Naiinis naman talaga kami sa nangyayari pero wala naman kaming magagawa eh, estudyante lang kami at kahit sino namang ilagay sa gobyerno natin, pareho pa rin silang lahat na magnanakaw. They will only protect their own self-interests.

Student B: Sir, I'm not happy with how our country is being led by our government leaders but I think the best way I can contribute to this country is by becoming a good student, study hard, find a good job and be a good citizen in our country.

Yuppie A: I don't want to get involved in politics masyadong magulo yan kaya I'd rather just stick to doing my job well and helping my own family besides I'm already helping this country by helping send my younger siblings to school.  

Yuppie B: I was part of EDSA II and actually took helped organize the concerts at the EDSA Shrine but as much as I'm very frustrated with how this government is being run, I am no longer convinced that political engagement is the way to go for our country. I would rather focus my energies and resources to helping NGOs and Foundations like Gawad Kalinga and Pathways.

Reflecting upon these answers which I also often receive from the emails Filipinos here and abroad send me, I believe that their answers are all valid and I respect them although I don't totally agree with all of them. Allow me to share with you what I think on each of these answers:

Student A's answer is typical of a person who is disgruntled with what is happening to our country but who apparently feels helpless about the situation. When I receive this kind of an answer from people and my students, I tell them about what they can do and organizations they can join like Team RP but when they are invited to take part in activities that aim to promote good governance and greater transparency in our government, they fail to join and act. Sad but true, many Filipinos just love to criticize and point out what is wrong with our leaders but when they are given an opportunity to act about these pressing issues, they refuse to make time and move out of their comfort zone.

Student B's answer is for me a selfish answer, yes, I believe that a student's main and foremost responsibility is to study hard and finish education but what about our own responsibility as citizens of this country? In a utopian society, this answer would have been okay but in our present situation as a country in crisis where the gap between the rich and the poor continue to grow and where more than 20 Million Filipino Families grow hungry each day, this is no longer acceptable especially for students and young professionals who study at the top universities and who come from the middle to upper class of our society. This answer is an easy cop out and it's selfish because at the end of the day, just by confining yourself to you own life won't help our country as much as it will help you.

Yuppie A and B's answer is all well and good since I admire them for continuing to work hard to provide for their families while at the same time continue to get involved with volunteer work for Gawad Kalinga and Pathways to Higher Education. I admit that I was like Yuppie A and B who just confined myself to working towards helping poor but deserving students go to college and finish their education but I realized that this isn't enough. I realized that if we are able to reform our government institutions and leadership then there won't be a need for organizations like Gawad Kalinga and Pathways. We need to realize that in order for us to help uplift the lives of the poor we need to attack the problem at its roots and that is the inability of our government systems to provide these basic services to them. Isn't the National Housing Authority supposed to be the one to help provide adequate shelter to every Filipino family? Isn't it the Department of Education's job to assist every Filipino child gain access to quality education? A recent study by the World Bank has said that more than 30 Billion Pesos goes to Corruption every year. Imagine if we are able to work together and pressure government into being more transparent and accountable towards curbing corruption then we would have more resources to provide housing for every poor family, irrigation and fertilizers to farmers (which would help alleviate our growing food crisis), higher salaries for our public school teachers, enough textbooks for our students and access to quality healthcare for every Filipino. Working for and helping Gawad Kalinga, Pathways and other non-profit organizations are very much needed in our society today but let us also not forget that unless we work hard towards fighting for and institutionalizing credible and lasting reforms in our government and its leaders, then we will always have to do the fire-fighting because we have failed to solve the cause of the fire.

In summary, what I would like to share with all of you are the following:

a.) We deserve the country that we have. If we want a prosperous and just country, then we should all work hard towards it. If you look at the history of South Korea and Singapore, they were able to turn their country around in less than 30 years, I believe we can do it in less time and do it even better if every Filipino will just care enough to go out of his or her way to help push for reforms in our government.

b.) Genuine Hope of this country does not lie on our government and church leaders and especially not in the ruling elite and oligarchs, it rests in each one of us. As I have always said, every Filipino whether you live here or abroad can complain about the rampant corruption and problems that is present in our government but after the complaining have you asked yourself, what will you do about it? Are you willing to sacrifice some of your time and resources to making yourself heard by our government leaders? If we want change in our country, we need to change ourselves, change starts with each one of us. We need to stop making excuses about why we cannot act and why we cannot take part in actions that will reform our present government systems.

c.) If our government and its leaders were doing their job effectively then there wouldn't be a need for a Gawad Kalinga or a Pathways. I support and firmly believe in Gawad Kalinga, Pathways and other non-profit organizations that are working hard to deliver basic services to the poorest of the poor in our country but don't you think it's also time that we start holding government accountable to these basic services that they have failed to provide our people? Of course it will be harder to do this and it may take a longer period of time but if we are able to institutionalize these reforms then we will be able to make our government more efficient and effective and in the end we will be able to help not just seven thousand but seven million Filipino families.     

