TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
 - My Blog
- My Blog
Synergy in Combating the Menace of Society
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

SAVE ME Movement@14: Synergy in Combating the Menace of Society
Keynote Speech
1st SAVE ME Movement National Convention
January 30 – February 1, 2000
Boracay EcoVillage Resort, Malay, Aklan
PROF. EDWIN CHINEL MONARES, DPA
FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SAVE ME MOVEMENT

Today we celebrate a momentous milestone of the SAVE ME Movement. The past thirteen years since the initial organization of the Movement in 1995, we have great enjoyment and learning as we agonized through those years as we have willingly accepted the pain of every cut to crafting a precious diamond for in us and for mankind.

Armed with precious lessons learned in history and inspired by the ideals, principles, virtues and examples of great people who dared to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others, we declared our own war against the most fearful and strongest enemy. We have shared the excitement as well as anxiety as we relentlessly paddled our way to a journey to find the ultimate hero that can save us from imminent doom.

All those years, we tried and determined to pick up the pieces of broken dreams, shattered aspirations, fragmented hopes and wrecked faith of our great ancestors even as we struggle mightily to hold on to our personal dreams, aspirations, hope and faith. We keep ourselves bravely afloat amidst the turbulent sea; courageous and determined to reach the destination that every generation before us audaciously aspired.

As we hold on to reach our goals, we squeezed our best to reach the end of the dark tunnel by “enduring the pain of burning” so as to sustain the flickering light that great men and women before us have nurtured.

Colleagues, the crafting of the precious diamond for mankind, the war with the most fearful and strongest enemy, the journey to find the ultimate hero and reach the ultimate destination are far from being over. Even as we gather today in this beautiful and world famous island of Boracay, the realities are as blinding as the sun rays reflected by the white sand that surrounds us. The obstacles we individually and collectively face are the exact opposite of the serenity and beauty of Boracay.

Right now, we are in the midst of a troubled, if not a devastated society. A society of our own making is staring at us getting ready to devour our dreams, our aspirations, our hopes, our loved ones and our precious lives. The values, beliefs, customs and traditions which serve as the basis of our community as human beings are turning out to be the fundamental cause of our imminent social disintegration if not total destruction.

The institutions we have developed to be the repository and vanguards of our best practices which humanity, throughout history, has collectively learned have evolved their own life, character and personality, often in conflict with us; serving only the interests and welfare of the privileged few controlling and running them.
As the body and spirit of a living mortal are assaulted to the hilt by the troubled realities of our time, the physical and social environments are degrading at pace with the tickling of the clock. Economic destitution manifested by poverty, hunger, lack of livelihood opportunities, unemployment and the like are getting worst by the day. Against the backdrop of lands, lush valleys, rivers, lakes and stretching shores, a Filipino dies out of hunger. Known to have closeness in family ties, a Mother publicly declares in jubilation a child to be a “Japajuki” on account of being a good dancer.

The political system is not gearing towards empowerment and equity but greed and insatiable hunger for power which perpetuate those, who, before us were given the opportunity to be in helm of political institutions. The political structure that has evolved is turning out to be democratic to guarantee freedom to those who has the means but abuse and submission to those who are lowly. Election victory in our beloved country is determined by the number of gold, guns and goons and not by vote. Nobody loses in an electoral exercise in Philippines such as the election in the Sangguniang Kabataan, in the Student Council, in the different Clubs, in the local government units, in Congress both House of Representatives and the Senate and the Presidency, they are just cheated. The first instance where the victorious candidate raise his hand to take his oath of office there commence at the same time the vicious attacks on his person and never to gain the support and assistance of the vanquished. It is only in the Philippines that a sitting President will call an independent constitutional body, the COMELEC, inquiring and make sure of her lead in terms of votes. The constitution boldly declares against political dynasty, yet 21 long years have passed with no enabling law passed and political dynasty abounds. Government position is reserved not for the qualified and meritorious but to the highest bidder and to those with connections. Law makers are law breakers. Law enforcers are remiss. Public office is no longer a public trust but a public rust.

