Land Reform Is Just a Dream, Etc.

It is indeed a dilemma – whether the ruling class of the Philippines will ever have a change of heart and work for the betterment of the Filipino people.  It is obvious by now that it makes no difference at all who becomes president or senator or governor of the Philippines.  Nothing ever gets done about the problems.  The government does not care about the Filipino people.

                                                                                                                           

The typical ruling class member is actually a big landowner disguised as a president, senator, congressman, governor and even mayor.   His or her mission as a government official is to take advantage of the government coffers and maintain control of the land in the Philippines.  This is why land reform will never be enforced.  So do not wait for it to happen.  They get large profits from crops and real estate developments.  No one can force them to give up their lands because the reality is that they are in total control of the entire government system.  Most importantly, they have the Philippine Military to block any meaningful protest from the people and the Supreme Court to absolve them of any wrong-doing.  This clearly demonstrates that there is no check in state power, and how the use of land in the Philippines is easily controlled by a few.  This is unfortunate, since a third of the population is made up of farmers who depend on the land for their sustenance.

Progress and prosperity for most Filipinos can never be realized because the candidates for higher office usually originate from the same pool – the big landowners.  We know now that these government officials will never give up their vast land holdings and access to government funds in exchange for public service and good governance.  For them, the building of a nation is not worth all the trouble.  No one can convince them otherwise because they make up 10% of the population but control 90% of the wealth of the Philippines (Distribution of Wealth in RP Worsened, 2007).  It is a nice situation for them to keep.  “What would I get out of public service?” one of them would probably inquire.  “I will become poor!” he or she would probably exclaim.  “How will I be able to afford Assumption College?” he or she would probably wonder. 

It must be difficult to give up wealth just for the sake of the people.  Why would they give up their pork barrels?  The current pork barrel for a congressman is P70 million pesos ($1.6 million), and he gets an additional P75 ($1.7 million) for infrastructure projects.  That is more than enough money to live a comfortable life in the Philippines.   President Benigno S. Aquino III supposedly received P500 billion ($11.6 million) when he came into office in 2010 (Association of Filipinos Abroad and Relatives – AFAR, 2010).  The source of funds is the national budget for the Philippines which is P1.6 trillion ($37 billion) in 2011 (Official Gazette, Office of the President, August 2010).  There are also loans the government receives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as well as donations from foreign countries.  Foreign companies who invest in the country also pay big fees to the government for being given the rights to do business in the Philippines.  All these government monies are in fact meant for badly needed social and development programs, such as funding for fertilizer, roads, bridges, healthcare, schools, housing, technical assistance, and many more.  Instead, what we always hear about are funds being diverted for personal use by government officials and their families and cronies.

The government also makes money from the remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).  According to a report:  “As of 2007, the stock estimate of Filipinos overseas was 8.2 million. The Philippines is the world’s number one sender of Filipino workers abroad.  The government charges a 0.15-percent documentary stamp tax for every OFW remittance transaction.  Groups such as Migrante claim that for every US$1-billion remittance, the government reaps US$1.5 million or about P62 million.  Migrante also claims that banks and other private businesses rake in profits from remittances. For every US$200 remittance sent monthly, US$15 to US$22 is charged as service fee.  For 10 million OFWs sending remittances, banks earn a staggering $1 billion monthly.  A recent study by the National Statistics Office showed that thousands of unskilled OFWs such as domestic helpers and construction workers were among the biggest contributors to the Philippine economy.”  (Filipinos in Nigeria, September 2008).

The government would only need to provide for the basic needs of the people at the start.  It need not be overwhelmed by some sacrifices they have to make.  Other Filipinos can do it, why can’t they?  OFWs endure extraordinary hardships.  The domestic helpers in the Middle East only wish that they could return to the Philippines and escape the abuses of their employers.  According to the typical contract, the average wage of a domestic helper in the Persian Gulf is $200 a month.  But domestic helpers are rarely paid that much, and sometimes not at all (@allo Expat Lebanon, Maid in Lebanon, 2011).  And yet, they never fail to send money to their families in the Philippines every month.  Just last year, in 2010, OFWs were able to send $21.3 billion to the Philippines (The Philippine Star, March 2010).  This they can do even as they endure physical abuse, such as rape, from their employers in the Middle East.  If these OFWs, many among them domestic helpers and construction workers, can endure hardships and still provide for millions of families in the Philippines, is it not reasonable to expect greater service from a president or congresmman or governor who has power and privilege?  Farmers only ask that their families have something to eat.  The national average wage of a Filipino farmer was P121 pesos a day in 2009, which is less than $3.00 a day (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, May 2011).  Filipino college students only ask that they can find employment after graduation.  Poor Filipinos only wish that the floods and landslides will stop.  What is so easy as to ban illegal logging?

