President: Servant-leader or Warrior-Datu? (On Noynoy Aquino as President)

President: Servant-leader or Warrior-Datu?

The debate over whether Benigno “Noynoy” Cojuangco-Aquino Jr. is of presidential timber or not is also a debate on what kind of president we want for the Philippines.

Do we want a strong arm, macho leader of the “Datu” mold? In pre-Spanish colonial Philippines, a datu was a warrior who led his clan or village into battle, either in defense or in raiding other villages. In between battles, he would ensure that his people would have enough land, fishing grounds, and hunting areas to feed themselves and reproduce socially. Thus, a datu kept his people secure; kept them full; and kept the peace.

Since the advent of American-style democratic politics, Philippine presidents have always been from the elite class. They were educated or were exposed to elite culture. They were well-off and well connected. They projected an aura of strength, vigor, courage, decisiveness, and breeding (however you define these terms). Besides, they had the resources to build up a private army if political violence was necessary. They kept their constituents happy with largesse.

Picture Datu Rajah Sulayman confronting the Spanish colonizers or an Erap eating lechon at Camp Abubakar.

However, a reading of leadership from the masses’ point of view reveals that their leader had not only Datu-qualities, but more. I’ve written before that in the Philippines, there is actually a strong culture of servant-leadership. Scholars like V. Enriquez, K. de Guia, R. Ileto, V. Rafael, M. Ramirez, among others, write of leaders that were effective because they led by serving others—like Christ. The Gawad Kalinga social movement easily comes into mind.

Tony Meloto's Builder of Dreams

In humility, in service, in providing a deep wellspring of empathy, understanding, healing of self and other, and commitment to the welfare of others, these servant-leaders developed a flock of loyal, committed, ardent, and energized followers. Embodied in the Filipino term, Kapwa, the servant-leader recognizes that Filipino personhood of self is bound up and shared with the OTHER. This is the basis for bayani, bayanihan, bayan- hero, community solidarity, nation.

In Philippine historiography, social movement leaders were infused with kapwa and its characteristics of caring, sharing, a sense of community, family, “an expanded sense of shared humanity” or kagandahang loob, katwiran (straightness), kalayaan (freedom, independence, and free will), talinhaga (imagery and vision), and lakaran (pilgrimage, sometimes for a cause).

Combined with values that are societal in nature such as karangalan (dignity), katarungan (justice), and kalayaan (freedom), these enabled a leader to mobilize, organize, and act. The results were not always favorable, but the country is not short of revolutionary heroes.

Funeral cortege for Pres. Cory Aquino in Makati City

What makes Noynoy a compelling presidential candidate is not that he is the only son of two national heroes of the Philippines who are well loved. Nelson Mandela was said to quote though to Noynoy; “So you are the son. You know how to choose your parents.” If inheritance of the Aquino mantle was the norm, then Kris Aquino, the most high profile of the Aquino siblings; possibly the richest; and the most charismatic would be the logical choice. Nevertheless, she is not acceptable at present.

Noynoy’s eulogy of his mother to his speech during the book launch of Tony Meloto’s “A Builder of Dreams” a few days ago shows not a Datu-leader, but a potential servant leader. He speaks from the heart. He is articulate. He can communicate with all sorts of folks. His low profile and humble persona is actually appealing to many of us fed up with the macho ineptness of our politicians. He is well read, well exposed, and experienced. Afterall, military rebels tried to kill him.

Noynoy Aquino speaking at the book launch of Tony Meloto's Builder of Dreams

What the country needs is a servant-leader that will let Filipinos be the best they can be. That means giving Filipinos the space, the level playing field, the dignity, and minimally, the resources to develop themselves and thereafter, the country. Filipinos are not stupid. They are survivors. They can adapt. They are innovative and creative. All they need is a political and economic space defined by meritocracy and honesty.

Can a datu-president provide this or should it be a servant-leader?

I say that Noynoy is potentially a servant-leader. I would encourage him to go on his personal lakaran (pilgrimage) to determine how he would become an effective, efficient, servant-leader, and president of the Philippines.

Develop a discipline of deep prayer and meditation.

Go on a nationwide listening and consultative tour with both leaders and the masa.

Consult with the best and brightest, but forge your own vision of what the country should be.

Learn the successes, difficulties, potentials, and dangers of social movements like Gawad Kalinga. Afterall, your campaign will be waged on a social movement platform similar to that of Barack Obama.

Marj D., a Gawad Kalinga worker, described it best when she said Noynoy running and possibly winning is “palpable.” I agree. Social movements, which Ninoy and Cory Aquino recognized as part and parcel of resistance and eventually People Power, form the basis of a strong civil society. Gawad Kalinga’s social movement of servant-leadership infused with heroism is a model that Noynoy Aquino can easily relate to. Afterall, his mother once said that “People Power is Gawad Kalinga and Gawad Kalinga is People Power.”

Noynoy running changes the tone of the elections. Will it still be guns, goons, gold, and girls? Or, will it be bayani, bayanihan, at bayan?