The heart of social service is education. However, quality has steadily deteriorated since the time one remembers the golden age of Philippine education when foreigners troop to our Colleges and Universities for their Bachelor Degrees, Masters and Doctorate. We have successfully educated the outstanding agriculture ministers of Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Asian Countries who successfully waged agricultural revolutions. Now we are running out of rice and we have successfully rose to be one of the largest importers of rice in the whole world. Out of 100 children qualified to register in school only 90 enroll in grade one. Out of this 90 only 40 will make it to graduate high school. Of the 40 high school graduates, only 21 will make it to enroll in College and 12 will graduate in College. Out of his 12 graduates, 1 will be able to find a job, 7 will take the licensure examination and only 3 will pass.

On the social aspect, petty crime, hold-up, kidnapping, longest running insurgency, separatist movement in Muslim Mindanao and terrorists are hugging the headlines of the media. The family is breaking apart. The Philippines is ranking among the countries on top of the list for incidence of self induced abortion amidst our being touted to be the only Christian nation in Asia. Our population rate is higher than the average growth rate with the economically challenged parents producing more children, sure to make Malthus cry in his grave. One child is born every three second and 18 children are dead every minute. We have just added a record in the Guinness Book of World Records being the country with the highest number of recorded murders for 2007. Transparency International will put the Philippines as the number 11 most corrupt nation in the whole world and the number one most corrupt nation in Asia. Issues of immorality and corruption is not just attributed to the government but it is also manifesting in the Schools, NGOs, business and even the Church itself.

The quality of our air in Metro Manila is deteriorating found to be five times higher than the set standard of 230 microgram per cubic meter in 1991. 65% of all drugs purchased by DOH every year are used for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Climate change induced by global warming has captured the attention of world leaders. Water is now becoming more expensive than soft drinks due mainly to ensuring potability. Deforestation is at 262,500 hectares/year equivalent to 719.17 hectares of denudation per day or 29.96 hectares per hour. Holding that one hectare is equivalent to 10,000 square meters, it means a deforestation rate of 83.23 square meters per second. The aspect of pollution in the physical environment can greatly be appreciated if you watch Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth.

What is the point? Pollution in social environment manifested by the degradation in the economic, political and social spheres is as alarming as the pollution in the physical environment, that is, terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains.

These are the kinds of Menace in the Society that need to be addressed synergistically. I personally don’t believe that the government as an institution is squarely and effectively addressing these problems. Thus, the challenge to respond effectively is before us all, the citizen of this world. It is not a “Hakuna Matata” as Pumbaa thought in the Animation Movie the Lion King. We have to face the reality. The only hope that I see is in the young and dynamic leaders of this country who are manifesting their sense of responsibility in the different campuses and communities along with their mentors and advisers. Very soon, these young people will be the heirs to these positions of power and responsibilities. The better and more effective they are honed and trained, the larger is the chance for development to take place in the country.

The search therefore for an effective response is of utmost importance. Our youth leaders should be able to completely understand the fundamental or the root cause of these manifest problems to attune and position their programs and projects. Following our principles in the SAVE ME Movement, we argue that the pollutions we see in the physical environment are just but effects. The cause is the degradation happening in the social environment. We believe that no amount of tree planting, solid waste management and other interventions will succeed if we cannot effectively identify and arrest the fundamental cause of these problems.

As early as 1991, the Senate Special Committee on Moral Recovery has come up with a report after a thorough study to find out the causes of the problems which hinders the country to take off towards genuine and sustained development. The Committee concluded that:

“The Philippines is afflicted with interlocking diseases of poverty, passivity, graft and corruption, exploitative patronage, factionalism, political instability, love for intrigue, lack of discipline, lack of patriotism, and the desire for instant self-gratification”

“This sickness is moral in nature – the bottom of our economic problems and political instability is the weakness and corruption of the moral foundations of our society”

Today these findings are reechoed by the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines calling or moral and spiritual renewal. The former Speaker Jose De Venecia at the eve of his fall from power called for moral revolution. Lately, Chief Justice Reynato Puno called for the manifestation of moral force. The problem, however, lies on the reality that morality and values cannot be legislated to ensure their imposition. If, indeed, morality or value system of the people is the culprit of our national sufferings, then the change should start not from the social institutions but from the individual him/herself.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in a rare passionate remark said: “The greatest obstacle that we as a nation must overcome is inside us. The enemy to beat is ourselves: when we spread division rather than unity; when we put ourselves above country and profit above fairness; when we think the worst of those with who we should be working for the common good; and when we wallow in despair rather than to rise to achievement – indeed, when we make politics replace patriotism in our country’s hour of need.” I just wish, the President mean what she said and not just read along beautiful lines written by the best speech writers. However, I give the credit to the President for her identifying the root of the societal problems, never mind if she fall short of walking her talk. I agree, the culprit is inside us.

