"I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans, because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it [author’s emphasis]," Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon once said.

Back in the 1950s, the Philippines was among the world’s fastest growing economies. Unlike most of its autocratic post-colonial neighbors, it also boasted an elected legislature and executive leadership, with one of the world’s most liberal and democratic constitutions. It was America’s showcase colony, after all. 

Thanks to America’s relatively benign legacy – at least compared to more predatory European colonial powers, particularly France and Netherlands, who brutally occupied Southeast Asia – in infrastructure and basic education, the Philippines also stood as the second least poor (or prosperous) nation in East Asia, although Manila was among the world’s most devastated cities during the brutal World War II. 

By the 1980s, after years of predatory and corruption-infested “elite democracy” that paved the way for decades of even more devastating dictatorship, the Philippines was relegated to among the world’s poorest and most indebted nations, precipitating an exodus of millions of Filipinos in search of employment and better life across all corners of the world. By now, not only South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, but also Singapore and Malaysia overtook it, with Thailand and Indonesia rapidly closing their development gap with the Philippines – and eventually surpassing it. 

The Philippines’ humiliating decline in the second half of the 20^th century has instilled a deep sense of frustration and suspicion toward the country’s inept ruling class, who never missed an opportunity to ensure their own wellbeing at the expense of the impoverished masses and the (shrinking and overtaxed) middle class.

After the euphoric ouster of the Marcos regime in 1986, the Southeast Asian country largely reverted back to the “elite democracy” of the 1950s and 1960s, where political dynasties, oligopolistic industries, and a privileged few swallowed the country’s wealth and dominated its key economic sectors and political offices. 

In the past five years, however, the Aquino administration has instilled some hope in the hearts of the Filipino nation. Despite all its mishaps, many people continue to relish the broadly constructive legacy of the incumbent government, which has brought about years of robust economic growth and sustained, albeit lopsided, anti-corruption initiatives. 

Choosing the right one 

A commonly heard complaint among many middle class and educated Filipinos is the difficulty of choosing the next Filipino president among the likely candidates, who will soon officially register their bid for top office. None of the leading candidates seem to encapsulate the aspirations of the Philippines’ upwardly mobile citizens, who are desperate to revive the Southeast Asian nation’s fortunes. They want a leader who combines political will with integrity, experience and competence. 

But, as one veteran Filipino journalist observes, all three leading candidates, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe, and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas are yet to prove whether they are fit for presidency.

Binay, who not long ago was considered as the runaway winner, is confronting at least four separate plunder charges, currently being processed by the Office of the Ombudsman. He has dismissed all the allegations as purely politically-motivated, but his declining numbers reflect growing public suspicion even though he is yet to be held guilty by a court of law. As the former mayor of the Philippines’ financial hub (Makati), Binay has constantly emphasized his administrative credentials, claiming that if he becomes the president he can expand the existing generous welfare system in Makati City to the entire country.  

But as prominent Filipino economist Solita Collas-Monsod points out, “Makati’s revenues—from 62,000 business enterprises—is not replicable anywhere,” so obviously the city’s generous welfare is at best a special case. The challenge for any Filipino president is to enhance the country’s weak tax effort, which means going after fat cats that have exploited loopholes in the system, so that it can provide better basic services across the country. All Filipino presidents have fallen short of ensuring they effectively and efficiently tax their populations, especially the powerful rich. Without sufficient revenues, no government can properly operate and serve the citizens. 

If Binay wants to stand a chance of winning the elections, he will have to unequivocally dispel any shred of doubt over his integrity, honestly confront the corruption allegations, and engage the middle classes, who await concrete policy proposals on how he seeks to bring about a more effective form of governance to the Philippines (beyond mere slogans). 

As for the enormously popular Poe, who is yet to fully warm up her seat in the Philippine Senate, she doesn’t have, to put it mildly, a very extensive track record in government. Though seen as squeaky-clean by most people, the experience factor is a glaring gap in her résumé. Moreover, she is also confronting a tricky legal battle over her eligibility to run for office. Even if she overcomes the legal hurdle (on whether she has fulfilled the residency requirements), Poe confronts a political controversy over her past decision (which she reversed late on) to renounce her Filipino citizenship in favor of an American one. 

If she wants to become the next president, Poe will have to convince the electorate that her lack of experience in office wouldn’t make her vulnerable to capture by advisers and political operators, who are intimately familiar with the mechanics of everyday politics. She will also have to dispel any doubts over her full loyalty to the Philippines in light of her past decision to renounce her Filipino citizenship. 

Hard choices 

Then you have Aquino’s anointed successor, Wharton-graduate Mar Roxas, who has an extensive track record in government, having served in both chambers of the Philippine legislature and heading three different ministries (Trade and Industry, Transportation and Communications, and Interior and Local Government). By far, he has the most diverse and extensive experience among the leading candidates. 

During his younger years, when he was an investment banker, he played a role in the financing/ascent of iconic ventures such as the Discovery Channel and Jollibee, Asia’s fast-food powerhouse. As the head of the Department of Trade and Industry, he played a key role in establishing the Philippines as a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) hub, which is set to generate as much as $48 billion by 2020. Similar to Senator Poe, he is also largely seen as squeaky clean. Yet, he is the weak link among the three leading candidates, having consistently struggled in surveys. There are at least two reasons for this. 

First of all, he hasn’t had a stellar track record in his capacity as the head of the departments of transportation and communications (DOTC) as well as interior and local government (DILG) in recent years. He has been blamed for, whether justifiably or not, the government’s unimpressive response to a myriad of crises and lack of a major overhaul in the country’s communication infrastructure. Second, his bourgeoisie background, hailing from one of the Philippines’ most elite bloodlines, seems to have undermined his appeal to the broader masses, who feel more connection with Poe (daughter of the late action star, Fernando Poe) and Binay, who has leveraged his rags-to-riches life story. 

Intent on improving his numbers, Roxas has made the (right) decision to reemphasize his more stellar track record as the man of trade and economy, “Mr. Palengke”. (Back in August, this was actually my unsolicited advice during a television interview on Bottomline with Boy Abunda).  We are yet to see whether this strategy will improve his weak numbers in recent surveys. More than just a promise of continuity, Roxas has to show that his administration will bridge the gaps in the incumbent’s record. He will have to explain why his leadership will provide an added-value, not to mention how it will be more reflective of his success as DTI secretary rather than his more recent record in office.

Earlier calls for a Roxas-Poe tandem seem to have hit the cul-de-sac, so this means Roxas and Poe will be splitting votes of those who are determined to have a corruption-free leader in the top office, adding more unpredictability to the outcome of the race. With Duterte out of the picture, Poe and Roxas have a chance to improve their weak numbers in Mindanao, where Binay is particularly strong. 

What is clear, however, is that all three candidates are yet to prove their mettle. The Philippines needs a person of integrity, intellect, and political will in office if it wants to stand any chance of reviving its fortunes. Hopefully, the voters will have a better idea in coming months. – Rappler.com

A shorter version of this piece was published on Huffington Post. 

 The Conference of Parties (COP), a yearly meeting of countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will be on its 21st year of negotiations in December. If Paris will be a success, the deal will be bound by law and no careless action will be left without consequence. (READ: What's happening in Paris in December? 10 things to know)

On its 16th year in Cancun, countries agreed to a long term goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius based on pre-industrial levels. We have so far warmed by 0.8 degrees Celsius.

However, 5 years after, much has changed. In between and during negotiations, catastrophic events have happened and many countries are now calling for a 1.5 degrees Celsius target. From a simple reduction of GHG emissions, it is also considering a zero-emission target by 2050. The COP has realized it needs to be,  and it can be, more ambitious.

But does the COP really need to define what it wants to do 35 years from now? And what about climate change impacts? Isn’t it happening too fast that we need to address it now and not far into the future?

While some would say that having long term goals has only caused countries to slack around, having a long term goal is important just as much as we need short term actions. They go hand-in-hand. There cannot be one without the other. A long term goal is important to remind us where we want to go. It serves as our end destination; our dream. It reminds us what we are working for and why we are working hard for it. It gives us reason to move forward, amidst short term failures.

It is in this same way that short term actions are necessary. Sometimes, a long term goal may seem too far and may frustrate us. As humans, we like to feel little successes, to know we are still on the right track, doing the right thing. It ensures that what we are doing today ultimately leads us to where we want to be.

If the long term goal is our end destination, short term ambitions are our road maps to get there.

In terms of the COP, if our long-term goal is to have a carbon-free economy by 2050, we need to have short term actions that ensure we get there little by little. Therefore, all countries’ commitments, which can be seen through their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), should have in mind this long-term goal. However, targets are currently falling short. Many countries have submitted unambitious targets and by the rate we are going, the world is likely to warm above 2 degrees Celsius.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), if we are to at least have a 50% chance of staying within the 2°C target, countries need to limit carbon emissions to 36 billion tons. However, according to the London School of Economics and Political Science, INDCs submitted as of July 2015 “would lead to annual global emissions in 2030 of 56.9 to 59.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.” This is much higher than what the UNEP says our targets should be.

Seeing that our short term actions do not yet complement our long term goals, there is now a greater need for a “ratchet mechanism” wherein commitments are reviewed every so often and new commitments are made. This is where the 5-year cycles come in. Through the 5-year cycles, countries are made to commit more, every few years, towards the long term goal of a zero carbon economy. And the commitments need to progress; no backsliding. Our short term actions, therefore, only strengthen over time.

But this also doesn't mean that setting very low targets today is acceptable. Countries also need to see the urgency of having ambitious commitments as a good foundation for the years to come. Because climate impacts are happening at a very fast pace, we need to be able to adapt just as fast.

Through both a long term goal and short term actions, we see how sincere the COP is in finally growing up and committing to climate action. Both fuel each other. On the one hand, a long term goal without short term action will only be lip service. On the other hand, short term actions without a long term goal may lead us off track.

We need a long term goal to set the direction and short term actions to ensure we get there. Sure, sometimes we may fail to see the big picture or sometimes we may fail to recognize the importance of what we do now but if we have both, one will always be a reminder of the other. If we have both, there can only be success towards climate action. – Rappler.com

Renee Juliene Karunungan, 25, is the Advocacy Director of Dakila. Dakila has been campaigning for climate justice since 2009. Renee is also a climate tracker for Adopt A Negotiator.

MANILA, Philippines – As a little girl growing up in Capiz, Western Visayas, Jonamae, 17, loved putting make-up on her friends. She thought of them as  dolls that she never had. She dreamed of working in a beauty parlor some day, dolling up real people.

When he was a small boy, Christian, 21, dreamed of studying marine engineering so he could become a seafarer when he grew up. He longed to see the world outside of his village.

But times were hard for both their families – the reality of poverty did not offer an opportunity. Their dreams remained a wish that at times turned into regret.

The two met while working as farmhands on a hacienda, tilling and harvesting sugarcane. It was a short courtship and within a year, the young couple welcomed baby CJ (named after Christian and Jonamae) into their life.

Jonamae wants to have just one child. She says this while holding baby CJ in her arms and rocking her softly, every so often touching her lips to her baby’s forehead. Christian says he wants to have two children, one girl and hopefully, one boy.

