Trusted, Honored, and Respected Nation at FEU

Big names in our government converged and graced Far Eastern University in Manila, Tuesday afternoon for the scheduled symposium on Ethical, Effective and Environmental Leadership centering on the underlying tagline of the Political Science Society, "Trust, Honor, and Respect" that has echoed throughout the walls of the university for the whole academic year. The FEU Auditorium was jampacked with students, faculty and school officials who were eager to hear speeches from Governor Teodoro Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao, Senator Jamby Madrigal, Governor Arnan C. Panaligan of Oriental Mindoro, and Secretary Lito Atienza of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Before these speakers went over the stage, Former Congressman Neri Acosta of Bukidnon made a short talk saying that Filipinos, especially the youth have a stake in the future. He made mention of Charice Pempengco's triumph in the International Scene. Acoording to him, we, Filipinos should be proud of this accomplishment thus, "never yield an inch of dignity". And further emphasized that we should reclaim the future by choosing effectively, come 2010 national elections nothing more, nothing less. "Nasa kamay ang pagbabago", change is in our hands, he said.

Former Congressman Neri Acosta

Acosta's talk was followed by Governor Baguilat of Ifugao, another local chief executive from the the north, under the group Kaya Natin, a movement for genuine change and ethical leadership. He exposed his experience of being bribed of millions as part of the Fertilizer fund scam and that according to him, when he tried to ask the provincial police chief of Ifugao on why jueteng remains in their region? "bakit nanatili pa din ang jueteng?" the latter said, "kailangan natin ang jueteng dahil kabuhayan" Jueteng is needed for livelihood (among the townspeople). The police chief was then immediately fired and had him replaced. The Governor then relayed how Jueteng, Bribes and Kickbacks formed part in our Government today that has become a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), Especially the kickbacks, where a 10 percent commission is alloted by a certain company to the government official who will award the project to the company. According to the governor there is a growing sentiments among Filipinos seeking for ethical leadership, hence the kaya natin advocacy group was created that exemplifies "people with moral convictions" towards good governance.

Governor Teodoro Baguilat Jr.

Next to the Governor was Senator Jamby Madrigal, who said that FEU Students has the "thirst for change", as all the youth of the Philippines. Quoting Winston Churchill, Madrigal said "a politician looks to the next election, a statesman prepares for the next generation." by that, she proclaimed that she together with the guest speakers of the event were not TRAPO (Traditional Politician), and further stated that 99.9% of both houses (of congress) and the government in general are TRAPOs; and immediately congratulate the FEU community for picking the needles out of the haystack. What is the difference of a TRAPO and a "non-TRAPO" anyway? According to Madrigal "a TRAPO will say one thing and do another; the non-TRAPO will walk his talk", meaning whatever he says will be acted upon.

TRAPO in the Senate

Senator Madrigal cited the bribery incident from the previous speaker, Governor Baguilat, that she too was offered a bribe coming from the same fertilizer fund by a young TRAPO in the senate, pretending to be an activist and who is likely to run for president. Madrigal didn't dare to drop a name though, but these kind of descriptions, a Madrigal version of "Da Who" has only given us an elucidating glimpse of who is she talking about. Who is this young TRAPO, Madrigal was referring to then? Well, the only image that came out from my mind, was Senator Francis Escudero. Mind you, he is young, a fellow senator of Madrigal, a known activist, undeniably a potential presidentiable come 2010 elections and certainly a TRAPO, as Wikipedia defined him, he "is a dynastic traditional Filipino politician". I'm not in any manner dragging the name of Escudero to this, but it's only a "guess who" game that only Madrigal knows the answer; and if it happens to be true, then Madrigal should have revealed the name for the sake of justice and fairness hence redeeming the integrity and public trust in our government. I don't want to make a fuzz out of this, Senator Madrigal is to blame.