If we were able to convince our leaders to sacrifice for the betterment of the people, what could happen?  What if government officials agreed to make do without expensive cars, expensive schools, and expensive trips around the world?  What if they make do with the salary of a government official?  What if they eat the same food as ordinary Filipinos?  If these were all possible, I am almost certain that Filipino farmers and their families will no longer go hungry, Filipino street children will no longer be homeless, Filipino schools will have enough classrooms and teachers, and Filipinos will no longer have to work in far away countries and become slaves in foreign households.  Filipino children will grow up seeing their fathers and mothers. 

Self-sufficiency and even prosperity are very feasible outcomes because we have land, sea and air.  The soil is rich in flora and fauna, minerals, gold, silver, and yes, maybe even some oil.  The Japanese are involved in big fishing – catching tuna in deep Philippine seas.   Koreans are buying up large tracks of Philippine agricultural land.  There is ample supply of labor, and a lot of talent and brain to conceptualize and do research.  The only problem we have is that our leaders have, for a long time, been the symbol of wealthy lifestyles, absence of good will and lack of sympathy for the Filipino people.  It seems natural, one would think, for leaders to be moved by the suffering of people who depend on their leadership, especially if the hardships are extreme and persistent.  The hardships of millions of Filipino people would trigger feelings of guilt, one would imagine, if you were sitting in a large, beautifully furnished, air-conditioned office in Malacanang or in Congress.  But it looks like this person does not lose sleep at night thinking about Filipinos and the problems they have to face everyday.  If you see a Filipino suffering, wouldn’t you want to help?

But these people in government are simply afraid to lose the opportunities that come from having government positions.  Money and power provide them with luxurious lifestyles.  I suppose it is hard to give that up once you get it.  You can enrol your children in elite schools, ride in Mercedes-Benzes, live in expensive houses, lounge around exclusive hotels and clubs, go shopping in Europe, and buy laptops for your children – if you were a government official in the Philippines.  I guess they do not know any better. 

It is no wonder that with leaders like these, the Philippines is hardly visible on the international radar.  The Philippines only gets mentioned if there are massive floods or landslides or when a volcano errupts.  In the areas of international politics, these Filipino officials do not really have any say about anything, not even with trade agreements, for example.  In fact, the Philippine government is happy to submit to the dictates of world trade agreements and to be a dependent and follower of the IMF and World Bank.  In essence, the government is content on being a pawn in this world of so called neocolonialists.  It is embarrassingly lagging behind all its Asian counterparts. 

What can the government really do?

China is proof that a country can change its course radically if the leadership had the strong will to do so.  China is a country that has shown what one government can do to uplift the lives of its citizens.  The Chinese leadership helped develop its economy by creating laws and opportunities that helped Chinese businesses gain advantage in a global market system and helped acquire the technology the Chinese needed to build their own industries and create gainful employment for its citizens.  The government must have used all its power and resources to push forward ambitious economic goals.  With the backing of the Chinese government, China is now the No. 1 economic power of the world.  Other countries in Asia, like Vietnam and Korea, suffered from poverty once.  But with the determination and leadership of their governments, these countries are now enjoying a measure of well-being and success.  We are the only country left in Asia that has not yet solved the problem of its economy. 

In terms of changing the course of history, one would think that the government would like to make up for the times when Filipinos were victims, for centuries, of foreign rule.  The experience, of course, of colonization comes with many long-term psychological effects, such as low self-esteem perhaps.  Overcoming these effects seems to be a challenge, even among powerful government officials.  But if you make the decision that you want to be president or congressman or mayor, would you not want to bring the country back on its feet instead of plundering it just like the colonizers and imperialists did?  Why would you perpetuate the mistakes and horrors of the past instead of making a clean break for the future, just for a mere P70 million pork barrel or just to buy laptops for your children?  Why not be different and do the right thing?

Is it really impossible for a country such as the Philippines to chart its own course?  Why has the Philippine government been relegated to mere giant employment agency for other countries that need maids, seamen, farmers, nurses, construction workers, baby sitters, and nannies?   Inside the Philippines, foreign companies are choosing to set up shop in order to take advantage of cheap labor and still be able to employ the best and brightest in the country.

What really is the function of government?