The two have not really agreed on how big (or how small) they want their family to be. Actually, they have not talked much at all about family planning. It is a discussion that gets lost in the everyday demands of working at jobs that barely allow them to make ends meet while caring for their newborn.

They, like a lot of rural couples, get their information from Barangay Health Workers (BHW), women who also live in their community and are trained by the Department of Health (DOH) and the NGOs on maternal health care. There is at least one BHW assigned to each barangay, more if the barangay is a big one.

Door-to-door

BHWs bridge community families, both far and near, to health care providers. They go door-to-door, family-to-family reminding pregnant women to get pre-natal check-ups, and teaching those who have just given birth how to space their pregnancies. Occasionally, they may assist a mid-wife during a home birth. BHWs are walking talking maternity clinics and are crucial to the delivery of reproductive health care services to couples like Jonamae and Christian. (READ: BHWs on the mountain top)

“Barangay health workers play a critical role in the delivery of health care services. They are members of the community, so they are immersed. They know the (health) needs and wants of their community best,” said Dr Anabelle Fajardo, executive director of the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP). 

The way that BHWs bring health care systems closer to the communities is more than just a matter of logistics.

“The health care system is alien to women in the communities. There is a barrier that BHWs help overcome. They speak the language of the community and understand the context of poverty and gender,” said Dr Junice Melgar, executive director of the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health. 

According to Melgar, this is a context that not many health care providers do not know when a patient consults.

“They speak in English, use medical terms, it is alienating. It is the barangay health worker whom women trust, the one they can speak to at their level,” Melgard explained.

Some studies on equity in health care have shown “that negative and judgmental attitudes towards poor patients in general and women in particular may prevent women in some cultures from using health care facilities. Women in these settings are not always treated with respect by health care providers.”

Bringing healthcare to them

While it may not the be the norm for many women to go to their nearest clinic for a check-up, BHWs step up and bring the healthcare system to them. Through casual conversation, they inject information about family planning and birth spacing, the usual question of “Kamusta ka na? (How are you?)" turns into a discussion about how the kids are doing.

And because of the training they receive from the DOH and other healthcare organizations, BHWs can give advice on childcare like vaccination, de-worming, and even the common cold.

For reasons of the heart, it is the barangay health worker that women trust with the health of their families.

Humble health care provider

Lina Bacalando has been a barangay health worker for Likhaan for 20 years now, taking care of areas in Manila (Vitas and Tondo) and Malabon. Anywhere she goes in these communities, even among little children, "Ate Lina" is known as "ang kanilang munting manggamot at guro (their little, humble health care provider and teacher)."

"Ang pinakamasaya ay makita mo ang mga kababaihang nakapagtrabaho na, nakakasuklay na dahil may panahon na sila para sa sarili nila at natuto na silang ipaglaban ang kanilang karapatan sa RH at Family Planning," said Bacalando. (Nothing could be happier than seeing women who are able to go to work, or even comb their hair, now that they found time for themselves and learned to fight for their RH and family planning rights.]

A documentary film entitled "Silungan" (Shelter) has been produced featuring the work that Bacalando has done in her years as a BHW. 

“We health care providers would be able to do the work we do without our barangay health care workers,” said Melgar. – Rappler.com 

Ana P. Santos is a former banker turned public health journalist focusing on women’s issues and sexual health rights. It’s a mouthful and for the most part, she’s simply referred to as a “sex columnist.” She blogs (and rants) at www.sexandsensibilities.com and tweets @iamAnaSantos.

For more than 3 years now, Greenpeace Philippines, together with its allies and supporters from the fishing industry, has been campaigning long and hard to end illegal and destructive fishing that has long plagued Philippine seas. 

In 2014, the group delivered a Roadmap to Recovery to President Aquino, a proposal to help reverse the deteriorating condition of the country’s marine resources, to safeguard the health of our oceans, to secure the livelihood of coastal communities, and ultimately, to ensure national food security.  

The roadmap includes recommendations from various stakeholders and reflects some of the long standing demands of municipal fishers, sustainable fisheries industry players, coastal and marine non-government organizations, and scientific organizations working to end overfishing.

Thankfully, the recommendations were well-received by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and by other relevant agencies. 

Just recently, the Aquino government amended the Fisheries Code of the Philippines (RA 8550). The law now has more teeth and the necessary mechanisms to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as mandated by the European Union (EU) which plays a key role in the fisheries market. 

In September 2015, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will officially sign RA 10654, or the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Fisheries Code, now titled as “An Act to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing.” The move has been strongly anticipated by various sectors, while some commercial fishers continue to protest against the IRR’s restrictive and inhumane rules and policies. 

As “seatizens” and stakeholders of the environment, most especially those who love seafood, here are 5 things that you need to know about RA 10654 or the amended Fisheries Code:

1. There are too many boats out at sea.

The adage “plenty of fish in the sea” no longer holds true. The world’s oceans are running out of fish due to unsustainable, and at times illegal, fishing practices triggered by a high demand for seafood. 

Filipino scientists have said that we already reached the maximum sustainable yield of our seas back in the 80s, prompting fisherfolk organizations and government agencies to declare that 10 out of 13 of the country’s fishing grounds have been severely overfished or have now been depleted. Under RA 10654, there will now be harvest control mechanisms to limit fishing efforts based on the health of fishing grounds.

2. Something’s fishy about today’s seafood.

Chances are, the fish on your plate was most likely caught illegally. 

Out at sea, there are a lot of commercial fishers — with big boats that can haul hundreds of   tons of fish at a time — that are notorious for fishing in municipal waters, or areas exclusive to small-scale fisherfolk. For decades, these commercial fishers have been fishing illegally, edging out fishermen who simply can’t compete.

A single commercial fishing operation can impact the livelihood of 65 small municipal fishers. These commercial fishers simply sell their haul to the market, passing it off as legally-caught fish, robbing fishermen of their potential income. This is why fishermen remain one of the poorest sectors of society.

Now, there is a way to stop this highway robbery happening at sea. Under RA 10654, there will now be a vessel monitoring system that will tell authorities when and where exactly boats are fishing.

3. Saved by the yellow card.

In 2014, the EU issued a yellow card warning to the Philippines after decades of rampant illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing happening in Philippine waters. This means the EU is prompting the Aquino government to comply and amend our fisheries law before trade sanctions were imposed. 

Just like in football, if countries do not comply with international fisheries standards, the EU can issue them a red card, as they have done to countries like Cambodia and Sri Lanka. A red card for the Philippines would have resulted to a loss of P9.4 billion worth of Philippine fisheries export, certainly a huge dent to the economy.

4. Penalties are no longer a slap on the wrist.

One of the reasons why illegal and unsustainable fishing flourished is because the government did not impose tougher penalties to those who did not follow Philippine fisheries laws.

For example, a fisherman caught doing dynamite fishing only had to pay a fine of P5,000. Even commercial fishers, if caught and apprehended for fishing illegally, only had to pay a few thousand – practically peanuts in this multi-million peso industry. 

RA 10654 makes it loud and clear that illegal fishers will be made to pay a lot more — to the tune of millions — for plundering our seas and destroying marine ecosystems which may take decades to recover. 

5. Saving sharks and dolphins

In the hunt for more fish, many commercial fishers resort to unsustainable fishing practices like using big purse seine nets or fish aggregating devices which lure fish and other sea creatures like sharks, dolphins and even turtles. This is why sharks and dolphins end up being sold in markets, adding to the illegal trade of endangered species. 

Under RA 10654, it is now unlawful to fish or take, catch, gather, sell, purchase, possess, transport, export, forward or ship out aquatic species listed by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, or those categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources as threatened, or those marine and aquatic species determined by the DA as such. 

Fundamental changes need to be made in the way our oceans are managed from the top down. We need a healthy and thriving marine environment for our sustenance to safeguard people’s livelihood, and to ensure that we continue to have fish on our plate. 

We need seatizens’ support to uphold the gains of this new and revitalized Fisheries Code of the Philippines before it is too late. –Rappler.com

Vince Cinches is the Oceans Campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines. 

Images of boats, fish, yellow card, starfish, and sharks from Shutterstock.  

December 2015 marks a pivotal moment for the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change. The Conference of Parties (COP), under which 198 countries are signatories, will try to forge a climate agreement trying to lower global warming below 2 degrees centigrade, while addressing solutions for climate adaptation. 

A failed climate agreement in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark puts a lot of pressure for world leaders to agree on a fair and binding climate agreement this year. (READ: What's happening in the Paris climate deal?)

The world’s most vulnerable sectors have been experiencing the impacts of climate change — droughts, slow-onset impacts, extreme weather events, and stronger typhoons like Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013 are all extrinsically linked to climate change. 

No less than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a 2014 report that “the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans.” Furthermore, the report also stated that the world is “ill-prepared for risks from a changing climate."

The Paris climate agreement is down to its last 5 negotiating days with the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) holding another week on October. The recently concluded ADP Session last week in Bonn, Germany showed a rather snail-pace tempo toward reaching a deal in December, a forewarning of things to come.

Julie-Anne Richards of the Australia-based Climate Justice Programme, however, said that last week’s ADP 2 sessions also have a few wins. For example, big emitters like Australia, the United States, and to a certain extent the European Union, acknowledged the importance of loss and damage. Whether this will come into concrete and tangible commitments is another matter. 

5-year cycle

If world leaders will be able to come up with a strong and definitive climate agreement come December, countries must be able to commit to ambitious goals and be able to review, make amendments, and set new targets accordingly. (READ: Setting a clear direction for the climate deal)

One thing that can guarantee the sustainability of the Paris deal is the so-called 5-year cycle of reporting. According to Jennifer Morgan, a climate expert and one of the authors of the Agreement on Climate Transformation 2015 report, the 5-year cycles are intended to “counter-balance to the gap in multilateral rules and norms and update the commitments regularly through 5-year cycles of continuous improvement.” 

Furthermore, she said that this will "encourage countries to continuously ratchet up their commitment in regular, short-term (5-year) intervals.” This includes mitigation, adaptation and support.  

International non-profit Business for Social Responsibility said that the 5-year cycle is better than the 10-year cycle because a 10-year cycle undermines the robust growth of low-carbon investment, technological innovation and changes in production and consumption patterns. 

Without the 5-year cycle, there might be a tendency for countries to lax on its climate commitments and underestimate the rapidly growing effects of climate change, which is intrinsically linked to economic growth (carbon emissions, technology) and social inequalities (adaptive capacity, finance). 

The 5-year cycle has been brought up during the Bonn climate talks in June. However, last week’s intersession seemed to be an indication of the rather cold reception to this provision. Whether this provision will be adopted in the draft text remains to be seen. 

Extreme weather events, slow-onset impacts, rising sea levels, heat waves, climate refugees, and rising temperature — these are the things that world leaders and climate negotiators must consider when they go back to the negotiations table in Bonn come October. They must also consider all these when trying to come up with a binding and universal climate deal at Paris in December.

The road to Paris started in Copenhagen in 2009 or to a certain extent, even during the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Paris, however, is only the beginning as countries need to be constantly reviewing action plans and setting ambitious targets every 5 years to keep up with the phase of climate change. Otherwise, a successful Paris climate agreement in December will have no purpose. —Rappler.com 

Jed Alegado is an incoming graduate student of Erasmus University Rotterdam - International Institute of Social Studies (EUR-ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands. He holds a masters degree in Public Management from the Ateneo School of Government. He is also a Climate Tracker for the Adopt a Negotiator Project. 