As the founder of the servant-leadership school of thought in the U.S., Robert Greenleaf wrote;
“THIS IS MY THESIS: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions—often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

Earth Day: Environmentalism is now LOHAS

One-Environment Philippines Portal (www.one-environment.ph)

Barack Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States has dramatically changed the discourse on the environment for the country and the world. As religious studies Prof. Ira Chenus noted in his three part article, a sitting president can set what topics are discussed, can prioritize the issues to be addressed, can choose what symbols to highlight, and can set the tone for the country. Prof. Chernus prophetically wrote a week before Obama was elected; “… the President of the United States does a lot more than make decisions about specific policies. He (or she) is an immensely powerful symbol, doing more than any other person to set the mood and tone of political life for the whole nation, as well as signaling to the whole world what the USA is really all about. Symbolism and mood-setting are a huge, though often overlooked, part of the president’s role…”

In just 100 days of office Barack Obama has radically changed the national discussion on the economy, scientific integrity, foreign policy on Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba, among others, alternative energy, global warming, and climate change. Whether one agrees with his actions and policies or not, he has been inspirational to say the least.

For the environment, Obama is the welcome rain after an eight year drought.

Do remember that during the Bush years, vapid denials of climate change, an assault on scientific research and integrity, support for pollutive corporations, and environmental discrimination were the norm. Afterall, Bush and the Republicans were pro-business with their eyes closed. Further, corporations, legal and man-made creations, argued forcefully in court numerous times that they had the same rights as human beings and citizens of the United States. It is no surprise then that greed and profit-taking no matter what were virtues during the Reagan and Bush years.

For environmentalists, the years after the 1992 U.N. Conference of Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro were a steady decline in their influence and effectiveness. There was a lot of hand-wringing and introspection, best summarized in the article Death of Environmentalism.

Today, it seems we are hopeful. The economic and environmental crises have forced all of us to rethink how we do business, consume, and live our lives. It is simply more costly in terms of money, health, safety, and security to continue on a path of unsustainable energy and conspicuous consumption. In the United States, some of the biggest companies have disappeared because of a lack of foresight. Auto companies, for example, have long used their Washington connections and paid lobbyists to delay the updating of emissions standards and auto efficiency. They look pathetic these days begging for money just to survive. Agrochemical companies look like corporate bullies trying to pressure Michelle Obama to use agrochemicals in the White House organic garden she recently established.

With scientific paper after scientific paper coming out warning us of the dire effects of greenhouse gases and climate change, the climate change denialists have returned to their villages or rather caves and have wisely decided to keep quiet. Has their funding run out?

As a participant and witness to the surge of environmentalism in the 1980s and early 1990s, only to watch it wane with the rise of the go-go neoliberal years worldwide, I am amazed at the comeback of the global environmental movement. I look back at the hand wringing of the environmental activists and debate whether the analysis in Death of an Environmentalist was correct. There are differences and the following show why this time around, environmentalism is here to stay.

1. Mainstreaming of environmentalism

Environmental issues are now part of everyday language and debate. It is now neither esoteric nor the domain of specialists. Environmentalists are no longer the highly educated, snooty, and condescending experts they were perceived to be. Today, the urban gardener, the cancer survivor, the worried mother, the last of the farmers, and the fisherman are all environmentalists and rightly so. Protecting the environment and conserving our finite natural resources are a concern and responsibility of all. More people are now conversant and understand environmental issues. Public education and the mass media, of course, had important roles to play in the mainstreaming of the environment.

Take Earth Day for example. Celebrated every April 22, first held in 1970, and founded by then U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes, and separately by peace activist John McConnell, the Earth Day Network has more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. They estimate that over a billion people participated in Earth Day activities, possibly the largest non-religious event in the world. For 2009, Earth Day celebrations include the launch of the two-year Green Generation Campaign on carbon footprint reduction and the creation of a new green economy.

2. Rise of LOHAS

LOHAS

Affluence, access to better medical facilities and services, better nutrition, and hygiene have extended lifespans and improved quality of life indicators. Accessible information on the deleterious effects of unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, chemical drug use, and alcohol as well as that of industrial pollution have forced individuals and communities to confront these challenges.

Today, demographic shifts are towards an increasing number of people have chosen lifestyles of health and sustainability (LOHAS). Not only is this healthy, but in many cases, cheaper and gentler on the environment. The LOHAS sector is a fast expanding market estimated at $209-400 billion.

Lastly, I am also of the view that most people, deep down, have values that are environmentally conscious and consistent with a sustainable, socially responsible, and/or healthier lifestyle.

3. Legislation and litigation have reigned in excesses

In the past 40 years, very public and decisive legal cases in numerous countries, both developing and developed, have forced legislatures to pass environmental laws. In the United States, there is the NEPA, Endangered Species, Clean Air Act, among many others. In the Philippines, which has similar a environmental regulatory framework, the EIA, air and water pollution control, mining, and wildlife laws among others have provided regulatory guidance to officials, corporations, and communities.

