Friday, February 22, 2008

Questions for civil society

While people are beginning to salivate at the prospects of removing Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the mishandling of Jun Lozada and the alleged unmitigated greed and corruption of associates and family members; civil society, the most "credible" and relatively "organized" institution engaging the Arroyo administration, should apprise the Filipino people on:

1. Who are the alternative leaders that will be acceptable, morally and competently, to the people?
2. How government institutions such as COMELEC, DOJ, NEDA, Customs, DOTC, SBMA, DA/DAR, DENR, etc. will be reformed in the short-term, medium-term, and long-term?
3. How will the economic growth momentum that is occurring during the GMA administration be sustained?
4. How will the House of Representatives and Senate be reformed to make them more responsive and responsible?

Can we ask civil society to come up with a framework soonest since the la affaire Lozada might snowball into something uncontrollable?






I ask this because civil society, especially in the Philippine context, were and are active in the democratization process, in advocating for economic and policy reforms, had members who joined government, are vehicles of significant amounts of development aid funds, and have partnered with government in the delivery of numerous services and projects. They also have organizational and geographical breadth across the country. See the works of Dr. Ledevina CariƱo and Dr. Gerard Clarke, among others.

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