One of the most noted ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the idea of forcing man to be free. That is because we are "born free yet everywhere we are in chains," we are limited and constrained by our circumstances which keep us from being free. 

Being used to what we know and adapting to the ways of the past, we resist what is new — even if we know and recognize that there is something wrong about the present. Man is a product of his environment, therefore he becomes part of that, which almost instinctively resists change. Those who only knew darkness will be afraid of the light. Those who only knew how to be slaves and servants will have to overcome their own prison to fight for others and their country. 

The context of Antonio Luna's time can be characterized by this. The Philippines was beginning its struggle for freedom from the Spaniards who ruled us for 300 long years. Most people were used to being subservient.

We were used to being ruled. We had no concept of a “nation,” not even the idea of having the freedom to rule our own land. There was certainly no national pride nor national consciousness that would drive Filipinos to fight and die for their country. (READ: Heneral Luna: Essential viewing)

This made the fierce leadership of Luna needed, forcing Filipinos to claim their freedom. Luna had to pull people out of the learned helplessness that had enslaved them. He had to show the people the way to be free — which required sweat, blood, and sacrifice. It demanded greatness. 

Building a nation

Because the idea of a Filipino nation was new at that time, Filipinos were extremely divided — something we continue to confront until today. 

The biggest challenge then, which the film Heneral Luna depicted vividly, was regionalism. The film, in fact, started with the military receiving their new uniforms to be used across military camps nationwide for the first time. General Luna thought the uniforms were important in building a common identity. 

A strong leadership that will compel obedience to the central command in order to achieve unity was needed. Without a central command, without unity, not only would the Philippines not stand a chance against the Americans, there would not have been a Philippine nation to defend and die for in the first place. 

General Luna was not only trying to win a war, he was building a nation and teaching its people to be free. His style of leadership was a necessity given such context and goals. 

Leadership by example

Luna’s last will and testament, found in his papers after his death dated March 31, 1899, quoted by Ambeth Ocampo, shows Luna's deepest love for his country:

"1. I leave whatever I have to my mother. 2. If they will kill me, wrap me in a Filipino flag with all the clothing with which I was dressed when killed, and bury me in the ground. 3. I wish to state freely that I would die willingly for my country, for our independence, without thereby looking for death.” 

This is “ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo (die because of you)” at its finest.

Before General Luna demanded Filipinos to fight for the country, he first showed an example and led the way. He did not demand what he could not offer. General Luna led by example. (READ: Heneral Luna: Bayan o sarili?)

Antonio Luna was ready to die for his country from the onset. He knew what was at stake. He gave up a life of comfort and complacency to fight for his country's freedom. General Luna was a loving and loyal son to Inang Bayan and he expected that same love and dedication from each Filipino. Why? Because he knew that's the only way for the Philippines to be free.

"Sabihin mo sa ating mga kababayan na hindi nakakamit ang kalayaan sa kanilang pagaaruga sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay. Kailangan nilang magbayad. Dugo at pawis. Kailangan nilang tumalon sa kawalan,” the general said.

(Tell our countrymen that freedom was not achieved by caring for their loved ones. We need to pay. Blood and Sweat. We need to jump into the abyss.)

"Heneral Luna" is a movie to watch. Thanks to this movie, the Philippines is given the chance to honor the sacrifice of General Antonio Luna. It also reminded us of how great the enemies that lie within us are. — Rappler.com

Joy Aceron is program director of Political Democracy and Reforms (PODER) of the Ateneo School of Government.

Most people think Basilenyos are rebels and terrorists, that war is always waged in our province – that Basilan is a bloody and chaotic place. Very few people realize that there are innocent younger generations who are affected by the stories that history has imposed on our beloved province. Very few realize that there are toddlers and youngsters who are enjoying the bounty of the province and whose stories are yet to start.

Do we all deserve to be called terrorists and rebels? How about us, the innocent youth? How about the youth who have big hopes for Basilan? What do you make of young Basilenyos who feel obliged every day to make the name Basilan better?

This is just another beautiful story to be told and to be shared, a beautiful story that deserves recognition, not because of the way it is written or who wrote it, but because it is one borne out of pain, sadness and frustration - a story that most people will call “hugot” or drawn from within.

Youth power

Who among you would ever think that we have many political leaders who belong to the youth sector such as our councilors from different municipalities and cities? Who would have thought that we have so much young potential leaders who are very much willing to serve Basilan with no hesitation? And I bet, only few of you know that one of our national youth commissioners hails from Basilan.

I bet no one has ever wondered if we, too, like in other provinces have active youth organizations. I bet nobody thought that we have many young professionals who are products of our high schools and colleges, too. I bet no one dared to ask if we have accomplished projects by the youth, that the youth here care for Basilan and how we hope to hear one day that our province is not longer dubbed as the bombing capital of the Philippines.

The youth here in Basilan also have sharp leadership skills and intellect. We have young people sent to different regional and national competitions, and there are some even sent abroad for scholarships. We have young people whose talents and skills deserved to be recognized.

Debunking misconceptions

Filipinos have been blinded by negativity about Basilan, and it is a sad reality. Whether we admit it or not, whenever Basilan is mentioned, the first things that come into our minds are war, killings, and kidnappings. I myself experienced it during a competition in Manila. When I said that I came from Basilan, I knew what their facial expression meant. If only I could bring everyone to Basilan so that the impression of, “kapag pumunta ka ng Basilan, hindi ka na makababalik” would be erased. (When you go to Basilan, you can’t get back home)

But those are just misconceptions because our youth is actually our most powerful weapon. Basilenyos have always believed in the power of the youth to create positive change. Unlike other provinces that said the essence of the quote “The youth is the nation’s hope,” is slowly vanishing due to problems arising in the sector - especially now because of the influence of social media - it is something that we in Basilan still believe in.

The youth has always played a significant role in building Basilan. The leaders that we have at present were once just like us, dreaming and hoping for a better province. They were once just like us who were trying to turn their dreams for Basilan into reality, doing small things that could transform the province in any possible way.

And that is, I believe, what the Basilan Youth Congress, Basilan Junior Jaycees, Basilan Youth Parliament, NAGDILAAB, Lantawan Youth Association, Muslim Youth Union of Basilan, Basilan Young Leaders Program, ABA Trainings and other youth organizations in Basilan are aiming for, to be able to build a better Basilan, one full of hope.

Isn’t this a manifestation of nation-building? How come the youth in our province are still neglected? Why are people so much clouded by their so-called sympathy and unjust views about Basilan that they forget that there are young people here whose mindsets are still innocent? How come people forget to listen to the beautiful stories of the youth?

Again, what we need in Basilan is for people to help us cultivate what we have. We actually have so much – we just need you to see it for you to be able to discern what we really need. We have the youth as our capital, help us experience what other young Filipinos have. Instead of discriminating, why not help us achieve our full potential? From education, to every privilege given to others, I think we must have them, too.

On privilege and hope

What we want is to feel that other Filipinos recognize our presence, acknowledge us because we are part of this country, too. Listen to what we have to say, and respond to our calls for help. If others have tiled and well-built classrooms, so should we.

What we need is for you to see the beauty behind the negative images you have in your minds. We need you to listen to every beautiful story behind the jarring and dreadful news reports. We need you to help us in every possible way to change Basilan. Great things start with small things, and this may be too small, but who knows, by sharing this beautiful story of the youth in Basilan, one or two Filipinos can slowly change whatever negativity about Basilan they had before.

Like many other youth, we too, enjoy modernization. I am using this opportunity of being connected to our fellow youth to help show that it is not true that our everyday music are bombs and gunshots, that we also enjoy playing video games, DOTA, candy crush, COC and etc. - not just hide-and-seek to escape the threats of war. That we also use Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites in a productive way.

Diverse ethnic groups living harmoniously, progressive and developing municipalities – a peaceful Basilan, these are some pictures we imagine Basilan to be in the future. Despite everything, we never lose hope - we never lose hope that one day, we will be able to achieve our dreams for Basilan. We will be able to have what the province has been struggling for over the decades. We will be reaching the dreams of every Basilenyo in the past century. As what one of our leaders said, Basilan is counting on us, the young Basilenyos, and we don’t doubt it, because there is no one that Basilan can count on except us. Not even the president of the Philippines, not even our local leaders, but the youth who will be the future leaders of a new Basilan.

Who knows, sooner or later, Basilan will be featured for its great achievements? Who knows, one day, Basilan’s title as the land of terrorism will be turned into a land of tourism? Who knows, if tomorrow, Basilan won’t be the same Basilan many used to think of?

I and many other youth in Basilan do not lose hope that we will see the province we dream of and you shouldn’t, too. – Rappler.com

Yarah Musa is a student of Ateneo de Zamboanga and a Rappler Mover in Basilan.

To cross the border between New York and Canada during a recent vacation, our friends and I gathered our passports and handed them over to the immigration officer. 

We were celebrating our friend's first trip outside the US after being in immigration limbo for 14 years. We teased her about her maroon passport from the Philippines, telling her that we would lose her green card or that they would determine it's a fake. She laughed with us but was still nervous the way only an immigrant could be.

We were allowed to tease her as each of us had been in her shoes before. All born and raised in the Philippines, except for my wife who came as a tween, we had all moved to the US as young adults.

I was also under hostage by immigration bureaucracy for 8 years. I couldn't exit the US before I obtained permanent residency in an expensive grueling process and via several backbreaking jobs. Even when I finally could, I would always be nervous and paranoid about it. I would clutch my passport and repeatedly check for my green card in a way that my wife could not understand. I would try to explain that with all the challenges and hardships I experienced to get to that stage, I was terrified about losing my proof that I was allowed back into the country where I had built my life with her.

Not as we are led to believe

From being interviewed at the US Embassy in Manila, to attempting to assimilate  in the US, to jumping through immigration hurdles and keeping horrible jobs to maintain legal status, I've learned firsthand that the life of an overseas Pinoy is not as we are led to believe. Being an immigrant in a country where so many of my kababayans (countrymen) have taken root is actually not as easy as it seems. We just never hear our relatives whine about it, as they prefer to simply get on with their lives.

It's hard to explain this to anyone who has never been in the situation of having to leave one's country for the cliché of a better life. It's also very easy to reduce the immigrant life to a matter of nationalism, accusing overseas Pinoys of abandoning their heritage and the struggles they face back home. The fact is that many of us make the decision to leave for reasons other than having lost love for the homeland. On the contrary, it's often our love for the country and those we leave behind that force us to try our luck in other shores.

While away we try our best to make the most of the distance, make the most of ourselves, maximize our efforts, and stay out of trouble. A select few are lucky to maintain legal status in the US instead of spending their life as TNTs (undocumented immigrants).

Can you really blame those who do achieve permanent residency or US citizenship for the relief they feel obtaining the unattainable? Could you really take lightly that they have achieved what has been so out of reach?

Most powerful passport in the world

It is no secret that along with a UK passport, an American passport is considered the most powerful in the world, with 147 countries allowing its citizens visa-free entry. Having American citizenship or US permanent residency also entitles one to be employed in its various industries and obtain social services that are among the best worldwide.