Civil society has been proactive and innovative in environmental actions. Governments, corporations, and civil society have been at the forefront and receiving end of legal action on environmental issues.

Thus, pollution and environmental degradation are now perpetrated by outliers. The first outliers are the very rich and powerful sectors, mostly corporations, who bribe and corrupt their way into exploiting natural resources and public goods. The second would be the very poor with limited options and access to environmental, social, and economic services and resources. For the former, their actions are illegal, criminal, and immoral and can be addressed with law enforcement. They can also be societally ostracized.  For the latter, it is addressing poverty and making them partners in development.  

4. Environmental and economic crises are pushing for a green economy.

As noted earlier, energy and fuel consumption has increased significantly worldwide. However, fossil fuels are a finite resource. With greater demand and limited supplies, fuel prices are bound to increase at worse, and fluctuate at best. Also, fossil fuels contribute to global warming with disastrous consequences. As New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said recently, it makes economic sense to invest in green technology, a green economy, and a green lifestyle.

A green economy that generates green jobs is what will start the economic recovery caused by an unregulated FIRE (finance, insurance, and real estate) economy.

FIRE economy (Figure from www.fireeconomy.com)

Obama has pledged $10-15 billion a year for the next decade to fund the green economy. This will have multiplier effects worldwide as other countries follow suit.

5. The environmental-LOHAS revolution will be digital

Information and communication technologies (ICT) and social networking media will support and expand the above four phenomena. ICT will facilitate information exchange and importantly, mobilizing and organizing for the environment- LOHAS. For those in the green economy, ICT will be important in not only branding and marketing, but in service provision. ICT will open up new opportunities and vistas for environmentalists.

Like the United States, the Philippines is in a unique position to ride this green wave. We have the demographics, a young, educated, and literate population that can harness the opportunities and technologies. We can organize and mobilize to the community level-Gawad Kalinga has shown this- to become environmental and green economy leaders.

The Philippines can leapfrog into a green economy uplifting itself from the morass of poverty, inequality, and social exclusion.

The dawn of LOHAS and the green economy has arrived.  What will you be doing?

The Filipino-American Students Association (FASA) of the University of Arizona celebrated their annual FIESTA last Saturday, 18 April 2009. They held a raffle to benefit Gawad Kalinga. FASA is a strong supporter of GK Arizona.

Maraming salamat FASA at mabuhay!

Gawad Kalinga: “The Filipino is worth living for”

Twenty-eight years ago, a man was shot on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport. Being the most prominent dissident to the Marcos regime, they warned him that he risked death should he return. Unfazed, he said; “The Filipino is worth dying for…” On August 21, 1983, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was shot upon arrival from the U.S. Nearly three years later, People Power led to the ouster of Marcos after 21 years in power.

Seventeen years after Marcos’ overthrow, People Power was mobilized to address another of the country’s scourge—poverty and social exclusion. Supported by former President Corazon Aquino, Ninoy’s widow, People Power for nation building is what characterizes Gawad Kalinga.

Gawad Kalinga seeks to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years for the poorest of the poor. In a country of nearly 90 million people and close to half living below the poverty line, GK seeks to address poverty from a grounds up, self-reliance, and sharing and caring model. Gawad means to give or award. Kalinga means “care”—Gawad Kalinga is “to give care." Since then, it has established at least 30,000 homes in about 2,000 communities.

Only a holistic program that develops the individual, family, and community will succeed in building strong institutions in the Philippines. Only organized, principled, and economically and environmentally sustainable communities can survive and withstand the vagaries of Philippine politics, poverty, inequality, and social exclusion.

More needs to be done and more poor Filipinos need to be helped. Why wait for an armed revolution or a breakdown in society to change, when there is an alternative way based on love, sharing and caring, and padugo- bleeding for the cause?

Gawad Kalinga is building God’s Kingdom here on earth. GK can be a global template for development. The Filipino is definitely worth dying for. GK shows us that the Filipino is also worth living for. Mabuhay po kayo!

The GK Way

Gawad Kalinga photoset

Last March 17 - 21, 2009, during Spring Break, I drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico to speak at a two part- panel I organized for the Society of Applied Anthropology (SFAA) annual conference. This year’s conference theme was entitled: Global Challenge, Local Action: Ethical Engagement, Partnerships, and Practice. My panel, on the other hand, was entitled: The Possibilities of Doing Good, Social Movements in an age of Neoliberalism. My panel sought to discuss how social change can be pursued sustainably. We were attracted to the perspective of political scientist Karol Soltan looked at social changes as large scale, requiring either revolution or extensive institutional reform, have consequences that are pervasive in society, and have long term effects. My fellow panelists presented on a number of social movements worldwide, from Mexico to Italy to my own presentation on Gawad Kalinga. All noted that working with the bottom of the pyramid and/or the poorest of the poor enabled social change. Many of these have been replicated elsewhere and are “scalable” globally.