The Barangay System

Even in a hierarchical structure, the ideal role of a government official is to represent its consituents and be the voice of its people.  The Philippines, in pre-colonial times, was made up of small, independent communities called barangays.  These barangays were made up of 100 families each.  Today, the Philippine government has put in place a barangay system, where the country has been subdivided into communities even smaller than a town.  Each barangay today has its own leader that is connected to the intricately woven government network of officials.  Theoretically, this is an ideal “bottom to top” system:  the concerns of those at the bottom of the hierarchy (the masses) can be heard at the “top.”  Unfortunately, one cannot help but guess that the barangay does not really have much say and is probably being used to spread corruption.

However, it is worth exploring the benefits of a barangay system.  In a small community, the members and their leaders are within good hearing distance, because they live close to each other.  Therefore, every Filipino who has a problem can be heard, granted of course that the system is democratic and progressive.  In a small community, everyone is more united, and the Filipino spirit of bayanihan or helping your neighbor can flourish.

It is worth it for Filipinos to take advantage of the benefits that can be derived from living in a small community.  A barangay is ideal to manage in terms of problem-solving due to the small size of the population.  Many groups are aware of this concept of “community” and recognize its benefits because of the members’ close relationship with each other and its environment.  Members of a small community are more in touch with what is going on in their particular environment, enabling them to act appropriately.  The importance of community development and the benefits of conservation and traditional methods of farming in maintaining healthy soil, conserving energy and preserving biodiversity are clearly explained in an article published by Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas or The Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP article, April 2011).

The harmful effects of development experienced by so called advanced societies are now apparent to many of us.  Even a tendency, such as overconsumption, has caused the depletion of the earth’s resources.  Widespread industrialization resulted in the over-use of energy, which has led to over-dependency and waste.  Over-consumption of food has created many health risks.  Because of the desire for big profits, certain individuals in the Philippines have caused the intensive removal of forests, a condition which makes landslides and massive floodings very common in the Philippines today.  The victims are always the poor people of the country.  Tendencies such as these have prevented human beings from having a healthy lifestyle today.

There are many lessons the government can learn from the past – mostly, that development had harmful consequences for people and the environment.  The notion of development needs to be re-defined.  Expansionist and development ideas made the United States the wealthiest country for a long time, but it involved the displacement and deaths of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans in American homes and plantations.  The same thing happened in the Philippines when the Spaniards colonized it and the Americans occupied it.  The only way to right these wrongs is to not repeat them.   The creation of wealth and development are not wrong per se, if you can do it without exploiting people and destroying other cultures.  However, what happens oftentimes is that businesses always need cheap labor and cheap raw materials in order to “succeed.” 

In reality, the Philippine government has many options.  It has a unique opportunity to make history and to right the wrongs of the past.  Many modern societies today long for the simpler life.  Therefore, Filipinos do not have to abide by any strict rule of development.  It can choose its own way and its own way of life.  The country can flourish for the benefit of all.  The government has all the power and resources at its disposal.  It does not have to be bullied by powerful countries, and it does not need to oppress its own people.   There are many Filipino options and Filipino ideas that they can apply in shaping the destiny of the Philippines.

                                                         

Sources:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/topic.php?uid=183055582386&topic=16645

http://www.gov.ph/2010/08/24/president-aquinos-2011-budget-message/

http://www.kilusangmagbubukid.org/resource/ang-bigas-ang-krisis-sa-enerhiya

http://sesantos.com.ph/2007/10/28/distribution-of-wealth-in-rp-worsened/

http://www.lebanon.alloexpat.com/lebanon_information/maids_in_lebanon.php

http://philbrgysocietyinnigeria.wordpress.com/tag/migrante/

http://www.kilusangmagbubukid.org/resource/continuing-economic-attacks-filipino-peasants-and-agriculture

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/03/06/11/world-bank-philippines-4th-biggest-remittance-recipient-2010

Forcing "Development"

By Pauline Santos

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo used to brag in the news about a 6% growth in the economy that she felt was due to the efforts of her administration.  Yet today, why do one million Filipinos leave the country every year?  They are driven away from their families and homes because their view is that the Philippines has nothing to offer them anymore in terms of economic opportunities. 