Regardless of its own social and political issues, the US is still a coveted place to visit or to live in. This is why wealthy mothers (Filipinos and other Asians, especially) give birth here to assure their babies of American citizenship in case these children return to the US as adults.

After many years of waiting, tears of frustration, and great financial cost, I now have a blue passport, but I never shook off the fear. A decade of being in the mercy of immigration authorities has given me a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite its diversity, being a person of color in this country is still and will always be followed by the question, "Where are you from?"

For over a decade I've always felt on the defensive, always ready to be interrogated and asked where I was going or what I was doing or what I brought with me. And although I have the paperwork to show I have the right to be here, my heritage and history often make me feel like I shouldn't, especially with the animosity many Americans have towards immigrants and people of color like me.

Traveling and crossing a land border with a Filipino citizen last week reminded me of the time when I was in her shoes, hanging on to my green card like I would be incarcerated if I lost it and be sent on a quick flight home. I remembered always fearing that everything I worked for and struggled with on a daily basis would all boil down into whether I had the right paperwork or if a person of authority didn't fancy my face.

Lessons in displacement

Before I left the Philippines to follow my heart, I was among the idealistic young ones who promised that I would never leave my homeland, only for these principles to be tested and broken by love. I have learned that it's easy to judge others for their decision to leave the Philippines from one's corner where they belong, where everything is familiar, and where they can coast and survive. I was one of them until I had to be on the other side.

Having displaced myself and forced myself to assimilate into the US, I've constantly had to prove my worth as a person and as an employee, as well as show that my education, skills, and dedication are at par with those born on this soil. It has been a long struggle for me and my loved ones, and it's only recently that I've actually become comfortable about my place in this foreign land. 

Allow me and those like me to hang on tightly to our travel documents sometimes, even just to feel that if only for a piece of paper, nothing can be taken away from me, I have the same privileges as the person next to me, and that I have a right to be here. –Rappler.com 

2013 was the most devastating year in recent Philippine history in terms of natural disasters. It was the year we experienced something we had never experienced before. 

Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the strongest typhoon to make landfall in recent Philippine history, battered the Visayas region, leaving more than 6,000 people dead. Almost two years after, communities are still being rebuilt; people in the Visayas region are still coping with their losses. Many have left their homes and have learned to fear the water.

Catastrophic events like Haiyan are linked to the changing climate. Climate change as we know today is human-induced, much of it due to human activities that involve burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.

According to Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, “Many of the extreme events of 2013 were consistent with what we would expect as a result of human-induced climate change.”

“We saw heavier precipitation, more intense heat, and more damage from storm surges and coastal flooding as a result of sea-level rise – as Typhoon Haiyan so tragically demonstrated in the Philippines,” Jarraud said in a press statement.

This brings us to a most important question: What will our future look like as we face the changing climate, and what can we do about it?

The Conference of Parties, a yearly meeting of countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, will be having its 21st year of negotiations in December in Paris, France. (READ: What's happening in the Paris climate talks?)

Many have been looking forward to this year’s COP as it hopes to bring about a climate agreement among nations. After 21 years of negotiations, overwhelming scientific evidences, and catastrophic events proving that climate change is indeed happening, are we finally ready to take climate action?

During the 16th year of negotiations in Cancun, countries agreed to a long term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius,  based on pre-industrial levels. So far, the world has warmed by 0.8 degrees Celsius.

Is PH ready?

But while countries have started committing to zero carbon emissions by 2050, the Philippines doesn’t seem to be ready with this commitment. 

The government has approved more than 50 coal power plants to be built in the country in the next few years. This will supposedly answer the country’s energy needs. Given that an average coal power plant has a life span of 40 to 45 years, this means the Philippines will certainly continue to emit carbon when the rest of the world has committed to zero carbon emissions.

Congo – a country in Central Africa with only 15% of the population with electricity – just committed to decrease ots carbon emissions by 17% by 2030. Ethiopia also committed to an ambitious 64% carbon emission reduction. The Philippines, for its part, seems to be lagging behind in its climate commitments. Instead of emission reduction, the Philippine emissions per capita will rise by over 31% from 2010 to 2030.

Imagine our country, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, being the biggest emitter of carbon in the next 35 years. With the rate we are going in investing in coal instead of renewables, who can say that this is impossible? Are we really digging our own graves? Do we really want to pursue a path where we will be the cause of the suffering of our own people?  

The future

As countries negotiate to keep global warming below 2°C, countries are also looking at the long term goal of having zero carbon emissions by 2050. Even the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States) responsible for much of the carbon emissions, have made a statement about phasing out fossil fuels.

Yes, we are planning for the next 35 years. While some may say that this is looking too far ahead into the future, having this long-term goal is important to ensure that countries are on the same page when tackling climate change.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), if we are to at least have a 50% chance of staying within the 2°C target, countries need to limit carbon emissions to 36 billion tons. However, according to the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions submitted as of July 2015 “would lead to annual global emissions in 2030 of 56.9 to 59.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.” This is much higher than what the UNEP says our targets should be.

While 35 years is still a long way ahead, all countries should start working now towards the long term goal of zero emissions. The Philippines is not an exception. Our carbon emissions historically may be less than 1% but this does not give us an excuse to continue investing in coal today.

We have one goal ahead of us and that is zero carbon emissions. Will the Philippines commit to this or will it be the biggest carbon emitter in 35 years? – Rappler.com

Renee Juliene Karunungan, 25, is the Advocacy Director of Dakila. Dakila has been working for climate justice since 2009. She is also a climate tracker for Adopt A Negotiator.

A deluge of climate refugees will be yet a new challenge, if world leaders fail to forge an ambitious, robust, and binding global climate deal in Paris this December. 

This was how European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker set the mood during his first annual State of the Union speech. He emphasized that climate change is “one of the root causes” of the ongoing refugee crisis springing from Syria. 

Junker’s statements linking climate change to Syria may have been inspired by a report from theProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences, which argued “that drought, in addition to its mismanagement by the Assad regime, contributed to the displacement of two million in Syria.” The report links a long drying trend in the region caused by human interference with the climate. This contributed to social unrest which, in turn, precipitated the civil war. 

The Philippines itself is no stranger to long periods of drought. Earlier this year, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) warned that the country is likely to face up to 6 straight months of drought from July to December. PAGASA also noted that there can be more than 60% rainfall reduction in some areas.

According to the weather agency, latest data show that the El Niño phenomenon could intensify this year and persist until early 2016.

Climate commitments not enough

Unless the UN climate talks agree to make sharper short-term goals, we may risk soaring over the 2-degree mark. 

Analysts fromClimateAnalytics at 15 different national plans to cut emissions by 2030. These included the US, the EU and China, which together account for 51% of global emissions. What they found is that a recent trend for countries to submit emissions reductions targets for 2030 could inadvertently lead us down a dangerous path.

“It is clear that if the Paris meeting locks in present climate commitments for 2030, holding warming below 2 degrees could essentially become infeasible, and 1.5°C  beyond reach,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics. They argue that the UN urgently needs to step in and enforce a 2025 target that would allow countries to revise their emissions reductions plans.

Professor Kornelis Blok ofEcofys noted that “with current policies being insufficient to limit emissions…by 2025, it is clear that ramping up greater policy action needs to be encouraged as part of the Paris Agreement”.

There needs to be a concerted effort at the UN talks in December to ensure that the current levels of emissions reductions are not locked in until 2030, opening up a window for increased action in 2025.

PH gov’t should be serious, sincere

No less than the Department of Energy (DOE) invited companies wanting to get involved in the Philippine coal sector “in a major way” to consider putting up coal-fired mine-mouth power plants in the country's major undeveloped coal areas. This will be done through joint ventures with existing holders of coal operating contracts.

According to DOE’s official website, “the Philippines has a vast potential for coal resources just awaiting full exploration and development to contribute to the attainment of the country's energy self- sufficiency program.” 

It further said that “recent upswing development in the coal industry encouraged increased interest in coal exploration. To date, there are 36 coal operating contracts, 16 of which are under exploration stage to verify potentials of the coal fields, and 43 small-scale coal mining operators.” 

In fact, under the current Coal Operating Contract (COC) system, coal power plant operators are even given incentives such as exemption from all taxes except income tax, exemption from payment of tariff duties and compensating tax on importation of machinery required for the coal operations, allowing entry of alien technical personnel, right of ingress to and egress from the COC area, and recovery of operating expenses. 

Despite the efforts of Filipino environmental champions – Senator Loren Legarda, chair of Senate Committee on Climate Change, and Naderev Yeb Saño, the Filipino diplomat who became the face of UN climate talks in Poland last year – the Philippines continues to make a bizarre spectacle of itself when it says it wants a strong global climate deal but continues to allow the proliferation of new coal-powered plants.

Decarbonize the economy

Disruption in climate patterns poses threats to the economy, public health, and even national security. 

Being one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, it is puzzling how the Philippines can champion a strong global climate deal and at the same time continue to fuel its economy through burning coal. 

Our government should be more serious in achieving its goals of reducing dangerous greenhouse gases by promoting renewable energy and by eventually decarbonizing the economy.

If we continue to allow the operation of coal power plants in the country, then we can expect even drier and longer droughts in the next few years – and ultimately a wave of refugee crises in the future. 

The millions of refugees displaced in Syria should be enough a lesson to shock the Philippines into climate action. – Rappler.com

Roy Joseph R. Roberto is an engineer. He is a Climate Tracker in the Adopt a Negotiator Project – a worldwide online writing campaign for Climate Action.

The announcement by Grace Poe of her presidential candidacy on September 16 was met by stoic indifference by the Liberal Party (LP).

Claiming not to be worried, stalwarts of the party asserted that the LP has a candidate (Mar Roxas) and a clear platform, the anti-corruption “straight path” (daang matuwid). 

But is it really as simple and straightforward as that? It seems more accurate to say that the Liberals have a "default" candidate (as several leading LP supporters have confessed in private) whose major source of political capital is the endorsement of the incumbent President Benigno S. “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Not by machinery alone

Analyses of Philippine politics have been dominated by the "patron-client" paradigm which contends that elections consist of politicians building political ties that pyramid down from the national to regional and then the local level, with presidential candidates putting together their clientelist network under the guise of a "political party", but which is actually a makeshift structure designed just for the upcoming polls.

LP strategists think similarly, assuming that the indirect advantages of incumbency will allow Mar Roxas to put together an unbeatable electoral machinery.

But a look back at post-Marcos presidential elections suggests a different scenario.

Those candidates with the strong “machinery” (such as Ramon Mitra in 1992 and Jose de Venecia Jr in 1998 and even Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is widely seen to have stolen her election as revealed by the “Hello, Garci” tapes) have often failed to capture the presidency. Thus, machinery is a necessary but insufficient ingredient in winning presidential elections. 

Power of narratives

In the Philippines, where party ideologies are unquestionably weak, presidential candidates instead develop their own campaign narratives. These narratives, which then become the “governing scripts” for an elected president are either portrayed as compatible with the overall regime narrative, or are an effort to “pre-empt” it. 

Narratives are stories that weave ideas and events in a meaningful way.

