Monday, November 24, 2008 Editorial: We the people
THE POWER of an idea is a force to watch.
An online petition was initiated by the participants attending the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc.’s (Rafi) Understanding Choices Forum, “Taking Charge of Development: Mainstreaming Good Governance,” held last Nov. 20, 2008 at the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center.
An email invites recipients to check out a petition, “Strength and Change from Within,” on www.ipetitions.com/petition/changefromwithin.
Compared to other campaigns, the Rafi invitation asks the petitioner to go beyond signing one’s name at the end of a list.
“Support our online petition for good governance and active citizenship,” exhorts the email, “through your personal commitment to change.”
The Filipino can
Governance should reside not at the top, with the leaders, but at the bottom of the social pyramid, where the so-called governed are.
The Nov. 20 Rafi forum reminded participants to reverse the skewered view of traditional politics and return public service to its original purpose: the public.
During the afternoon forum, Gov. Eddie Panlilio of Pampanga, Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, Mayor Jesse Robredo of Naga City and Mayor Ramon Piang Sr. of Upi, Maguindanao shared experiences and insights from participatory governance.
In local governments, citizens, whether individually or collectively through organizations or alliances, should influence priorities in development planning and monitor officials’ performance and spending of public funds.
With the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government, Robredo, Padaca and Panlilio initiated last June 2008 the Kaya Natin! Movement. Open to all citizens, it espouses “genuine and lasting change in our government by promoting transparency, social accountability, people empowerment and electoral reforms,” according to www.naga.gov.ph.
For instance, in the two decades that Robredo has served Naga as mayor, the city has received more than 150 awards and recognitions for various milestones in local administration. Naga is in the Hall of Fame of the Asian Institute of Management-Ford Foundation Galing Pook (Innovations Program) Award.
According to a special feature by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Naga is “one of only nine areas in the country cited by the United Nations Development Program as among the leading lights in the implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals… eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating major diseases, and providing basic amenities.”
Robredo’s defining achievement is the enactment in December 1995 of the People Empowerment Ordinance. The Naga City NGO-PO Council (NCPC) is a federation of over 100 local nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations that co-governs Naga City through representation in all local special bodies up to the city council level.
The PCIJ quoted the Ateneo de Naga’s Institute of Politics for praising Robredo’s “dominance” in Naga as “not (being) the notion of dominance where someone orders everybody around. There’s an element of pluralism in his leadership style, letting various political players get involved, take sides.
It’s really a commitment to a more democratic framework of governance.”
Tide of rising expectations
Like the Kaya Natin! Movement, the online campaign started by the Understanding Choices Forum participants believes that every citizen must be committed to genuine change and ethical leadership for this to become more than a movement and “a way of life.”
According to “Strength and Change from Within,” citizens and leaders must “learn from successes and reflect on failures” in governance. “Good governance and genuine leadership (are tapped) in combating poverty, strengthening democracy and human rights, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and enhancing environmental protection.”
But “ethical and transformative leadership” should not only challenge public and private institutions but also individuals.
Civil society needs to take “pride in individual and collective successes achieved through hard work, determination, perseverance, and honesty;” affirm “justice in surfacing the voice of the voiceless” and “sharing their burdens;” and seek “liberty in freeing ourselves from the bondage of pride and greed, and in developing peoples’ potential for service.”
