The testimony of Edgar Matobato is rich with information that have policy implications and can therefore aid future legislation
This conference-workshop is meant to start putting the citizens and civil society at the center, not mere expectators and recipients of policies and services - but as active actors pivotal in direction-/ agenda-setting and in leading this country to a better future.
Accountability is achieved and sustained by creating and strengthening institutions. Institutions are strengthened through accountability efforts and practices.
We have advanced on so many governance reforms under the current administration, the reform of the most basic requirement of democracy, elections, continues to lag behind.
What is change? It means something different and new that comes about from the old. It is the end of the old and the beginning of something new. Change as an objective, an end, is achieved through a variety of means and ways.
Using the ways of the old to fight for the new is like becoming the enemy you want to defeat
Yes, there is something positive too about what we are going through – and how we can harvest these gains and use them to move forward will spell the difference for reforms in the country
Governance has to be reformed and made transparent, accountable and participatory because power corrupts. And in our current system, there are many ways and mechanisms that facilitate the corruption of power. The pork system was one of them. It is easy to abuse public office. The system, in fact, has been molded so that those on top can easily use and abuse it to stay in power.
An administration’s reform-mindedness or reform-orientation will be determined by its demonstrated commitment to reforming the ways by which power in government is constituted, with the elections being the most basic formal mechanism to give and enable such power.
The decision on the PDAF should be appreciated as the start of even bigger fights ahead
The politics of reforms has a rich history that traces its roots from those who fought for this country’s independence, speaks of great sacrifices for the love of country and involves engagements and bonds of individuals, groups and networks that have been here continuously posing a challenge to the status quo—the alternative stride of this country’s nation-building. The politics of reforms is now by itself a tradition that rests on the values of solidarity, participation, inclusivity, empowerment, discourse and dialogue. Arguably, the politics of reform has given birth to the government we have now.
A fight as big as bringing down the pork barrel SYSTEM will take a long time. We want to bring back the integrity of our political system. End the culture of "suhulan." Restore the effective checks-and-balance relationship between the executive and legislature. This will take a long time.
So as not to get lost in the fight and be of disservice to our cause, we need to start somewhere where there is opening. We have to understand the institutional context of the country and the power dynamics to identify that opening.
Institutions matter and institutionalizing this reform process including the political dimension of it must be attended to so that it becomes a norm and its momentum cannot easily be subverted. Patronage politics supported and fed by political elites is an all-enduring institution in the country. For it to be subverted and replaced by modern and empowering institutions, the reform process and its constituency must also take the form of institutions--repeated pattern of behavior with predictable results that is accountable and efficient. Working towards party building and party system development that is democratizing must be taken up as a critcal challenge to the reform constituencies and champions.
The Robredo case underscores one critical point for the Left: the new Left is out there. The current Left can either recognize this and do something about it, or once again be left out in the emerging politics of change.
Without a constituency rooted below in society and social movements, institutional reform will not stand a chance in Philippine politics.
Hence, if we want reforms in elections, we should build a constituency that will push for and claim those reforms. And this can only be done if electoral and party reform imperatives are mainstreamed and linked in other advocacies in governance and development work.
The news that the FOI Bill failed was frustrating, but it should serve as a wake up call. Not only that we must make power accountable, we must reconstitute power; for as it is now, the power configuration in our society only allows limited reforms and hardly any radical changes. Important legislations that deepen democracy by giving more power to the people and making the exercise of power more accountable like the FOI Bill will hardly have a chance and our toil to make a difference will be more of the same without making any difference in the existing power structure. This is why it is most critical that while we continue our governance work now, we do not lose sight of the important task of developing our political party system, continuing the political engagement with the new administration and creating a reform-oriented context for the next elections through electoral reform and political education.
Paradoxically, the Maguindanao Massacre gives the country a unique opportunity to address a long-time problem that was not a monopoly of one region or ethnic community. With this massacre, we crossed the line and the country is now on the brink of being a failed state. With this massacre, we are seeing a scale of brutality and evil that we have not seen before. We have seen political and media assassinations and we have experienced massacres of farmers and workers – but not with these targets (women, lawyers, journalists, bystanders and passersby) and not in these numbers. Lines were crossed in Maguindanao and we must all work together, and work very hard, to pull the country back from those lines. Otherwise, the consequences are unimaginable with political clans all over the country possibly believing that they too can act with impunity.
The way forward is to change the country from the base, place by place, island by island. The integration and unity must be achieved with respect to the diversity and plurality of struggles; but a conscious effort is needed by the leaders of these initiatives to connect their struggles and execute a coordinated strategy of taking power at the national level.
Once this political machinery of reform movements in the Philippines wins power, it has both the broad social base and moral ascendancy to bring a developmental and democratic state, which can effectively lead the process of nation-building. This is a formidable challenge, but it has to be done. By building on the basics, we will change the Philippines.