From running in a national campaign to delivering the inaugural address, a president must tell a compelling story. Thus, in the context of Philippine politics, presidential regimes consist of quasi-programmatic, emotive narratives in election campaigns and/or a governance script that binds together a coalition of interests within a particular institutional context.

Campaign narratives and presidential “scripts” bind together a coalition of interests within a particular institutional context.

Narrative of ‘Daang Matuwid’

The LP has predictably framed the 2016 election in terms of continuity of its “daang matuwid” reformist narrative. Given the poor performance of its default candidate in early  popularity surveys, party strategists are correct in "selling" the so-called achievements of PNoy's administration instead. 

In the post-Marcos Philippines, “reformism,” the claim that re-establishing democracy, fighting corruption, and improving the efficiency of governance is the chief executive’s most important mission, has been the dominant campaign narrative and regime script.

It can be understood as a “bourgeois” political narrative that promises “I will not steal from you.” It avoids questions of equality much less redistribution, avoiding direct class-based appeals, and claiming instead to act in the national interest.

But at times, it can appear uncaring and morally self-righteous, particularly when poverty rates and unemployment remain much too high and thus economic growth far from inclusive.

However, as the PNoy administration is nearing its end, there is a growing perception that its anti-corruption rhetoric has largely been one-sided and that governance efficiency has never been its strongest traits (as demonstrated by the current traffic crisis in Manila dubbed by netizens as "carmageddon"). 

Nonetheless, PNoy manages to maintain his popularity on the strength of the reformist narrative that he embodies. Here lies Roxas' problem.

Embodying the narrative

Roxas is an experienced administrator and might well make a good president. But his weak poll numbers suggest his image as a candidate falls far short of what is necessary to win the upcoming presidential election. 

Recent elections have shown that a narrative cannot be passed on from one president to another. Although Corazon “Cory” C. Aquino endorsed Fidel V. Ramos as her successor, he barely won against Miriam Santiago-Defensor who, though lacking any substantial machinery, had a stronger image as a reformist. Santiago also claimed that the election results were tampered). 

Ramos, in turn, backed Jose de Venecia, who had a strong machinery, but a weak image (much like Roxas does today). De Venecia was defeated by Joseph Estrada, whose narrative as a friend of the masses (“Erap para sa mahirap”) was much stronger.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was, of course, unable to help her designated successor, Gilbert Teodoro in his hapless 2010 presidential bid. Teodoro’s image was further hurt by his perceived failings as chair of the National Disaster Coordinating Council in dealing with the 2009 flooding of Manila, not dissimilar to criticisms of Roxas’ crisis management in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

PNoy survived two major political crises (the pork barrel scandal and the Mamasapano tragedy) and has easily brushed off accountability for his failure to make significant improvements in infrastructure, with his poll ratings largely intact.

It seems doubtful he can simply pass on the “reformist” mantle to Roxas. 

In Philippine politics, the narrative must be “embodied” by the candidate, as Noynoy himself was able to do after the death of his mother Cory and as she was seen to do after the assassination of her husband (and Noynoy’s father) Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino Jr in 1983.

Roxas will have to prove very skilled in improving his image with voters over the next year, as enjoying the advantages of campaign machinery linked to the incumbent president, has not been a decisive advantage in post-Marcos presidential campaigns of the past.

As Senator Serge Osmeña (an astute political strategist himself) wisely counseled, “Yung tuwid na daan, it’s an overused phrase, sanay na ‘yung tao, jaded na. (Tuwid na daan is an overused phrase, the people are already jaded.) They should come up with something new.”

In the end, the LP leadership’s feigned optimism in the wake of Poe’s candidacy is reminiscent of the famous dictum of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neumann: “What, me worry?”– Rappler.com

Julio C. Teehankee is Full Professor of Comparative Politics and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at De La Salle University. He is also the Executive Secretary of the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA).

Mark R Thompson is acting head of the Department of Asian and International Studies and director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre, both of the City University of Hong Kong. 

The views and opinions in this article are those of the authors only.

Within just a few days after taking over traffic control duties on EDSA, the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) has made a dramatic difference.

They haven't solved the problem by any means, but they have demonstrated that simple enforcement is a big part of the answer.

But HPG didn’t bring any magic to the fight. They didn't do anything that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) couldn't have done years ago. I don't believe that the almost overnight improvement in driver behavior is simply due to the fact that HPG enforcers are somehow more "respected" by the public. It's not about guns or big, burly cops. It's about doing the job.

To be honest, HPG just went out there and did the job. MMDA did not.

True, there are too many cars on the road. True, we need more infrastructure. And true, the local mayors don't have to take orders from the MMDA chairman. But what HPG did on their very first day had nothing to do with any of that. HPG put people on the road, and those people enforced the law. They didn't consult, they didn't negotiate, and they didn't have meetings. They just enforced the law.

There is still a long way to go, because the traffic system in Metro Manila is very, very broken. But the way to proceed is crystal clear.

Or is it?

This is, at best, a temporary measure. Managing traffic is not the HPG's responsibility, and sooner or later we're going to have to make some decisions. Do we make this a permanent thing, giving HPG more manpower and budget, and legally changing their tasking? Or do we create a whole new agency, again with appropriate manpower, budget, and legal authority? Or does anybody really believe that, after a month or so, we can just give traffic back to MMDA and somehow the problem will be fixed?

Overextended MMDA

Despite its shortcomings, MMDA is the right agency to handle traffic on Metro Manila's main roads. But definitely not MMDA as it currently operates.

First, the agency is overextended. MMDA should not be involved in beautification projects, film festivals, or even disaster preparedness and recovery. There are other agencies already responsible or better suited for those things.

Flood control should be transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). And the Pasig River ferry operation should be handled by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), or privatized altogether. Managing Metro Manila traffic is a full time job, and requires MMDA's full time attention.

If we take all those things away, maybe the agency shouldn't even be called Metro Manila "Development" Authority anymore. Maybe it should be called the Metro Manila Traffic Authority. That would be a more appropriate name for an agency solely focused on traffic.

Second, traffic management is a science, with well-established procedures, practices, and standards. Those methods work, if they are properly implemented. Under the current chairman though, MMDA has fallen short in that area. Organizationally, the agency is chaotic, with a multitude of specialized units and overlapping functions. Non-compatible radio systems, poorly trained and poorly supervised enforcers, and a weak legal mandate, all combine to make MMDA dysfunctional at best.

Third, the new "Traffic Authority" should manage all traffic in Metro Manila, even in the LGUs. One traffic agency, one traffic plan, one traffic system. Some things, like traffic, transcend political boundaries, in a way that makes decentralized management impractical. We don't allow LGUs to regulate electricity, do we? Or water, or communications. Like those systems, traffic is a single network, and is best managed as a single network.

Transforming MMDA

The main reason LGUs want control of their own traffic is for the revenue generated by traffic fines. No problem. Any fines collected for a violation inside a particular LGU can still be remitted to that LGU.

Local speed limits, parking regulations, and even the direction of travel on particular roads can all still be regulated by the LGU, but enforcement should be handled by the Metro Manila Traffic Authority. And any policies that impact the flow of traffic on the whole network, like the different coding windows now imposed by some cities, would fall under the Traffic Authority's control.

MMDA already has the manpower, resources, and budget to properly manage traffic. It wouldn't make sense to create a whole new agency, or to transfer the responsibility to the HPG. But it also wouldn't make sense to just let MMDA take over again without making some major changes. With their current structure, and under their current leadership, they are simply not capable of doing the job.

To effectively transform the Metro Manila Development Authority into the Metro Manila Traffic Authority, we first need to appoint an effective leader – someone willing to apply basic, well-established traffic management techniques and methods. We also need to redesign the agency internally, in line with its new mandate to focus entirely on traffic.

Bring in outside help, if necessary, to do proper training and organizational restructuring. And then, once all that is done, transfer the people and resources from the various LGUs to the new agency. It might take a new law, and a bit of paperwork, but it would be worth the trouble.

As I said at the beginning, we can't expect HPG to handle traffic forever. It’s not their job. And MMDA clearly can't handle it in their current form, even though it is their job. We need to be thinking about the next step. – Rappler.com

Michael Brown is a retired member of the US Air Force, and has lived over 16 years in the Philippines. He writes on English, traffic management, law enforcement, and government. Follow him on Twitter at @M_i_c_h_a_e_l   

Car photo from Shutterstock.

"If you are not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you are not conservative at 30, you have no brain."

This quote allegedly penned by Winston Churchill could very well be the best spin that defenders of Vice President Jejomar Binay would use to defend his budding romance with legatees of the Marcos dictatorship.

They would say that this was inevitable. All one needs to do is look at the political landscape and count how many from the Vice’s generation of sixties radicals have gone conservative. I recall one pundit even using it to justify his wealth-generating carpetbaggery.

The only problem is that conservatives are not exactly smart. The prose they produce can be quite attractive and well written; it is when they try to turn that into real programs that their arguments unravel. Witness how the Republican George Bush almost tanked the American economy, losing the surplus generated under the Democrat Bill Clinton. Witness what happened to the former Soviet Union when ideologues of the free market put their stamp soon after its Frankenstein socialist economy collapse. Gangster capitalism prevailed under Boris Yeltsin and was only suppressed under a new authoritarian order crafted by Vladimir Putin.

So the Vice’s ideologues may need to be careful when using this popular phrase as being conservative does not make one brilliant.

However, there is a much more fundamental problem here, and one that the Vice’s cronies have side-stepped. And this has something to do with his brain.

Conservatives, as mentioned above, are masters of intelligent prose, but alas there is very little evidence of this in the Vice. The elections are more than 7 months away, and we have yet to hear something solid in terms of conservative policy from him. Nada.

Instead of a passionate explanation for Makati’s progress, the Vice and family content themselves with one-liners. Instead of a convincing critique of the President’s economic policies, a list of the supposed failures of governance under the current administration’s watch. Moreover, instead of a reasoned response to criticisms that he and his brood have enriched themselves, a feigned hurt and anger over the personal nature of these attacks.

(There is reason for the Vice and his family to show hurt when it comes to the criticisms of ill-gotten wealth. For very often these critics and their minions display with pride their racism, especially when it comes to the Vice and his kin’s skin. The bigotry of the “Yellow Army,” as one Binay man calls Aquino’s supporters, can give the Ku Klux Klan a run for its money. On this, my sympathies are with the Vice.)

There is gossip that he has formed policy teams whose members include the thinkers of the despised Gloria Arroyo; this we have to see. But more importantly, we look forward to how the Vice explains the policies cooked up by these panels extemporaneously. I am certain what comes out of his mouth will be a vulgar version of what his ideologues wrote for him – despite his UP pedigree.

The Vice’s courtship of the son of the dictator has nothing to do with his evolving, albeit belatedly, a conservative brain. It is not a well-thought out assiduously planned strategy to win the Ilocano and youth votes (many among the young believe the dictator did the country well). It is a crude move and its justification much cruder!

“Kalimutan na natin ang nakaraaan! It’s all water under the bridge” – these are arguments that one could expect from Imelda, but not from the Vice. He was witness to that dark history; he even defended those tortured and imprisoned by the regime. Even his fellow radicals-turned-conservatives still speak fondly of their youth. Vice’s brain appears to have permanently deleted the neurons associated with that past.