When we think of social movements, environmental, nuclear, civil rights, peace, feminist, pro-life, and gun-rights movements quickly come to mind. Common to these groups are a penchant to protest or advocate for their respective causes. They mass mobilize, communicate their message, and seek resources to push their agenda. Lastly, they confront either the state or prevailing cultural codes in the hope of engendering change. Social movements in this sense operate in a conflict environment.

Civil society in America is undoubtedly tied to the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville’s (1835) writings on American democracy and civil society. He highlighted the check and balance role played by civil society in ensuring that power does not centralize toward the state. Traveling across the United States, he cited several examples of how diverse civic, professional, religious, secular, and ordinary groups of citizens engage in varied activities to promote democracy, transparency and accountability, public commerce, public safety, morality, and so on. He contrasted what he observed in America with France’s ancient regime, which failed to channel social pressures and dissent into institutions of politics and social justice designed to address these issues. Tocqueville emphasized the necessity of civil society as a countervailing force to despotism and state’s tendency to centralize power and undermine democracy.

Modernization theorists in the 1950 and 1960s built on Tocqueville’s writings to reiterate the importance of civil society especially in mediating social conflicts brought about social change, economic development, socio-economic mobilization, and political competition. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, resistance to dictators and authoritarian rule, civil and human rights, as well as environmental, feminist, and cultural issues reignited interest in civil society, praxis, social movements. Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa were arenas of contention as U.S-backed dictatorships as well as communist-states crumbled amidst poverty, inflation, and the weight of their respective despotism. In Asia, the Philippines is one of the first countries that mobilized people power in the pursuit of democracy and governance.

Gawad Kalinga is different in that it seeks to present another side of social movements.



Simply, GK seeks to solve societal problems. While some GK advocates and volunteers may still be involved in protest and advocacy personally, GK activities are primarily focused on problem solving, capacity building, and empowerment. GK even works with those others would consider adversaries to solve problems of poverty, lack of social services, urban blight, environmental degradation, social exclusion, and lack of public education facilities, among others. They will agree to disagree so that urgent problems can be addressed.

From the very home they repaired and the very first they built in Bagong Silang, Kalookan City, there are now up to 2,000 GK communities in various stages of development all over the country. GK continues to replicate and scale up because of the selflessness of the CFC core of volunteers and partnerships with the national government, over 300 mayors, over a 100 corporations, over 150 schools and universities, the Filipino diaspora and their foreign friends, the tri-media, and on-line communities. GK has entered Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, India and has Africa in its eyesight. GK has established a decentralized GK Builders Institute (GKBI) nestled in various universities to “converge” their organizational and technical expertise at the most local level—the GK village. This is the hoped for melding of the ‘science and spirit’ of community development.

What is enabling GK’s success? From a social movement perspective, it is passion that drives the movement. In GK, it is passion shared by many who are willing to sacrifice or in GK’s case, padugo. Padugo enables initial success as when GK build the first communities with its resources. Padugo builds character, provides leeway for experimentation and recoverable failure, and importantly, generates credibility. Credibility borne out of padugo attracts partners. Once partnerships reach a critical mass the movement snowballs. It is then nurtured by creativity and innovation in its organizational and mobilization aspects. Gawad Kalinga, at its essence, has always been a movement based on holistic human development that is being upscaled.

What happened to politics and governance? What happened to fighting corruption, which is endemic in the Philippines, some would say? Our answer is: does politics need to be verbalized? Are conflict and confrontation the only tactics and strategies available? How about engagement? How about leading by example, by padugo? How about tapping our cultural values of bayani, bayanihan, and pagbabalik-loob to spur change, reform, and nation building? Heroism especially by martyrdom may spur a revolution, but making the revolution a success needs the heroism of those alive and working day after day at social change.

Thus, in Gawad Kalinga’s perspective, fundamental change in society is possible by making the poor our partners in development. Only when they can provide for themselves and their families; only when they can live in dignity and have their “pagkatao” back, can they participate meaningfully in democracy and make informed choices on national development. The model of what is now known as Gawad Kalinga had started with home building. Providing homes that were comfortable and secure (tenancy-wise) enabled families to save, invest, regain their dignity, and rebuild their lives. From the few homes that they fixed, the results were dramatic. Yet these youth and their families struggled to renew themselves in a slum community. The scale of renewal needed to be enlarged. Stable families could build stable communities.

GK facilitates this process by rebuilding poor communities, make available housing, health and nutrition, education, values transformation, organization at the community level, and productivity and livelihood. This is transformation that is comprehensive and holistic. When people are not hungry and sick, then they can vote in the right politicians or they can demand reform. Political participation requires resources, time, and effort. Citizens must be able to “afford it.” Gawad Kalinga fits into what the late Jesuit historian, Horacio dela Costa outlined for Philippine development. The Filipino people must do three things, namely: (a) build and strengthen communities; (b) link the communities with common goals-ideally national goals; and, (c) recapture the bureaucracy.

I have a particular affinity for what some call the soft aspects of development, the culture so to speak. The anthropologist Oscar Lewis (1959) spoke of a culture of poverty, while James Fallows (1987) spoke of the Philippine’s damaged culture. But a clearer understanding and appreciation of the potentialities of the poor, their resilience, their inner strength, despite what Dominican priest and anthropologist Miguel Rolland said was the “absurdity and impossibility of their situation and existence” holds many lessons for us. It is a window to the resilience of the poor and our own culture. It is also the basis for nation building. Are the patterns emerging for a truly global model of human development and nation building that is a synthesis of family and faith-based human development complemented by capacity building and attention to the needs and aspirations of the household?

U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney at GK BASECO with GK kids learning ESCRIMA/KALI

A good society has shared traits that promote the common good. Human liberty, at its core, is about freedom and responsibility. Responsibility implies social interaction and community. Community development denotes collective desire, want, and action to change a political-economic and social situation deemed unjust and unsatisfactory. Social movements are dynamic form of collective action. Their emergence result from the intermingling of individual experience and motivation, framing of the issues and societal structure that give rise to opportunities for mobilization. A complementary rather than competitive approach incorporates the various strands of social movement theorizing. Social movements generate mechanisms for articulating and asserting collective interests that are unmet by established institutions such as political parties, the bureaucracy, and the market. Unlike established institutions, social movements are porous, have high structural flexibility, are adaptive, have broad repertoire of actions including disruptive tactics. It is less bound by the organizational logic. As Melucci (1984:830) noted, “the movement is the message.”

The literature on engendering change and community development, from anthropology to sociology, social psychology, and social economics, among others, call for a values-based paradigm that is creative, transparent, engaging, and participatory. In other words, revolutionary/ disruptive change is really through culture work that is creative, positive, optimistic, and charismatic. The search is for a transformational social movement. In the GK model, we can see discern this “culture work”

The Gawad Kalinga model points to the burgeoning anthropological study of “successful outcomes of civically engaged communities” as the anthropologist David Stoll (2002) noted. Gawad Kalinga shows the inherent value of convergence, of not only individuals, organizations, and communities, but that of the art, science, system, and faith of community development and nation building.

GK’s Boy Montelibano articulates this best when he says that GK is successful when the “GK Way” of community and town development is adopted by communities and cities. The transformation of Bagong Silang, Kalookan and the quest of Taguig to become a “Designer City” are concrete examples of the “GK Way.”

When Satire Fails, Chip Tsao and his defenders

HK Magazine/Asia City apology

Based on web postings, Tsao has apologized twice. His magazine pulled the article and apologized. Nevertheless, a handful of Manila pundits continue to defend Tsao on the grounds that it was: (a) a satire, (b) the country’s political-economic policies and situation have led to the export of Philippine labor as commodities, and (c) Louisa is not real.

The three reasons are not acceptable reasons for insulting people, worse, a nation, worst, a vulnerable population.

Tsao’s cheap satire failed because:

1. It wasn’t funny at all;
2. It did not create an exaggerated view or a dissonance or unbelievable scene of what is real and what he wrote about—that is what satire is suppose to do;
3. It can and was interpreted in different ways by different readers and audiences;
4. The target audience, what blogger Kenneth Maclean calls the “teachable audience”, in this case, will take some time and more explaining to appreciate/understand Tsao’s piece;
5. It can and will reinforce racist and elitist stereotypes of Filipinos, OFWs, and the working poor. The rule of thumb in lampooning OTHERS is first to be part of that community;
6. Those who appreciated Tsao’s piece are a narrow swath of the readers;
7. The dynamics for ONLINE satire include greater chance for misinterpretation, reaction, including emotional reaction, diverse readership, diverse cultural interpretation of the written word, and the possibility of instant fact-checking, including background checking to establish the credibility of the satirist. These require a greater sensitivity, skill, and nuance, which Tsao obviously does not have.

Thus, Tsao’s intended goal of his piece (satire of HK politics) is vastly different from what Filipino Tsao defenders cite (critic of Philippine government) and from what many Filipinos interpret (racist and elitist).

Contrary to what a few have said, facts do matter. This is especially so when attempting a satire concerning an emotionally and politically charged issue such as OFWs or even the Spratlys. See the Seven Rules of Satire.

When satire goes wrong, the consequences are personal to the author. Rough examples include:

• Don Imus’ “nappy headed hoes” comment;
• Malu Fernandez’s OFW comments;
• The New Yorker caricature of the Obama couple;
• Racist radio skits in the United States and England; and,
• The Desperate Housewives saga.

A good discussion on satire and when it goes wrong can be seen in the articles The Carnival Mirror: Political Satire and How it Does, or Doesn’t ‘Work’ and Satire is hard to write, not for everyone. The satire scholar is Paul Simpson and his On Discourse of Satire.

The question is: who would you allow to control the discourse on fundamental issues?

Recent history and events show that insulting and maltreating OFWs is bound to cause conflict. The Flor Contemplacion case, the Desperate Housewives saga, the beheadings in the Middle East, etc. In the US, Google Philip Vera Cruz. In all these, the common theme is OFWs striving for dignity or pagkatao.

When Filipinos post articles related to and supporting Tsao’s satire or actually write and defend Tsao, I interpret it to mean that they support Tsao’s satire, which many of us find insulting. Where does that leave us? I think they are pushing a political or ideological agenda at the expense of the dignity and pagkatao of the OFW. If one doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say, read up on Vicente Rafael and Reynaldo Ileto.

I will be the first to admit my thoughts on not talking ill of the vulnerable are not original. My dissertation research on Gawad Kalinga these past few years made me realize that work with the poor programs start with trying to understand how the poor feel, think about, and experience their situation. The books of Reynaldo Ileto and Vicente Rafael practically rewrote the groundbreaking work of T. Agoncillo and R. Constantino. Katrin de Guia’s Kapwa is another must read. What I realized from them is that when we, “educated, modern,urban, middle class, even western trained” people, look at the emotional or even juramentado acts of the masses as only that we totally miss the point and their worldview. These emotional outbursts were actually a search for “kalooban” and “pagkatao”. In other words the poor are constantly in search of human and personal dignity. The last chapter of anthropologist Fenella Cannell’s dissertation and book on a Bicol community, Power and Intimacy in Christian Philippines, is a great summary of this perspective. In Brazil it is Paulo Freire and his Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Tsao and his Filipino defenders need to be “transformed” by this realization that the poor need emotional nurturing. As Gawad Kalinga’s Tony Meloto likes to say, “We must treat the poor as if they were our own children.” Filipino pundits and intellectuals, especially those from the University of the Philippines, know this somewhat already, hence the risk of taking it all for granted. They along with other Filipinos “factor in” the poor in their/our lives. So the comment is “alam na natin yan” (We know that already). We risk looking beyond the poor…until the next insult.

Second, migration is caused by both push and pull factors. Corrupt officials and politicians, economic difficulties, environmental crises, etc. push people to migrate. Pull factors include demand for labor, better opportunities, personal ties and networks in receiving areas, an urge for travel, risk, and exploration, etc. The OFW phenomenon is dynamic. Indeed, they have been abused and exploited at both ends. However, OFW are humans, therefore they have agency. They are not passive. In case you have not noticed, they are mobilizing, online and offline. They are making demands. And one thing they will not tolerate is being insulted by a satirist who is then backed up by pundits. Tsao’s article was not funny to them.

My last point about OFWs. Every day abroad is a learning experience. It is experiential, thus they grow everyday. The loneliness and the lonely nights alone, away from their families allow them to reflect on their situation and their lives, i.e. reflexivity. They are more observant, more thoughtful. This is their re-education. They protested with their feet. When they return, they will take with them a more assertive voice, resources to spur change, and the skills and outlook needed in national development. Manila’s intellectual pundits have failed to account for these.

If anyone wants to change Philippine society and promote an ideological agenda, that person should not support and rationalize acts that insult the Filipino identity and insult a vulnerable segment of the Filipino population, the OFWs.

Change starts with identity formation.

BNPP-Bataan Nuclear Power Plant: Buy Nuclear, Poor Perish

NO to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (from http://notobnpp.wordpress.com/resources/)

Once again, there are talks about operating the Marcos white elephant Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) with Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco filing a revised House Bill no. 4631 calling for the “rehabilitation, commissioning and commercial operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP)” after immediate and widespread opposition to the first draft of the bill. Rep. Cojuangco and the few pushing for nuclear power state that the country needs a cheap, reliable source of electricity before the energy shortage that is expected to occur in 2012.

Others have implied that nuclear power safety has improved in industrialized countries, including Japan as Inquirer columnist and economics professor Solita Collas-Monsod wrote recently. Therefore, the same standards can be applied to the Philippines. Third, having spent more than $2 billion dollars on initial investments and debt servicing, the BNPP should be put to good use to recoup these investments as Department of Energy Angelo Reyes was quoted earlier. These reasons are, to this writer, not enough to risk operating the BNPP. I have very, very strong reservations AGAINST nuclear power as a source of electricity.

Mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Philippines (photo by I. Rotaru at IAEA website)

The research field of risk and society posits that the nuclear power sector is a “very tightly coupled” sector. That means that the operations are complex, require a very high degree of coordination and communication, and are very “unforgiving of error” as L.M Lidsky and M. M. Miller write in Science and Global Security. Nuclear power plants have catastrophic consequences when things go wrong. This is because of their complex, tightly coupled, and highly interactive systems of operation. Charles Perrow wrote about this in his best selling book Normal Accidents where he analyzed the Three Mile nuclear plant accident from a risk perspective.

