Ano Ang Taya Mo

GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano

I tried so hard to tell myself that I must write the title of my article in English. Obviously, I have readers who are not Filipino and I would like to honor their interest in Filipino affairs by making them understand every word they read. The title is Pilipino for saying two basic thoughts in one phrase, which are, 1) “What are you willing to risk?” and 2) “What are you willing to contribute?” The fact that I cannot express these thoughts in a few English words as succinctly and as effectively without diminishing its unique meaning, sound and impact that makes the title in our native tongue non-negotiable.

Last October 11, 2008, a special event which drew a crowd of 70,000 was staged by Gawad Kalinga to launch the challenge and campaign called Ano Ang Taya Mo. In the struggle against a poverty that is historically based and perpetuated by corruption and treachery, the net result after more than sixty years of independence from Spain, America and Japan is an impoverished sector that is not only poorer but hungrier as well. In all the books of our past, written by all sorts of historians with their different slants and biases, hunger was never reported as a problem of significance. After more than four hundred years of being controlled and influenced by the rest of the world, Filipinos lost their land, lost their security, lost their productivity, lost their honor, and are now defined as among the poorest and most corrupt.

Why would a non-government organization with no resources of its own, with only ordinary Filipinos at its core, become a shining lot in fields which rightly belong to government at all levels? What made Magsaysay different? What made Estrada different? Why did they become magnets to the majority of the Filipino people - meaning the ordinary and the poor? Both were not known for their financial prowess, for their economic performance, for their grasp of foreign affairs, not even for their political astuteness. Yet, they entered into national leadership and their presidencies making Juan de la Cruz feel they had a sympathizer, a godfather, a protector in their president. The performance of both Magsaysay and Estrada are secondary, even incidental; what is central is who and what sparks hope in the hearts of the despairing majority.

It would have been history-changing if Magsaysay and Estrada, starting as champions of Juan de la Cruz, had the character, skills, time and opportunity to achieve what Lee Kuan Yew did for Singapore. We know, too, that there is a perceived dearth of national leaders who inspire trust and hope. Many have become top leaders by being the lesser evil of an environment that offers only a choice between bad or worse. The majority poor do not have a meaningful connection to an inspiring national leader and to an inspiring leadership.

The popularity of Gawad Kalinga is not yet coming only from the very poor whom it prioritizes to help. Strangely, the popularity of Gawad Kalinga, outside of the tens of thousands of families whom it has awarded homes to, comes from the many in the elite and the middle class. These sectors have bestowed their admiration and support to a movement began by a ragtag army ordinary Filipinos whose only wealth came from a commitment to their faith, a love for their neighbor, and an awakened patriotism for a motherland they are appreciating for the first time without politics driving them. The popularity of Gawad Kalinga is born of a people’s desire for a hero, for a champion, for a paragon of virtue to rescue it from the clutches of despair. The elite and the middle class want nobility and the poor want salvation from a life of deprivation. Gawad Kalinga serves both purposes.

This article is not a pitch for Gawad Kalinga which has been my favorite cause for eight years. The popularity of Gawad Kalinga was not orchestrated by a media campaign. Instead, it has been able to get media to notice, apprecaite and then laud its work. Gawad Kalinga has always reached out directly to the good in us, or to the “intelligent heart” as writer-economist Solita Monsod one coined it. No wonder that the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards broke tradition and gave two identical awards - to Tony Meloto the leader and to Gawad Kalinga the organization.

This article, though, is a pitch for the Ano Ang Taya Mo campaign. Gawad Kalinga has been doing a good work at unprecedented scales only with the moral and material support it draws from various sectors in our society, especially the kindness and growing patriotism of Filipinos abroad. The Ano Ang Taya Mo campaign now wants to awaken the citizen’s acceptance of his or her role, a citizen’s accountability, a citizen’s obligation to be the builder of our nation. Any effort to empower the Filipino from a state of helplessness to a state of awareness and commitment towards his or her contribution to others and to the motherland deserve as many articles as I can write.

It is simply time for that miraculous revolution. It is simply time for that dream to arise from the darkened horizon like the first light of dawn. There is no cause higher than building a nation we can all be proud of, for building a future full of hope. To rise from corruption which has debased our national soul and from a poverty which defines us an uncaring, selfish people require for all concerned Filipinos to be patriots, and for patriots to be heroes when the moment beckons for courage.

Those who try to work for a change of government through only a change of government leaders are short-changing the people. A strong and moral government cannot emerge from a crippled, dependent, and needy majority, more than half of whom live in shanties no better than pigsties. The partnership of an empowered people who are emancipated from a traditional mindset of dependency or subservience to abusive and exploitative leadership is crucial to good governance. Good governance in a democratic form of government can be sustained only by a people who accept the responsibility and accountability.
The campaign, Ano Ang Taya Mo, is a challenge to all Filipinos, especially the poor and the young. All advocates who claim to love the country more, who claim to know more, who claim to want change more, they must bring their vision, passion and determination to the majority, and ask the majority to respond positively, visibly. Unless the ordinary Filipino is willing to risk, is willing to contribute, what starts as noise will be simply that.
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“In bayanihan, we will be our brother’s keeper and forever shut the door to hunger among ourselves.”