“Human rights violations continue to prevail today!” is the Vice’s other response to critics who can accuse him of pirating an argument that local communists have proprietary rights over: the permanence of human rights violations from the Marcos days till today.

Historical nuance disappears because all the characters are the same; only their constitutional masks have changed. But the Vice needs to be careful not to use this argument repeatedly. For if he is suggesting that Aquino was no different from Marcos (both guilty of human rights violations), the dictator’s son may not like the idea of his father as the origin of it all. Bad tactics.

Churchill's statement – if it was really his – needs to be modified in the Vice’s case. One can concede that if, at 30, one is still not a conservative, then at 60, to be conservative is to have lost that brain. – Rappler.com

--

Patricio N. Abinales is an OFW.

The upcoming 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris, France under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will see countries trying to negotiate a fair and binding climate deal in December.

The stakes are high as world leaders try to forge a universal deal after failed climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009. More than a fair and binding climate agreement is the specific issue of limiting carbon emissions to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.

For years, developed countries with greater historical responsibility to lower emission targets have been dodging this ambitious goal while developing countries continue to push this agenda.  

The world is already experiencing climate change impacts — extreme weather events, strong typhoons, slow-onset impacts, drought, heatwaves, and the melting of ice glaciers. There is a strong sense of urgency of phasing out fossil fuels to lower coal emissions.

In order to avoid these circumstances, there are many who believe the UN climate negotiators need to set a mid-century target to eliminate fossil fuels.

At the UNFCCC negotiations that took place in June in Bonn last year, ministers and senior officials representing over 60 countries supported a long-term directional goal to move to a low or zero carbon economy.

According to the UNFCCC document released in Geneva last February, the countries who are have already expressed support for a long-term goal being part of the 2015 Agreement include 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), represented by Nepal, AILAC (Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Dominican Republic and Guatemala), the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Grenada, Switzerland, Mexico, Germany and Norway.

Many of these countries have already created domestic long-term phase-out or carbon neutrality goals. Costa Rica and Bhutan have committed to becoming carbon-neutral while Sweden and Norway also have such goals.  Denmark is working with plans to decarbonize completely by 2050.

The report further states that “some countries like Peru, Kenya and the Cameroon have ambitious renewables energy targets in place showing that developing nations see their future as being largely free of fossil fuels."

In the face of the looming climate change crisis brought about by carbon emissions, will countries dodge decarbonization as a way to achieve this long-term goal? Is there a way to achieve this?

Decarbonization through carbon tax and negawatt

In June, Uganda’s lead negotiator, asserted that on behalf of 48 of the world’s least developed nations, the country believes that “total emissions need to reach zero between 2060 and 2080.” This would be a difficult decision for many of the world’s big coal and oil exporting countries, especially members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

However, in August, Islamic leaders even followed Uganda’s lead by issuing an Islamic declaration on Climate Change, calling on Muslims around the world to work towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and a 100% renewable energy strategy.

However, there is still much hope. Some countries have been solutions to decarbonize. Among these are carbon tax and “negawatts" The carbon tax, for instance, is similar to a Sin Tax Law. Although it would cover more products and services compared to the Sin Tax Law’s focus on tobacco and alcohol, the carbon tax could gain greater social acceptance if rebates would be given to the lower-income bracket of the economy or it will be used to lower payroll taxes.

It should be ensured too that the funds gathered would be allocated to the development and diffusion of clean energy technologies. Carbontax.org is monitoring countries which enacted laws on carbon tax including Ireland, Chile, and Sweden. However, Australia’s carbon tax law is the first to be repealed after 4 years of being implemented.

Another incentivization scheme is the “Negawatt.” It is a newly formulated concept wherein energy providers encourage consumers to sell back their unused energy especially during peak hours.

Aside from promoting energy conservation among consumers, this is cost-effective too for the providers since it is more expensive for them if they have to put up additional power plants to meet electricity demand, especially during peak hours.

Hence, the negawatt is a win-win solution. No wonder it is being implemented already in many states in America and is emerging as an international strategy.

Indeed, as countries negotiate to keep global warming below 2 degrees celsius, we must also be looking at the long term goal of having zero carbon emissions in 35 years. It goes without saying that the two linked goals must be tackled, put forward both in the international negotiations and in the respective climate pledges and climate action plans of countries.

Some countries have already been initiating innovative solutions to achieve the 2050 goal. The question is: will other countries follow suit? – Rappler.com

Jed Alegado is a graduate student in the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands. Angeli Guadalupe is a medical doctor and is currently studying under the University of Tokyo's Graduate Program on Sustainability Science-Global Leadership Initiative. The two are Climate Trackers from the Adopt a Negotiator Project. 

Within just a few days after taking over traffic control duties on EDSA, the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) has made a dramatic difference.

They haven't solved the problem by any means, but they have demonstrated that simple enforcement is a big part of the answer.

But HPG didn’t bring any magic to the fight. They didn't do anything that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) couldn't have done years ago. I don't believe that the almost overnight improvement in driver behavior is simply due to the fact that HPG enforcers are somehow more "respected" by the public. It's not about guns or big, burly cops. It's about doing the job.

To be honest, HPG just went out there and did the job. MMDA did not.

True, there are too many cars on the road. True, we need more infrastructure. And true, the local mayors don't have to take orders from the MMDA Chairman. But what HPG did on their very first day had nothing to do with any of that. HPG put people on the road, and those people enforced the law. They didn't consult, they didn't negotiate, and they didn't have meetings. They just enforced the law.

There is still a long way to go because the traffic system in Metro Manila is very broken. But the way to proceed is crystal clear.

Or is it?

This is, at best, a temporary measure. Managing traffic is not the HPG's responsibility, and sooner or later we're going to have to make some decisions.

Do we make this a permanent thing, giving HPG more manpower and budget, and legally changing their tasking? Or do we create a whole new agency, again with appropriate manpower, budget, and legal authority? Or does anybody really believe that, after a month or so, we can just give traffic back to MMDA and somehow the problem will be fixed?

Despite its shortcomings, MMDA is the right agency to handle traffic on Metro Manila's main roads. But definitely not MMDA as it currently operates.

First, the agency is overextended. MMDA should not be involved in beautification projects, film festivals, or even disaster preparedness and recovery. There are other agencies already responsible or better suited for those things. Flood control should be transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). And the Pasig River ferry operation should be handled by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), or privatized altogether. Managing Metro Manila traffic is a full-time job, and requires MMDA's full attention.

If we take all those things away, maybe the agency shouldn't even be called Metro Manila "Development" Authority anymore. Maybe it should be called the Metro Manila Traffic Authority. That would be a more appropriate name for an agency solely focused on traffic.

Second, traffic management is a science, with well-established procedures, practices, and standards. Those methods work, if they are properly implemented. Under the current chairman though, MMDA has fallen short in that area. Organizationally, the agency is chaotic, with a multitude of specialized units and overlapping functions. Non-compatible radio systems, poorly trained and poorly supervised enforcers, and a weak legal mandate, all combine to make MMDA dysfunctional at best.

Third, the new "Traffic Authority" should manage all traffic in Metro Manila, even in the LGUs. One traffic agency, one traffic plan, one traffic system. Some things, like traffic, transcend political boundaries, in a way that makes decentralized management impractical. We don't allow LGUs to regulate electricity, do we? Or water, or communications? Like those systems, traffic is a single network, and is best managed as a single network.

The main reason LGUs want control of their own traffic is for the revenue generated by traffic fines. No problem. Any fines collected for a violation inside a particular LGU can still be remitted to that LGU. Local speed limits, parking regulations, and even the direction of travel on particular roads can all still be regulated by the LGU, but enforcement should be handled by the Metro Manila Traffic Authority. And any policies that impact the flow of traffic on the whole network, like the different coding windows now imposed by some cities, would fall under the Traffic Authority's control.

MMDA already has the manpower, resources, and budget to properly manage traffic. It wouldn't make sense to create a whole new agency, or to transfer the responsibility to the HPG. But it also wouldn't make sense to just let MMDA take over again without making some major changes. With their current structure, and under their current leadership, they are simply not capable of doing the job.

To effectively transform the Metro Manila Development Authority into the Metro Manila Traffic Authority, we first need to appoint an effective leader — someone willing to apply basic, well-established traffic management techniques and methods. We also need to redesign the agency internally, in line with its new mandate to focus entirely on traffic. Bring in outside help, if necessary, to do proper training and organizational restructuring. And then, once all that is done, transfer the people and resources from the various LGUs to the new agency. It might take a new law, and a bit of paperwork, but it would be worth the trouble.

As I said at the beginning, we can't expect HPG to handle traffic forever. It’s not their job. And MMDA clearly can't handle it in their current form, even though it is their job. We need to be thinking about the next step. — Rappler.com 

Michael Brown is a retired member of the US Air Force, and has lived over 16 years in the Philippines. He writes on English, traffic management, law enforcement, and government. Follow him on Twitter at @M_i_c_h_a_e_l   

Editor's Note: Below is an open letter to Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr from the trustees of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, which aims to honor martyrs and heroes from the martial law era. The Board of Trustees is chaired by former Philippine ambassador to the UN Alfonso Yuchengco, with former senator Jovito Salonga as chairman emeritus. Here is their full statement and open letter: 

On Aug. 26, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr was asked during an  interview with ANC’s Headstart whether, as a potential candidate for the country’s top positions, he would apologize for  the corruption and abuses perpetrated by his father’s brutal regime. The meat of his response was, “What am I to say sorry about?” This is a response to Senator Marcos’ question. For clarifications, please contact Bantayog.

Dear Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr,

The extent of your parents’ crimes during the Marcos dictatorship is so extensive its accounting has yet to be completed.

Ferdinand Marcos wrecked Congress, the courts and the bureaucracy. He prostituted the military. He shackled the country with debts. Your parents stole billions of the people’s money and from their political opponents. He had a nuclear plant built that [was never operational] but which the country has to pay for in loans.

He had thousands jailed, abducted, tortured or killed. Many activists are still missing to this day. A law was enacted by Congress in 2012 offering reparation to these victims. As of the latest,  75,000 individuals  have applied (and thousands more did not, or failed to file) for claims. 

Compensation would be taken from assets recovered from Swiss banks, described by the Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Burkhalter as “looted from the state” by a “corrupt dictator.” The law was an effort by the Philippine and Swiss governments to “right the wrongs committed by the Marcos regime,” said the Swiss ambassador. 

We who are writing this letter represent a foundation that launched a book just last month, containing over 100 accounts of the lives of those heroic individuals who fought your father’s regime because they saw it as undemocratic, cruel, and corrupt. 

We have accounts of unarmed activists shot dead in San Rafael, Bulacan or who were abducted and later found barely alive or dead in Angeles City, Pampanga, or who were mowed down with gunfire while joining rallies in Escalante in Negros Occidental and in Daet in Camarines Norte. The book was published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

It is time for honesty, Mr Senator. You owe it to the country that let you go free unharmed when in February 1986, the Filipino people finally drove your family out. It was through a democratic uprising [immortalized] in [the] song “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo,” a gift to the world, because Filipinos managed to cut the Marcos stranglehold with very little violence in society. It was a gift to you also — a gift of your second lives.