World Bank is Unethical

Madrigal blast the World Bank for keep on lending money to the Philippines, resulting to profiterring of multi-nationals that has kept the country on the brink of poverty. She posited that “How could an ethical government exists if it takes money from unethical corporations, from unethical jueteng, from unethical multi-nationals, even the world bank is unethical 'cause many times the reports that they put out are to increase our GDP growth" only for us to borrow from them frequently, and leaving us eternally indebted. Further she stated that, "the leadership of a country can only be an ethical if it is no longer supported by unethical money". The Senator was thankful for the youth for voting her in, for the reason she cited that, "It is hard for non-TRAPOS to win an election". Madrigal always wanted to change TRAPO politics and that during the 2004 campaign she liked to qoute Edmund Burke's "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." With this in mind, she added that it is time for you (voters) to make that change and empower yourselves to choose who you want to put in government".

Senator Jamby Madrigal

Governor Arnan C. Panaligan of Oriental Mindoro followed Madrigal in the latter's speech. At the beginning, the governor was optimistic about the encouraging results of the growing number of Tamaraw sightings in Mindoro by the continuing effforts of the government of Oriental Mindoro, the DENR, NGOs, and of course, FEU. As most of us knows, the Tamaraw population has decreased unprecendently in decades, and that the same is an endemic specie to the island of Mindoro, Philippines. Panaligan even mentioned the Tamaraw as the mascot of FEU in the UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines); He said "our successful efforts in preserving and propagating the specie will be a parallel success as far as the FEU Tamaraws is concern in the UAAP."

He maintaned that in the government nowadays, "the term politician is an undesirable word" and that, to be an effective leader is by getting things done in the right way. For him, leadership is providing hope, motivation, marshalling and mobilizing the resources towards an effective change. The governor mentioned Obama's principle of "change we can believe in", how Obama motivated and inspired direction, especially on the youth. Panaligan said that character inspires confidence in effective leadership, like the process of persuasion which is the ability of the leader to persuade the people to join hands with the government, because "in effective leadership, one element is (to) communicate (with the people)", and that "a leader must be able to provide a vision." He then added, that "2010 will be a new beginning, so that we can become trusted, honored and respected, I hope in 2010 there is change we can believe in like in the U.S., our hope is in the next generation of voters." "Next year is an election year, we hope na ating ma-elect ang may tunay na leadership, effective at ethical." we hope we could elect a leader with effective and ethical character. And a leader who recognizes the crucial role of the environment, "pagkilala ng very crucial role ng environment", which is environmental leadership.

Governor Arnan C. Panaligan

Finally, then Manila mayor and incumbent DENR Secretary Lito Atienza's time to speak before the crowd. Before his speech, he presented a short clip featuring the beauty of the Philippines having a campaign slogan of "Pilipinas kong mahal", certainly good for 2010 elections, similar to that "Patas na Laban, Para sa Lahat" of Senator Ping Lacson. Atienza was dressed in the usual floral ensemble, another good way of communicating to the people by having a trademark which more often than not good when election time gets near. Madrigal must have forgotten that Lito Atienza was also a guest speaker in the event when the senator said "amongst all of us speakers that you have chosen today, ni isang TRAPO wala", which i could not blame her, because Lito Atienza was not yet around in the first place.

Environment

Atienza, as the environment department chief naturally focused on the existing and imminent threat to our environment. He gave emphasis on the Climate change that is caused by global warming from the rooted problem on waste disposal that consequently produces methane gas that is harmful to the people. So as a solution, right in our homes we should already segregate our waste materials, "sa bahay pa lang mag-segregate na", he said. With the 2.5 Billion budget of DENR this year, Atienza pronounced to provide better opportunities through environmental protection, however he said "ang pag-asa ng kalikasan ay nasa kabataan", the hope of the environment is in the youth. "Kapag 'di ginawa ang tama, tayo'y maghihirap higit sa lahat", If we don't do the right thing, we will suffer more than anything else.

Reproductive Health Bill

Surprising in his speech, is the inclusion and his criticism of one of the most controversial issue in our land today, the proposed Reproductive Health Bill, pending in both houses of Congress that is so complex yet a fundamental issue that needs to be resolved. According to Atienza, we could have strong economy without even obstructing our Filipino identity and belief in Christ, this could be attained, though through our environment, "magandang ekonomiya sa pamamagitan ng kalikasan". "The only valid family plan is the plan of God for each and every one of us.", Atienza argued. The secretary also said that the problem of Europe and America is the same "they have destroyed themselves, by destroying their values". At this point, Atienza was referring to the abortion policy of Europe and the U.S. wherein, the Philippines, in considering a reproductive health bill, must not look upon these countries because the economy of Europe and even America with a new president are in shamble.