Our situation today manifests in close semblance to that of the “dark ages” described in world history. The dark ages was characterized by the collapse of institutions: the papacy was divided into two warring factors, the monarchs/kings lost their grip of power due to intense power struggle resulting to a feudal system where those who control vast of lands and considerable resources created their own economic and political turf. Today that situation is very evident: religious faith is weakened as the church is rocked by scandals, the government cannot effectively govern because it has lost its moral ascendancy to rule. Thus, personalities with power base, political, economic or religious faith rose to create their turfs.

Of course we do not like this to continue. Then the question is: How can we solve this crisis situation?

The transition from “dark ages” to “enlightenment” was mainly due to the rise of the so called “philosophes” or little philosophers. During the dark ages, these idealistic, dynamic and brilliant youth stand in public places to rationalize what is happening with the end of finding the rightful solutions. Thus, Voltaire, Rousseau, Lock and many other youthful thinkers propounded great ideas which give rise to the dawning of enlightenment.

Today, we need “philosophes” in the campuses and the communities to lead us from neo-dark ages to neo-enlightenment. However, we have to have some fundamental principles or ideology to serve as our basis in constructing our ideal society on a neo-enlightenment period. Greatly, the most influential principle that almost engulfs the world is the ideology of Karl Marx. This ideology denies the Existence of God, believes that death as instrument for change, that the way to development is to capitalize on conflicts, absolute control of the state and curtailment of freedom, setting aside or diminishing individuality. The system should be changed to usher a new era that will guarantee happiness of man through materialism. In SAVE ME Movement we believe that this ideology has served its purpose already by almost wrecking the whole world during the cold war. Hence we propose, for purposes of setting a working draft, a new paradigm to serve as basis of evolving a new ideology. Thus, the new ideology should affirm the existence of God, grounded on the belief that life is an instrument for change, utilization of peace and unity, affirmation of freedom of choice, respect on ones individuality. It is the self that should be changed first and foremost to guarantee the happiness of man through spiritualism.

We need to evolve a Movement to shape our future, as Philippine history was shaped by Movements. At that time that our forefathers were shaken to submission because of the sheer power of the guns, cannons and the cross they would evolve a Movement which we can call Rebellion Movement that challenged the invincibility of the Spaniards when it took them almost a hundred years to defeat the rebellion of Dagohoy. At that time that the dignity of the Filipinos were trampled, the Propaganda Movement was organized by Rizal, Jaena and Luna to defend the dignity of the Filipino and galvanize their yearning for reforms but Rizal was murdered and others died. Picking the momentum, Andress Bonifacio organized the Revolutionary Movement which would challenge the military stronghold of the Spaniards which resulted to the birth of the First Republic of Asia under the Malolos Constitution.

Truly, the Philippines is a peal of the orient sea that the American will not honor their commitment to give freedom to the Filipinos. Thus, the illustrious Manuel L. Quezon and other noble Filipinos waged the Movement for Nationalism which reverberates on the line: I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos, than a government run like heavens by the Americans. Such an intense show and manifestation of nationalistic fervor earned us the Commonwealth period, a 10 years transition to independence. But even before the dawn of independence under the commonwealth, World War II broke out and the Japanese Imperial Forces invaded the Philippines. Young Filipinos did not take the challenge sitting down; they organized the Guerilla Movement since the Americans could only give us the promise of Gen. MacArthur “I shall return” leaving us devastated; the Movement engaged the Japanese Forces effectively through guerilla warfare which resulted to the independence in 1946.

President Quezon’s passionate statement soon became a curse as government after government would indeed be “hell” for Filipinos specially during the martial law period when President Ferdinand Marcos would rule the country by an iron fist. Freedom was curtailed and as a result a Movement for Democracy swept the dictator out of Malacanang through a peaceful revolution now immortalized as “People Power.” Democracy was restored but the heightened expectations of the Filipinos turned to utter frustration as the quality of life could not be provided by the new found freedom thus the revolt of the Masses catapulting Vice President Joseph Estrada to the Presidency in the elections of 1998. But the Presidency was too complicated and enormous a challenge to President Estrada. He would be implicated to a lot of immoral and corrupt acts paving the way for the organizing of the Movement for Morality in the government culminating on another EDSA People Power revolution which elevated Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the Presidency.