You owe it to the victims of your parents’ regime, but you also owe it to your own sons. How do you teach them the selflessness of true public service and the value of honesty and of righting of wrongs if you lack the courage to admit the truth? How do you spare your sons the scorn that certainly faces them if your family continues to feel no remorse or regret over the years of dictatorship?

You are nearing your 60s, a senator, and possessed of normal intelligence. You know what it is exactly that you and your family have to be sorry for. History will judge, you say? That is why you must now stop the lies – because precisely, history, and the people you have aggrieved, will judge.– Rappler.com 

Last week, I received an e-mail from Hillary Clinton (since I don’t personally know her this is clearly from her campaign staff) asking if I could join her in the Democratic Presidential primary debate to be held in Las Vegas this October. This is an artifact of my former life working in the United Nations in New York. 

It turns out that the Democrats have arranged for a lottery so that some supporters could get a chance to engage and be present at the debate. I posted this on my Facebook wall with the following lament: 

“Sa kanila naghihirap ang kandidato na mapasama ang mga botante sa usapan. Sa atin, naghihirap ang mga botante na maimbitahan ang mga kandidato sa debate at usapan. Sa kanila debate ng plataporma, sa atin boodle fight.” (In their country, candidates try hard to include voters in the discussion. In our country, the voters try hard to invite candidates to debates.) 

“We must challenge the media and academe to push hard (as the only remaining institutions in the country who probably can) to correct this. Why give a candidate extra air time by covering a boodle fight? Academia and media should partner in setting up debates, discussions and town-hall-type meetings for central to local candidates.”

One colleague asked me to write about this, and it occurred to me that the cycle of challenges we face is yet again re-booting. 

Lack of substance. Lack of inclusiveness. Lack of options. 

These words that characterize our vetting and selection process for these political candidates are likely linked to the perennial absence of “Political Will” when some of these candidates eventually win. 

When legislative reforms don’t get passed, or when policy mistakes continue to fester, people often invoke the need for “Political Will”. Is this really surprising when the majority of our citizens are barely consulted on what candidates stand for, and who gets to stand for elections?

What is 'Political Will?'

Put succinctly, analysts describe political will as “support from political leaders that results in policy change”. The crux of why and how that support takes place is essentially where “Political Will” has been hiding all these decades. We can’t find him because we have been looking in the wrong place and in the wrong way.

Political will can be found where stakeholders—notably voters—engage with their leaders effectively so that they are able to expand the space for reform and exact strong accountability.

Therefore, elections can be considered a triennial search for “Political Will”. And we have failed miserably to find political will because we have been looking for a person—a savior who will somehow deliver all that we wish—rather than working towards a consensus, as a nation, on where we want to go. 

Shallow discussion, limited donors, narrow choices

Consensus is forged from inclusive processes that involve deeper discernment of the difficult choices our nation now faces.  So it is unlikely that political will can be found among boodle fights where discussion, if any, is dominated by motherhood statements and is often one-sided.

Instead, political will is more likely forged in evidence-based debate and discussion, because that’s one of the ways democracy manages to generate consensus. And yes, debate is often heated because policy options aren’t easy and often imply difficult trade-offs. 

Our search for political will is probably going to be more effective when the poorest and most marginalized are also included—so evidence needs to be communicated effectively to all citizens, not just the chosen few. 

The other aspect of inclusiveness lies in who’s involved in selecting and fielding leadership options. Evidence suggests that there is a severe lack of leadership choices, notably in the poorest parts of the country. 

Drawing on our database on political dynasties and based on studies by Professor July Teehankee of De La Salle University and others, we estimate that there are only about 200 political clans in the Philippines—at this point accounting for the vast majority of our leadership options at both the national and local levels.

When well known political dynasties claim that they continue to be selected by voters, they often gloss over the fact that a growing number of dynastic politicians now run unopposed in their jurisdictions.

Presently, 85% of governorships are dynastic, and of this group, 13% ran uncontested while 59% defeated another dynastic candidate in the 2013 elections. Similarly, 66% of the incumbent mayors are dynastic, and of this group, 16% won without any opponent and 40.4% prevailed over a dynastic opponent. 

According to Professor Popoy De Vera of the University of the Philippines, the 2010 elections represented the largest number of leaders running unopposed in the country. 

As running for election becomes a more difficult prospect for decent leaders and an all too easy prospect for the moneyed corrupt, then can we expect the decision to still be in the hands of the voters? Do voters still have a choice?

This narrow field of options is matched only by an equally narrow list of donors. According to studies by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, there were only about 300 donors financing the majority of campaign spending by presidential aspirants in 2010.

As political competition continues to deteriorate in many parts of the country, as more voters have no choice but to support their local patron (on whom most of their economic future depends), and as a very narrow field of donors appears to influence (or capture?) the political field on offer, it becomes far less likely for the nation to find political will. 

At best, leaders are armed with the position but not with the consensus to forge reforms. At worst, leaders aren’t even interested in deep reforms, and there is little accountability and competition left in their selection.

Challenge for Church, academia and media

Yet, citizens are now beginning to take a stand. 

For example, the Pilipino Movement for Transformational Leadership (PMTL)—comprised of faith-based organizations including the Baptists, Methodists, Catholic and other Christian groups—plans to run a People’s Primary that will encourage their members to nominate and select leaders based on principles of merit and a strong policy platform to reduce poverty and inequality in the country. At a targeted participation of 10 million faith-based members, this may yet be the largest political primary process seen by the country since the 1970s.

The “Sagot Kita Bayan” initiative is similarly minded and brings together a multi-stakeholder coalition to challenge candidates to debate and discussion on concrete policy options they will support. 

Recently, academic and media groups have also begun to collaborate in hosting evidence-based discussions on key election issues. Here, once again, we see young people speaking truth to power, based not merely on ideology but on the research and evidence generated by academia—among the few institutions left promoting meritocracy and a fair playing field, and resisting dynastic, nepotistic and traditional politics.

In lieu of reforms that build stronger political parties, then perhaps the only hope remains in the few still functional institutions of our democratic society—the academe, Church and media—to try to push for a concerted effort to bring discernment back into our choice of leaders.  

Otherwise, we will yet again elect another set of leaders in 2016; but continue to miss among them “Political Will.” — Rappler.com 

The author is Associate Professor of Economics and Executive Director of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the AIM. 

MANILA, Philippines – Past midnight of Saturday, September 19, I found myself crying, just crying, and I couldn’t tell why.

“Lord, where is this sorrow coming from?”

I would have normally texted you, as I had done many times at unholy hours in the past, when I needed to admit to being vulnerable, to not fully understanding some things. 

I was certain, however, that you would’ve told me, as you had done many times before, “The universe may be trying to tell you something.” (READ: Rappler senior investigative reporter Aries Rufo dies)

But I didn’t bother you. I knew that in the past weeks, you were trying to go to bed early, trying to get as much rest as you could, trying to avoid any additional worries. You knew that we wanted you to get well. In fact, we were expecting you to get well. Not so much because there were investigations to pursue, but because we wanted to see and hear your old self – maporma, to the point of being vain; engaging us in witty banter; making hilarious commentary on issues and personalities; and, finally, calming us down and showing us people and things in a light we had probably refused to see.

How could I have not realized that, at that particular moment, it was you who was trying to tell me something? That you were leaving us in the afternoon.

This is not how you write and end a story, Aries. We know that. The most confidential stories, you still let a core group of trusted people know – that should’ve been us, so we could help and protect you. The most sensitive topics, you don’t broadcast without first letting those who will be most affected know that these were coming – that would be us, blindsided by our confidence that you’d bounce back to be with us for as long as we wanted.

You cannot blame us for having that confidence. In life and in work, you were persistent before persistence was invented; resilient before resilience became a buzzword. You loved life, not because you were afraid of death, but because you had an admirable appreciation of this most precious gift God had given you and all of us.

Maybe we were enjoying your life with us so much that we had forgotten, your idea of celebrating this blessing was to not resist when its Giver was already calling you; that your idea of giving us joy was to not burden our hearts with seeing you struggle with the physical hardship.

Oo nga pala, that’s how Aries was – imparting the best that he is and the most that he knows, if doing so would uplift and enrich others, but laboring by himself over the ugly, difficult parts. And when everything is wrapped up in one beautiful, powerful story – in work and in life – he shares the good with everybody who wants to partake in it.

I grew up with Aries as a journalist, as many of you have – from the time we were reporters for The Manila Times, worked separately after Erap had it folded up, and got together again at Newsbreak and Rappler. He was not only relentless when pursuing scoops and big stories, he was passionate even about the routine, everyday stories on the beat. He was never affected by either the praises that he got or the fear he sowed in his reports. Awards were never his aim – he was just thankful every time he received one, because the prize money would ease his household budget for a few months. Everything to him was just what he owed his public, his society, his country to produce.

He was clean. How clean? In 2000, Aries was already working on an investigation into the taxable wealth of the Archdiocese of Manila. It was a topic that he wanted to pursue at the Manila Times, before Erap had it closed in 1999. He did interviews and gathered documents anyway, using his own money, but still no editor or publisher wanted to take in his work. The reason given then was that Jaime Cardinal Sin was leading the calls for President Estrada to resign for being corrupt and immoral, and that it was not a good time to supposedly demolish the Church. Somebody from Estrada’s camp learned about it, and lost no time to offer Aries P1 million to have the story published.

He refused. No second thoughts. (READ: 'How can a book destroy the Church?')

It was when Newsbreak was formed that Aries finally got the support for all the things and people and institutions that he wanted to investigate: the Catholic Church, the Iglesia ni Cristo, the election body and watchdogs, the senators, the military, money-making NGOs.

Again, everything was just work, and vocation, to him. In case of awards – he had the JVO, the DAJA, and the Natali Prize – his only concern was what he would wear.

At Rappler, he turned the younger ones – and that would mean practically everybody – into fangirls and fanboys. This was the face to the byline on many stories that sent the analytics crazy, the Mood Meter swinging to extremes, VIPs threatening us with cases, and the social media team on their most challenging engagements.

Yet he was somebody who didn’t announce his presence in the newsroom. They just felt him touch their lives with his kindness, his graciousness, his humility, his authenticity. Puwede palang si Aries na sabayan mong manigarilyo, makipag-tong-its sa iyo, maghugas ng platong pinagkainan niya, magtimpla ng sarili niyang kape. May oras pala siyang makinig sa istorya mo, sa hinaing mo, sa mga ilusyon mo. Hindi pala siya madamot sa pagbibigay ng sources, ng impormasyon, ng insights sa mga istorya. Puwede ka palang mag-share ng byline sa kanya.

All readers and colleagues who knew Aries or his work are saying that he is a great loss to the industry, to this country so badly wanting in uncompromised, fearless, and responsible journalists. If I may add – at such a crucial time when we should be making aspirants to public offices uncomfortable at the prospects of unforgiving scrutiny. Young journalists are saying now, si Aries ang “peg” nila– they want to be like him someday.

We at Newsbreak love and respect him so much as well, we certainly won’t let Aries’ life and work be forgotten after all the eulogies. 