DENR Secretary Lito Atienza

Atienza speaking with FEU officials

Dr. Lourdes Montinola, Chair FEU Board of Trustees (right)

Dean Jaime An Lim, Institute of Arts and Sciences (left)

Dean Adelaida Fronda, OSACS (not inluded in the photo)

Do we still have hope for the country?

A country founded in pursuit of freedom, exemplified in series of uprising against the foreign oppressors since the time of the Spanish conquest; an undying expression of patriotism and bravery in view of a fruitful ending. During these times we Filipinos were anxious in fighting for self-determination that seems to be far within our reach. In as much as we wanted to fight for our liberty, foreign powers were just too strong for us and yet many centuries after, we managed to established the very first republic in Asia; an embodiment of democracy in the East, hence there was a furtherance of policies under a Filipino government, be they domestic or foreign policies that would best served the interests of the Filipino people. Indeed our early heroes’ passion for independence came to materialize, as we face yet other challenges that come in the way of our fledgling nation.

In the modern period, we fought a repressive government that have usurped and trampled upon our inherent and inviolable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness; together we stood firm against the dictatorship of the Marcos regime. We Filipinos displayed to the world what we can do and what we must ought to do as a responsible citizen. The People Power was an epitome of unity, a reverberation of our continuing search of preserving our rights with a common vision of advancing our aspirations and identifying anew our role in the world order.

There is truth to Rizal’s claim that the youth is the hope of the motherland, for the future lies in the hands of our youth which are the prime actors of change. They are the ones who will effect the changes towards realizing our goals. We may experience dilemmas at present but this is a part of the challenges that we have to overcome. While it is true that divisiveness of ideas is the very essence of a democratic society, divisiveness of actions on the other hand is the one that is detrimental to us. The latter would hamstring our common vision, our hope for the nation. We must not demand anything more from our government because it is high time that we should be the one to respond to the demand of our government, the demand of our nation. A responsive government constitutes a responsive citizenry. An ideal society is composed of a government and people where their interests are identical; they are correlated with each other. As such, we should put our actions in the right perspective which should be in consonance to reason and justice. We must not be blinded by the glittering light because the only thing that our eyes can see and what we’ve been longing for is a plain light that would lead us to the truth and the right direction. If a people are morally developed they will have a moral government. There is in fact, Rizal in each of us. We are a great nation because we kept on believing in our capacities; there is hope for as long as we keep on envisioning ourselves in facing the emerging threats of the future. There is hope if we continually educate our minds, and cultivate our hearts. There is hope because we are in constant search for a bright dawn to come amidst the uncertainty of darkness. There is hope, for we never lose sight of our vision, as proven by many occurrences in the past that we are willing and capable of becoming as one nation towards a more meaningful tomorrow. 

Arroyo meets Clinton; ignored by Obama

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo met with US State Secretary Hillary Clinton in Washington. The President and the former first lady of the United States met for 30 minutes at the State Department and according to the reports, they've talked about the Philippines' strategy in ending the Moro insurgency in southern Philippines and addressing the effects of global economic meltdown.

Arroyo asked Clinton to include the Philippines in her scheduled trip to Asia later this month. However, the latter made no confirmation to make a side trip to the Philippines albeit Clinton is set to visit China and Malaysia, among others.

Arroyo made a two-day visit to Washington to attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast, with Obama as the guest speaker but failed to meet the new president, much less to even shake a hand on him. As I can recall , Arroyo made a state visit last year in the US wherein she was also ignored by Obama. Obama instead wrote a letter to Arroyo. I cannot help, but use the term "ignored" because for me Philippines is not even worth a plugged nickel in the first place for America. Do you think the Obama administration will likewise ignore the likes of French president Nicolas Sarkozy or Pope Benedict XVI when they plan to visit the United States? Certainly not. In this instance, we can see how power is measured, how the Philippines is perceived by the American government; but of course America don't want it to look overtly so they let Hillary to meet with Arroyo.

Here is the video of their meeting, as posted by the US state department in YouTube.