According to a 2010 survey, 49% of Filipino families (not individuals) considered themselves poor, and 36% of families considered themselves food-poor (Social Weather Stations, 2011).  We don’t have to look at these statistics to realize the truth.  We can see poverty all around the Philippines – from the street children to the slum dwellers.  The experience of OFW's (overseas Filipino worker) teach us about poverty.  If you were an OFW, you knew that you are only one of the many who are shouldering the responsibility of economic support for many Filipinos back home.  Take one domestic helper.   She is not only supporting her husband, children, mother and father, but she also sends tuition money for her nieces and nephews and sometimes even grandchildren.  And because of the absence of a Philippine healthcare system, if someone in her family falls ill, she also has to shoulder the cost of the hospital bill. 

Poverty has forced millions of Filipinos to leave the country and their families to seek jobs abroad.  And those who are left behind struggle to survive with very little or almost no resources.  Among these are the slum dwellers, street children, jeepney drivers, tricycle drivers, farmers and street vendors.  The irony, of course, is that just last year, in 2010, eight million overseas Filipino workers sent $1.6 billion in remittances to the Philippines.  So why, despite the sacrifices made by millions of Filipino people every year, does poverty still grip the nation?

The answer lies in the unraveling of underdevelopment and its connection to the past – to Spain and to America, and to the way their brand of development was “forced.”  It required guns and showing of contempt for the people in order to force submission.  In exchange for “running water,” power was usurped, and people had to give up all their rights in their own country. Without any choice but to submit to foreign powers, forced “development” becomes an unatural  and uncomfortable condition, and the most one can do is to try to “fit in” or to “imitate,” and to be accustomed to being poor and bitter. 

In forced development, only some, not all, can truly experience a comfortable measure of success, because development is unjust, inhumane; material and not deep; superficial and not widespread.  In the Philippines now, there are some who “have” and many who “have not.”  That is the “set-up.”  Now you have an unequal system where poverty can be acceptable, because a select few are benefitting anyway.  And if this select few are in power, the temptation becomes even greater to oppress people who are poor.  Today, Filipinos in government oppress their own people to gain access to the vast resources of the country, just as Spain and America did --  as well as the prestige and many privileges that go along with “power.”  So the Philippine government’s motivation for change is almost nil, because the need to feel "important” and "respected” always prevails; because those who are in power are Filipinos too, who are deprived of power, resources and self-respect in the world stage today.  So their self-esteem becomes tied to their political titles, Forbes Park homes, Mercedes-Benzes, and elite Catholic-style education.  What would they be without these accoutrements?  Just ordinary?  Just plain Filipinos?  The fear of ridicule is so great, that they cannot empathize with the people who are suffering and poor. 

In politics today, nations are labeled developed or underdeveloped, First World, Second World or Third World, without regard to the role of violence and oppression.  Former President Arroyo was enthused when she exclaimed that the Philippines was well on its way to becoming First World.  Oh my.  Why the extreme need to label your self “First World?”  Because that is what we were taught.  That you cannot be “good” unless you act and think like a westerner.  So there is no Filipino brand that we can promote or be proud of.  It has been destroyed through ridicule and contempt, and exchanged for supposedly something more “complex” and “advanced.”

The Philippines was not poor when Spain first discovered it.  The people were living in small communities called barangays, which were mostly egalitarian in nature.  In contrast, the legacy of Spain’s monarchy left many undesired elements in Filipino society today, especially in government.  The idea of “absolute power” and “subjects” remains today when we look at the way government officials treat their jobs and the people they are supposed to serve. 

Corruption is oppression.  It is a way of behaving as if you have no accountability, as if you have absolute power, and that the people have no right to ask for what they deserve and to have their needs met.  Spain also introduced the concept of private ownership of land, different from the Filipino tradition of communal use.  In the Spanish system of ruling, the king or queen is to be served by the people because he/she is entitled to the throne by Divine Right.  So here we can see how the concept of “sharing” was removed.  This rejection of “sharing,” and leadership by one person at the top, was further legitimized with the introduction of capitalism and “democratic” government during the American occupation of the Philippines. 

By imposing a “forced” type of development, a large group of people becomes vulnerable and disadvantaged -- consequently, the invention of the lower class and the second class.  The Europeans ridiculed Filipino customs and traditions by building schools, universities, hospitals, churches and bridges amidst the rows of native huts and rice paddies.  Furthermore, the American belief in the White Man’s Burden gave them the compulsion to occupy the Philippines and transplant an Americanized public school system and an Americanized government system, believing that Filipino values were inferior and unnecessary when it came to education and ruling. 

Former colonizers and imperialists have set up a global system of inequality that is difficult to topple.  They formed colonies and commonwealths all over the world, transplanting their idea of development that in reality has no meaning to the people they colonized and to their culture.  Filipino culture is very unlike that of Spanish or American culture.  So the best that Filipinos can do is to settle for second best.  Filipinos themselves, for the most part, have bought in to the concept of “better than.”  Without blaming them, they somehow truly believed that the Europeans were better.  And they believe that there is no choice, and no alternative to the superficiality of forced development. 