The Journalism for Nation Building Foundation, which is run by editors of Newsbreak, will be renaming its ongoing investigative journalism fellowship program in Aries’ memory. We shall be establishing an investigative fund in his name, and we will welcome any contribution from people who may or may not know him personally but believe that his brand of journalism should continue to serve our industry, our country well.

Aries would be the first to refuse such recognition. “Ang OA!” he would exclaim. Pero, Aries, ganti-ganti lang… you caught us by surprise with your goodbye, we will have our way this time: this is the only way we can make at least part of you stay.

On the night of your passing away, I again couldn’t sleep and just kept crying. But this time, Psalm 30:5 was quickly in my mind: “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

If this crying weren’t about you, I’m sure you would have told me, told us, many other versions of that comforting thought too. 

I have no doubt what God has spoken will happen. In time, we shall be comforted, we shall have peace, and we shall again have joy thinking of the old Aries we knew. Ang problema lang, Aries, this is going to be a long night for all of us whose lives you have wonderfully touched. – Rappler.com

Twenty-something ka ba? 'Di ka pa ipinapanganak nang naganap ang batas militar. Narito ang 7 dahilan bakit apektado ka ng madilim na yugto ng kasaysayan.

1. The Butcher.Si Jovito Palparan aka “Berdugo” ang Johnny-come-lately sa kapatiran ng mga torturer. Siya ang itinuturong nagpadukot at nagpa-torture sa mga estudyante ng University of the Philippines (UP) na sina Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno noong 2006.

Produkto si Palparan ng mahabang rekord ng abduction, torture, at summary execution ng pulis at militar sa ilalim ng batas-militar. Halos 50,000 ang dokumentadong kaso ng pang-aabuso sa karapatang pangtao noong panahon ng martial law; 75,000 ang nag-apply na claimant bilang biktima ng martial law.

1973. Isang 23-year-old na editor in chief ng student publication ng Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila ang dinukot, ginahasa, at pinainom ng muriatic acid. Siya si Liliosa Hilao. 

1973. Buntis nang inaresto ng militar ang dating UP student at women organizer na si Maria Lorena Barros. Nakunan siya sa tindi ng torture. 

1983. Inautopsya ng isang doktor ang katawan ng kapwa niya doktor. Ang konklusyon: bali-bali ang buto at malinaw na pinahirapan. Ang biktima ay ang bantog na researcher ng kanser sa UP Philippine General Hospital na si Dr Juan Escandor.

1984. Bago mawala, under surveillance si La Salle student Immanuel Obispo. Natagpuan siya ng kanyang pamilya sa ospital, matapos masagasaan ng tren, putol ang isang paa at agaw-buhay. Namatay siya kinabukasan. Hinihinala na dinukot si Obispo, tinorture at sinet-up ang kanyang pagkamatay.

2. Impunity. Exemption from punishment. Sa Filipino: hindi masisingil ng batas. Sariwa pa sa henerasyon natin ang 2009 Maguindanao massacre, ang walang habas na pagpatay sa 58 sibilyan at mamamahayag. 

Itinuturong utak ng masaker ang warlord na si Andal Ampatuan Sr. Habang si Gloria Arroyo ang nagluklok sa tugatog ng kapangyarihan kay Andal Senior, paano nagka-break sa pulitika ang dating police informant at gun-for-hire? In-appoint siya ni Presidente Marcos na mayor at officer in charge ng bayan ng Maganoy (ngayon ay Shariff Aguak).

Martial law ang ang pinagmulan ng culture of impunity na umiiral hanggang ngayon. Ano 'ka mo 'yun? Hindi lang ito 'yung nakakalusot ang "mean girls" sa iyong klase na pula ang buhok at maiikli ang palda dahil dinadalhan nila ng cupcakes ang titser. Ito 'yung wagas na pagbaluktot ng hustisya kaya nagiging pipi at bingi ang lahat ng tao sa kabulukan at kahayupan ng may kapangyarihan. Kakambal ng "culture of impunity" ang "culture of fear."

Ilan lamang ang mga sumusunod na mass murders na nabaon na sa limot:

1981. Daet Massacre. Pinaulanan ng bala ng Philippine Constabulary ang mga magsasaka na nagmamartsa patungo ng Freedom Park ng Daet sa Bicol; 4 ang namatay.

1985. Escalante Massacre. Pinagbabaril ang nagra-rally sa harapan ng Escalante town hall sa Negros Occidental. Karamihan sa kanila ay mga sakada sa tubuhan; 20 ang namatay.

3. Friends with benefits. Hindi ito sex sa pagitan ng magkakabarkada. Think Janet Napoles. Nakipagbestpren siya sa mga senador at mga pinuno ng ahensya na may access sa kaban ng bayan. “It’s not what you can do, but who you know."

Rewind to Makoy’s era: ito ang "crony capitalism." Ayon sa political scientists, ito ang kalakaran sa ekonomya na nababakuran ng iilang kaibigang negosyante ng pangulo ang mga kontrata at benepisyo mula sa gubyerno. Meron naman nang crony capitalism bago namuno si Marcos, pero ni-level-up niya ito. 

4. Kleptocracy. Plunder – malalim ang kahulugan nito, ayon sa dictionary, “to loot, ravage, ransack, despoil.” Tinatanyang umaabot sa $5 billion hanggang $30 billion ang ill-gotten wealth ng mga Marcoses.Mula sa pagkakaroon ng “promising economy” matapos ang World War II, 57% ng Pinoy ay sadlak sa kahirapan noong 1975.

$7.5 billion ang tinatantsang halaga ng nakatagong yaman ng mga Marcoses sa mga Swiss banks. Maliit na porsyento lamang ang narekober: 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1,000 handbags, at 1,000 pares ng sapatos (may nagsasabing 7,500 na pares), mga alahas na nagkakahalaga noong 1986 ng $8 million, at dalawang Claude Monet paintings.

5. Brain drain and the 'motherless generation.' Ayon sa estadistika ng 2012, tinatantsang 10.5 million workers or 11% ng populasyon ang nasa abroad.

Wala sa Pilipinas ang “best and brightest.” Hindi ang bayan ang lubos na nakikinabang sa utak ng ating mga propesyonal at bagong gradweyt. Mas masaklap, wala rin sa Pilipinas ang marami sa mga ina ng tahanan. 

Saan nagsimula ang tinatawag na diaspora? Habang marami nang Pilipino ang nagkipagsapalaran sa ibang bansa mula 1950s, sa panahon ni Marcos nagsimula ang sistematikong pagluluwas ng ating mga manggagawa. Noong 1975, ipinatupad ni Marcos ang “Development Diplomacy” na nagpokus sa pag-e-export ng "surplus labor.” Pagpasok ng 1985, namayagpag ang bilang ng overseas Filipino workers – umabot sa 75% kumpara sa nakaraang taon.

6. Collective amnesia. Natanong minsan ang anak ng diktador na si Bongbong Marcos: kung tatakbo siyang bise presidente o presidente, hihingi ba siya ng tawad sa korupsyon at human rights abuses ng rehimen ng kanyang ama?

Matapos ilatag ang nagawa ng ama tulad ng infrastructure, rice self-sufficiency, power generation, at high literacy, dugtong niya: "What am I to say sorry about?”

Ang sagot ng foundation para sa mga biktima ng martial law, ang Bantayog ng mga Bayani, kay Bongbong: "Ferdinand Marcos wrecked Congress, the courts, and the bureaucracy. He prostituted the military. He shackled the country with debts. Your parents stole billions of the people’s money and from their political opponents. He had a nuclear plant built that never operated but which the country has to pay for in loans. He had thousands jailed, abducted, tortured, or killed."

Madaling makalimot lalo na’t 43 taon na ang nakalilipas. Para sa bagong henerasyon, kuwento lang ang lahat ng ito. 

7. Foreign debt. Millennial, kung wala kang pakialam sa kasaysayan, 'di pantay na hustisya, pagyurak sa karapatang pantao, o korupsyon, ito ang isyung dapat mong pansinin. 

Nang napalayas ang dikatdor noong 1986, nag-iwan siya ng $28 billion foreign debt, mula sa $1 billion nang nagsimula siya manungkulan. Tinatantsang 33% o $8 billon ng mga utang na ito’y ibinulsa ni Marcos at ng kanyang mga alipores.

Ang utang panlabas na binabayaran nating ngayon: $75.3 billion. Magkano ang utang mo, Millennial? Nasa P61,000.

Medyo self-absorbed daw ang bagong henerasyon. Pero meron ding nagsasabing ang Millennial ang susi sa pagbabago. Sa anibersaryo ng Batas Militar sa Setyembre 21, ito ang bilin ng Rappler: mag-aral, matuto, huwag lumimot. – Rappler.com 

The Philippines faces a historical moment. Legislation can be passed that will put the Philippines on the path to sustained peace and inclusive development ending decades of conflict and marginalization in the proposed Bangsamoro.

The Constitution of the Philippines mandates a unitary state to drive development in the interests of all Filipinos. At the same time, the Constitution holds out the promise of meaningful autonomy for Muslim Mindanao and for the Cordilleras. In doing so, it seeks to balance the prerogatives of a unitary state with historical aspirations of unique identity groups who form part of the diverse mosaic of Filipino society.  

It is not an easy balance to find, and many countries—both developed and developing—are still grappling with the challenge. However, there is ample experience of successful efforts to achieve lasting peace and inclusive development through autonomy, including as seen in the Northern Ireland, Aceh and Bouganville peace agreements.  Autonomy granted in such diverse situations as Quebec (Canada), Scotland (United Kingdom) and Catalonia (Spain) offer further pointers.

First, autonomy can be meaningful. Autonomous regional governments exist that consolidate and re-allocate the powers and resources of all sub-units within their territory. Without this power, they cannot reflect the voice and aspirations of the people that they represent in their policies and programs. They cannot be effective bearers of the unique regional culture and identity that they embody.

Second, and even while it is subject to national sovereignty, autonomous regional governments enjoy the fullest esteem and consideration of the national government. The relations between the two are inter-governmental in nature, or between two governments within one unitary state. This is crucial to ensuring that those who have sought autonomy perceive themselves as having achieved it. 

Third, investment in regional autonomy provides for a sound financial base for the regional government. In addition to being able to earn its fair share of wealth from the exploitation of resources and revenue on its territory, an autonomous regional government should also receive its just portion of the national wealth.

Autonomy without the ability to finance development is meaningless.

Fourth, a regional government—for its part—can be fully accountable to its own people, and to the wider national commitment to empowerment. Its authority over its constituent local government units should not be exercised arbitrarily, but with full due process.

The fullest safeguarding of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples on its territory should be written into its very foundation.

The government should have the capacity to monitor and assess the implementation of programmes supported from its share of the national wealth, and be able to account for its performance to the whole nation.

Fifth, and finally, a regional government can have the ability to adapt the work of national institutions such as the police, the judiciary – including alternative legal systems – and the election commission to its own circumstances and those of its constituents. This ability allows autonomy to impact positively and immediately on the daily lives of citizens. 

At the end of the day, the people of the Philippines must find their own way to sustained peace and inclusive development. When Congress now deliberates on the proposed legislation on the Bangsamoro, it may wish to reflect on this international experience, and the fact that the balance between preserving the interests of a unitary state and achieving meaningful autonomy is possible and within their hands to deliver. – Rappler.com

Ola Almgren is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines.