Why we can't expect salvation in 2010

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
Sunday, January 13, 2008

If you still nurture foolish optimism about attaining positive
change in 2010, you're in for the big jolt.

Emerging front runners for the 2010 presidential race are
already displaying signs that they will be delivering only
more of the same. This means that there will be an extended
opportunity for mass manipulation — something that actually
traces back to 1521.

Solving our problem requires more than electing a president
who is neither a liar nor a thief. Our problem sprung from a
convoluted political system that had been shaped by the
economic elite and, naturally, also caters to their interests.

To find solutions, we must first know the real problem.

Our nation has cancer, the vicious kind. Only people who have
been reconciled by their doctor with the truth about their
problem can be treated and cured of their ailment. In our
case, we were never really told what causes our socio-economic
problems. No one wants to acknowledge the fact that we have
this social and political cancer as the very cause of our
debilitation.

But even if someone did level with us about the nation's real
ailment, the truth alone will not provide a cure — although
it is a good start.

A 2010 president who will steal less than the previous
plunderers will merely ease the taxpayers' burden but can't
really remove the cause of the disease. Only the removal of
the age-old mindsets and practices which has disabled the
mechanisms of a functional democracy will set us on the
road to progress.

The Filipino in 2010 is like a traveler so badly behind
schedule that he will need nothing less than a supersonic
vehicle to enable him to catch up. By comparison, those
front runners who present themselves as our 2010
presidential wannabes are, at best, riding on antiquated
engines and are all headed towards the wrong direction.

No front runner is even discussing values. All we hear day in
and day out are the usual promotional spiel that traditional
politicians employ — the same shell game where we, the voters,
always end up the big losers.

How come nobody among the leading presidential wannabes is
even talking about the real roots of our problems and how
they will address these?

We as a people will never really attain nationhood unless we
come to grips with our real history. We must discard the
stories of our nation that were written and directed by people
who serve the interests of the economic and political elite.
Instead, we must dig deep to find our national self. Only then
can we understand why we have lagged behind our neighbors who
all share a common advantage — their strong sense of national
self.

It is quite logical that our traditional politicians will not
want to go through this national self-realization exercise.
It is against their interest to enlighten people and release
them from the very ignorance that forces them to submit and
comply with the lopsided economic and social infrastructures.

How come nobody is talking about the Wealth Gap and the
Opportunity, Education and Information Gaps that fuel it?

We are being sidetracked towards cosmetic solutions like
population control as the means to eradicate poverty.
Bringing down the population to 42 million, the level 30
years ago, will be useless for as long as 3% continues to
control over 85% of the national wealth and, of course,
national policies.

Who has dared enlighten the citizenry about this 3% that
corners over 85% of the national wealth? Who is willing to
go against the 3% elite, the oligarchy, and change the
lopsided Philippine economic equation? Even if we succeed
in electing the most honest person as president in 2010,
even if a miracle happens and the next administration is
able to eradicate graft and corruption, we will still find
ourselves in the same economic mess. Imbalances can only be
addressed by empowering the poor while at the same time
dismantling the mechanisms that promote their poverty and
enrich the few.

Tony Meloto of Gawad Kalinga (GK) and those promoters of the
Focolare Movement's Economy of Communion (EoC) are the ones
who offer real solutions to our age old problems. So how come
none of these so-called leading presidential wannabes are even
proposing similar measures?

GK and the Focolare EoC offer solutions that effectively deliver
the underprivileged class from their never-ending cycle of poverty.
More than just providing homes and basic social services, they
restore the dignity of the human person that grinding poverty
easily erodes. A new person evolves — enlightened, motivated and
fully empowered to make our democracy work.

Is it because our traditional politicians don't know the real
solutions or is it because they are not bent on really solving the
problem? Either way, they offer no hope that we will attain
meaningful reform under their leadership.

It is not too late for the people of this country to get together
and seek the right leader who can bring us to the Promised Land.
In the end, it is really only us who can set things right and not
the very politicians who represent the vested interests of the
oligarchs.

It is the middle class and the youth who should spearhead this
effort. Even the revolutions that pushed for a better deal for
the underprivileged of society — like the Russian and Chinese
Socialist Revolutions — were led by the middle class.

The sorry state of Philippine society is a failure of the middle
class. It is the middle class that's the repository of values
and the instigator of reform of a society.