Perhaps we can accept that in many ways life has improved because of Western development.  Material comforts can be seen as beneficial.  But in reality, we are experiencing great discomfort trying to “fit in” to a model that, for one, was grossly wrong in so many ways, and for another, did not grow “naturally.” The result of forced development, unfortunately, is this great need by some to feel “developed” or “advanced” as a way to regain their self-respect.

When “development” is transplanted by force, the results can be devastating, as we witness the continual deterioration of the Philippine economy.  Today, we see the exploitation of Filipino workers at home and in the rest of the world.  Filipinos are forced in servitude in most places around the globe, risking their lives in the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.  They work as maids, nannies, homecare aides, nurses, engineers, farmers, seamen and construction workers, while the much needed reforms in government are blatantly ignored.  Why such hatred for their own people?   Why are we so desperate to sell cheap labor and cheap agricultural products in the hopes of attracting foreign investors?  This behavior is unquestionably rooted in the feudal system, where the masa (masses) were in perpetual servitude to an aristocracy, and rooted in American consumerism and materialism where a modern form of prestige is to be found in being “American” or in the American Dream, when only those who “have” get respect.

The problem with history is that it repeats itself, if the injury that was caused is left unnoticed, not understood and left to fester.  Some of the effects are obvious, but some are subtle, buried in the unconscious.  But first, let us look at how the concept of “might is right” was ingrained in the culture, for it lives on.  The Philippines today feels more like the 16^th or 17^th century, where a queen or king rules a kingdom.  During the colonial times, the king or queen had “absolute power” over all the land and its people, who were called “subjects.”  The subjects did not possess any rights or privileges.  The king exercised absolute power because the people believed in the Divine Right of monarchs.  Therefore, the king’s mandate was “obey.”  Anyone who questioned the king or queen would be executed.  Today, the killings and abductions of journalists, activists and any Filipino who opposes the government is a reminder of our colonial experience, when Filipinos were subjugated by a monarch.  Despite the accusations made by the victims’ families against the actions of the military, there have been no proper trials and investigations and convictions made.  According to a report, “In 2007 Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary executions, spent 10 days in the Philippines investigating these killings.  He spoke to witnesses and victims, as well as senior members of the military and the government, finding that witnesses have been systematically intimidated and harassed.  He says the military is implicated directly or indirectly in a significant number of deaths.  Victims over the past six years have included trade unionists, farmers' rights activists, people from indigenous communities, lawyers, journalists, human rights campaigners and people of religion.” (Wikipedia, 2011). 

History can attest to the numerous times Filipinos expressed their love of freedom.  The Philippine revolution, led by Andres Bonifacio, was fought valiantly but crushed by the force of Spanish arms.  And in 1896, the Spanish soldiers blind-folded Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero, and shot him in Bagumbayan Field.  Then in 1898, the Americans said that they came to liberate the Philippines.   Instead they crushed the resurgent Philippine Revolution and occupied the Philippines for the next 40 years.  The Filipinos in government today learned a lesson from the occupiers in how to crush the opposition who are against oppression.

As was discussed earlier, the concept of an egalitarian and communal society was replaced by private ownership and a class system.  This has not changed.  Spain introduced the concept of private property by giving out titles to land to a chosen few, which then became “the aristocracy.”  Today, we know these big landowners as hacienderos.  These big land owners sit in Congress and Presidency today to protect the privileges they received from the colonizers and imperialists. 

At present, a mere 10% of the population owns the majority of land in the Philippines -- a reminder of the inequality in colonial society.  This form of disenfranchisement, rooted in colonialism, must be dismantled through genuine land reform, because a third of the work population depends on agriculture (Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, Table 5, 2011).  Filipinos today, who are blocking the redistribution of land, are not just interested in profit, but on the “privilege” and “prestige” that land bestows upon their group.  As such, the big land owners go on to fulfill their aspirations of belonging to the upper crust while consigning poverty and hunger to the majority of Filipinos, exploiting farmers who have very little access to land and its resources, much less power. 

For what could be better than to think you are better than someone else?

(To be continued in Part 2:  Real Development by Choice; Part 3:  Identity Loss)

Sources:
http://www.sws.org.ph/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Philippines
http://www.bles.dole.gov.ph/Current%20Labor%20Statistics/index.html