Eight years have passed but the state of the Philippines is not getting better, worst, scandal after scandal is exposed by the day. The nation is in trouble. The country is in great peril. The morale of the Filipinos is down. The government is very unpopular. Social movements are getting bolder, stronger and lauder by the day. The fear of PGMA staying in power through Charter Change is becoming evident through a series of political developments.

We are nearing a tipping point of continuing the social movements in search for the way to realize genuine and lasting development. Hence, it is proper to ask: What kind of Movement should we make in our time? This is the 64 million dollar question to young leaders. This is the greatest challenge that everyone of us has to face.

I believe on the idealism and dynamism of the young. I believe on the innate capacity of the youth to be the catalyst of change. Not just following what Rizal have said “ Ang Kabataan ang Pag-asa ng Bayan,” but boldly declaring faced with these dire circumstances, “Ang Kabataan ang Katuparan ng Pangarap ng Bayan.”

Reading the Editorial of Philippine Daily Inquirer on its January 27, 2009 issue which was entitled “Youth and Change,” the editorial noted that “There have been many attempts to reform electoral politics in the Philippines but they have all fizzled out and failed. Various organizations have been formed and various movements have been started; prominent, progressive-thinking people have led these campaigns but they have failed to break the stranglehold of traditional politics on elections in the country. One big reason for this, perhaps, is the failure of these movement and organizations to harness the energy and idealism and the millions of young Filipinos… The old generation is already set in its ways; it will be very hard to change old habits and ways of thinking. The old political dynasties and families will continue to try to keep their political hold on the life of the nation so that they can continue to promote their selfish personal and familial interests.” On the opinion of Henrietta de Villa, Chairman of NAMFREL, 11 million youth voters is a formidable block in 2010 and they can install a president in Malacanang if they vote as a group.

I agree but election alone cannot guarantee a change for election is just but a minute part of the complex problem. We must confront the real issue and come up with the fundamental solution. If you ask me what the fundamental solution: I would say I do not know. However, I completely agree that the youth is a potent force for change.

We can perhaps take a cue from the beautiful quotes on the Movie which stars Keanu Reeves – The Day the Earth Stood Still. As the doom of the world was imminent: Professor Barnhardt, a nobel peace price awardee on biological science, begged Klaatu, the alien: “There must be alternatives. You must have some technology that could solve our problem. Klaatu retorted: Your problem is not technology. The problem is you. You lack the will to change. The professor begging: Then help us change. Klaatu answered: I cannot change your nature. You treat the world as you treat each other. The professor never giving up remarked: But every civilization reaches a crisis point eventually. Klaatu said: Most of them don’t make it. The professor retorted: Yours did, How? Klaatu explained: Our sun was dying. We had to evolve in order to survive. The professor pursued the alien saying: So it was only when your world was threatened with destruction that you became what you are now. The alien answered Yes. Then the professor framed his final appeal: Well that where we are. You say we’re on the brink of destruction and you’re right. But it’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice or cliff do we evolve. This is our moment. Don’t take it from us; we are close to an answer.

Indeed we are in the precipice. We are truly in the brink of destruction. Doom is certain. The challenge is how are we going to evolve? If this is our moment, what must be that answer that the professor said we are close to? And who will bring forth the answer?

I hope this unconventional convention, where you will not find and meet a politician or big personality will help us find the answer, the way to synergy to effectively combat the menace of society.

Thank you very much.










March 29, 2009 | 12:13 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


rainstar55's Profile

rainstar55's Friends


Latest Posts
Synergy in Combating...
Understanding Old-aged...
Value-centered leadership
Corporate Social...
Value-centered Leadership

Monthly Archive
July 2008
August 2008
December 2008
February 2009
March 2009

Change Language


Filter By Type
Travel
Topics

Friends
Bernise Ang
George Gabriel Bordado VII
Rotaract Club of Manila Metro


7525 views
Important Disclaimer