I am not calling for another People Power Revolution nor am I asking for our President's outright resignation. I'm not also saying that people should quit supporting and volunteering for Gawad Kalinga and Pathways, all I'm saying is that these efforts can only yield lasting benefits for the poor and the powerless if all of us would be more involved in activities and movements that would push for greater Truth, Accountability and Reform in our government because in these times of crisis, despair and growing hopelessness in our country, the poor can't wait and Gawad Kalinga may not be enough.

There's still time to act but we need to act now if we want to live to see the day where every Filipino will live a decent and fulfilling life that all of us deserve.

If by some chance you were moved to act by this email and want to join us in pushing for genuine and lasting reforms in our government, please let me know by sending an email to harveykeh@gmail.com

TEAM RP MEETING

Thursday, 10 April 2008

6:30PM

Blue Room, 2/F Ateneo Professional Schools

Rockwell Center, Makati

*ALL TEAM RP MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!*

If you support our petition and call for the passage of a Philippine Access to Information Law, you can join and help us in any of the following ways:

a.) Sign our petition online by emailing "I Support the Campaign for a Philippine Access to Information Law" together with your complete name and contact information to team.rp.pail@gmail.com

b.) Forward our statement to your friends and post it in your website, blog, friendster, multiply or facebook account for all your friends to read.

c.) Volunteer for our campaign and help us get more Filipinos to sign our petition. If you want to volunteer and help, you can email Karen Naranjo at k_ren_naranjo@yahoo.com or you can send her a text message at 0918-9183685. We will send you copies of our petition so you can also help gather signatures in your school, office or organization.

For further inquiries and clarifications, please feel free to email us at team.rp.official@gmail.com.

NEWS RELEASE

April 3, 2008

'PAIL needed to avoid abuse of

Executive Privilege' – TEAM RP

Alarmed over Malacañang's announcement that cabinet officials would not attend further Senate hearings on the NBN-ZTE inquiry, invoking the recent Supreme Court decision on Executive Privilege, TEAM RP, a youth-led reform-oriented group, reiterated their call for a Philippine Access to Information Law (PAIL).

"Malacañang's announcement gives a blanket license with ambiguous parameters to officials to evade the reach of both the oversight and legislative powers of the Senate," Atty. Eirene Aguila, TEAM RP Vice Chair for External Affairs said. "If the Palace, is serious on taking the role as the main crusader against graft and corruption, it should be at the forefront of enacting transparency measures, not finding ways to hide from public scrutiny."

TEAM RP said that the decision left the people with more suspicion and growing unrest than certainty on the issue. TEAM RP said that, in effect, the SC decision have left the entire nation to continue doubting the Arroyo government.

But Atty. Aguila also said that the decision highlighted some fundamental aspects of governance that should be seriously considered by both the executive and legislative branches. "We would not be in this dilemma had our executive officials provided for effective transparency measures and espoused a policy of full and authentic public disclosure and also had our legislators focused their efforts in aid of legislation, we would have resulted in laws supporting the people's right to know," she said.

Last March 10, TEAM RP launched an online signature campaign, dubbed "Sa Totoo Tayo", to petition Congress to urgently pass a Philippine Access to Information Law to provide explicit procedures in allowing public access to government documents. On March 14, TEAM RP held a "truth caravan" in the University Belt area, Intramuros and some schools in Quezon City. 

TEAM RP said that the absence of PAIL makes it difficult even for government agencies to access documents from other government agencies and that had documents regarding the NBN-ZTE issue been allowed to be scrutinized early on, getting the facts out would not be as difficult. "The right of the people to be informed should no longer be left to the sheer discretion of the Court, the inertia of the lawmakers and the caprices of our public officials," Atty. Aguila added.  

"Sa Totoo Tayo" campaign has so far collected 500 online signatures and 900 signatures from the "truth caravan". TEAM RP Chair Harvey Keh explained that the rate of getting signatures slowed down after the Holy Week, when most students were already on vacation. "But we are not deterred by this," Keh said. "In fact, we are more challenged because the support we receive, even from overseas Filipinos are overwhelming. It shows that we are doing the right thing and that we are on the right track."

"We're not yet even over the NBN-ZTE issue and the swine scam is already unfolding," Keh added. "We really need to certify PAIL as urgent to help shed light on these issues and prevent graft and corrupt practices from happening again."

TEAM RP continues to visit schools and talk to communities to hold education sessions on the PAIL campaign and gather signatures for the petition. This summer, TEAM RP is also preparing to stage lightning street plays to further inform the public about the PAIL campaign.