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.
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