Nuclear plants in particular require a high level of redundant safety and operating systems and procedures, highly trained operators, and up-to-date technology. It is interactive because all these need to be simply in sync with one another. Linear systems are best represented by an assembly line that is relatively loosely organized/coupled. Breakdowns are easily managed and the losses are in monetary and time parameters. Nuclear plants are complex systems and tightly coupled with varying and multiple consequences.

Coupling is a engineering concept wherein loosely coupled systems are flexible enough to address “shocks, failures, and pressure for change without destabilization”(Pickard 2005). Tightly coupled systems are more sensitive to changes and the response could be catastrophic if not handled properly. Nuclear power plants are time and sequential-dependent and leave little room for error because of the chemical reaction processes and safety procedures involved. There is little room for slack, error, and delay. Accidents and incidents occur not only in linear (cause-effect) but in complex ways (multiple causes-multiple effects and consequences over time and space). While redundant systems are possible, this is very expensive and does not fully address the human-error, human neglect, and human laziness aspects.

Assessing the risks, impacts, and costs of nuclear power has to include the nuclear fuel cycle. This includes uranium ore deposit exploration; mining of uranium ores; refining; enriching; processing and fabricating of fuel; construction of nuclear power plant; operation of reactor; re-processing of used fuel; fabricating new fuel; treatment of radioactive wastes; long-term storage of the wastes; and de-commissioning the reactor after its end-life. Emeritus professor at the University of Illinois and adjunct geology professor at the University of the Philippines Kelvin S. Rodolfo recently wrote a position paper on the risks of operating the BNPP.

Specifically for nuclear power, you will also have to create an institution similar to the church with its long lasting existence to take care of the wastes, which degrade only after thousands of years. All these have implications on cost, time, and effort, which make nuclear power generation a very expensive endeavor.

Is this the legacy we want to leave future generations?

Prof. Monsod raised the good nuclear safety record of Japan. On the contrary, Japan of recent times has had serious issues about its safety record. These are easily accessible on the Web. We found a number of serious accidents (systemic and involves multiple parts and processes of the operating system), incidents (localized accidents), including deaths and injuries. Further, Japan has entered an era of increased seismic activity as noted in Ishibashi Katsuhiko’s article.

Steam from the 2004 Mihama nuclear plant accident. Photo from Japan Focus website

Lastly, a significant number of Japan’s nuclear power plants are up for rehabilitation or decommissioning because of their age. While this presents a significant opportunity for new investments in nuclear technology in Japan, which is poor in natural resources; the investment and depreciation costs for operating a nuclear power plant for 40 years is prohibitive as it is risky. Apparently, there is no consensus in Japan on nuclear power.

One of the nuclear power boosters campaign pledges will be to maintain developed country standards in operating the BNPP. This has cost implications. In the United States, a new nuclear power plant will cost from $14 to $24 billion. The proposed Yucca Mountain radioactive waste storage has a projected cost as of August 2008 of $96.2 billion if ever the project overcomes opposition and pushes through.

Lastly, any elementary economist will state that the $2 billion (mis)spent on the BNPP is considered sunk costs. Sunk costs are unrecoverable. Only variable costs determine whether to continue investing or not in a business activity. As sunk costs, it has no bearing on whether we operate the BNPP even though we are spending PhP40 million annually to maintain it. The variable costs behoove us to decide on dismantling the BNPP and converting it to a safe and alternative energy power plant. It is NOT rational as the economists would say to consider sunk costs in deciding whether to continue a project or not.

These days of economic crisis and climate change present an opportunity for the Philippines to enter an era of sustainability. The investment cost for opening the BNPP can be better put to good use make the Philippines a global leader in alternative energy.

Re-opening the Bataan nuclear power plan is a step back to the stone age…after the mushroom cloud that can happen.

The BNPP is unBearable Nuclear Pain and Plight.

Saan Ka Nakatira? Ano ang ginagawa mo?

GK Pandi homes, June 2008

Saan Ka Nakatira? Ano ang ginagawa mo? Where do you live? What do you do?

These two questions define who you are and what your identity is. These two questions either bring you confidence or shame, hope or despondency, contentment or anger. “I live in (fill in the blanks) and I am the father/mother/brother/sister/son/daughter of (fill in the blanks). I am a (fill in the blanks)” define who you are on so many levels, be it gender, class, status, or other cultural markers of age education, and, work. As E. F. Schumacher noted, work enables man to develop and use his talents to meet his needs in a way that builds community and solidarity. The poor though have neither a voice nor a stake in society because they don’t have meaningful work that meets their needs.

Imagine if you were an informal dweller, derisively called a squatter, living a hand-to-mouth existence, with many children, little or no education, no job or underemployed, and in debt. What are your chances of improving your family’s situation in this lifetime? What can you do? Who can you run to for help? Who can actually help you?

A home in the garbage dump of Payatas

What if there at least 2.5 million of you in a metropolitan area? What kinds of conditions do you and your family live in? How do you cope and survive? What options do you have? Multiply this with numerous cities in a country and in every country and you have what sociologist Mike Davis calls the making of a “planet of slums.”

The twin problems of poverty and homelessness, according to Gawad Kalinga’s Tony Meloto, are so massive that neither government nor the private sector can solve it alone. Government and the private sector must come together, along with each and every Filipino, to discover new ways of addressing the causes of poverty in ways that are sustainable, equitable, and which build solidarity.

ANCOP GK\'s Be Part of the Miracle poster

Unsquatting “squatters” is a good entry point in this endeavor. By building homes for them, we rebuild the lives of the poorest of the poor. The dignity of the homeless is restored and he and his family have a secure place to improve the family situation. “Squatters” pay more for basic utilities because of the legal uncertainty they are in. Helping slum dwellers with housing, values transformation, community organizing, health, education, environment, and productivity programs empower them and make them productive members of society. This is what Gawad Kalinga is about.

Coming together requires a setting where friendships can be made. These friendships form the basis for a long-term relationship built on trust, cooperation, sharing, and caring. This context is important because if it is conducive to friendship, then hurts can be healed, faults acknowledged, wrongs forgiven, and changes made. If the rich and poor, powerful and powerless, come together in friendship, then change is possible in the context of “less for self, more for others, enough for all.” This enabling environment for community development is what we all desire.

Many Filipinos and Fil-Ams made the great escape from poverty, graft, corruption, and a generation-long dictatorship in the Philippines to become successful. Either they migrated and made it or they bunkered down and succeeded in a harsh environment. They now need to come together if they want to see a Philippines that is progressive and equitable; a Philippines that is secure, prosperous, and opportunity-laden for their children. They can make it happen. As Gawad Kalinga has been able to provide this enabling environment, Fil-Ams and Fil-Canadians have been coming together and have so far funded 323 of the over 1,000 GK Villages in the Philippines.

On September 6, 2008, Saturday, 26 cities in the United States and Canada will hold the 3^rd Annual GK Walk with a theme of ONE Continent, ONE Cause, ONE step closer to eradicating poverty. The GK Walk seeks to generate greater awareness of the GK movement of caring for the poorest of the poor. It seeks to build solidarity and community among the estimated four million Fil-Ams, Fil-Canadians and their American and Canadian friends and relatives. It also seeks to encourage participation in the GK One Million Bayani (GK1MB) and GK Village Builder corps of volunteers/partners.

ANCOP GK Walk poster

To be able to help the poor, we must first become friends to one another.

What better way to start it than through a healthy walk followed by a fiesta picnic?

Check out http://www.ancopusa.org/gkwalk/ for participating cities.

Abra's bamboo jeep

Chris Adriatico's bamboo jeep. Since 1992...

Breakthrough Bamboo

In recent times, designers, engineers, and social entrepreneurs have shown the versatility of bamboo in a diverse range of uses and items. It is now used as a component material in car parts, computer equipment, musical instruments, as a building and even bridge construction material, ecosystem rehabilitation, tourist site, pulp and paper production, furniture, handicrafts, food, medicinal purposes, and for tools, among others. As Michael Block of Green Living Tips wrote, you can eat, wear, and build with bamboo. The Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) notes that Thomas Edison supposedly used a carbonized bamboo filament in his experiments in developing the light bulb. Alexander Graham Bell also used bamboo for his first phonograph needle. Patricia Mayville-Cox calls it the new cotton.

Interest is high because of bamboo’s characteristics. It is a grass of the family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, and tribe Bambuseae. Bamboo has around 92 genera and at least 1,000 species. It is present practically all over the world. In the Philippines, where it is generally called “kawayan,” there are 62 bamboo species grown, 21 species of which are endemic to the country. Ten are commercially-important species. Bamboo is present and/or grown in an area covering an estimated 39,200 to 52,700 ha. (Rojo 1999). Thus, bamboo is a renewable resource, grows fast, is durable, has natural beauty, is easy to maintain, and has many commercial applications including as a replacement of wood. It captures carbon dioxide. It is a green material. It promotes green technology and innovation.

Bamboo computers

Dell recently came out with an eco-computer in bamboo casing. To be released later this year, Dell says it will be 81% smaller than current desktops and will use 70% less power. ASUS also debuted its bamboo line of laptops and computer peripherals at CeBIT in Germany. Apparently, according to EcoGeek, there is a market for bamboo and wood framed computer and electronic equipment.

Bamboo bridges

Bamboo has a long history in construction. It is used as scaffolding and panels for concrete casting. China recently opened its fist bridge that could be used by trucks. A 10 meter, eight-ton capacity bridge opened to traffic last December 12, 2007 in Leiyang, Hunan Province. Designed by Professor Yan Xiao at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering, the Leiyang bridge has significant implications on structural bamboo and pedestrian crossings and bridges in bamboo-rich developing countries.

It is also complements earthquake architecture. Bamboo structures of the National Bamboo Project in Limon, Costa Rica survived the devastating earthquake of 1992. Architect Michael McDonough is building a demonstration 33-meter bamboo bridge in a temperate redwood rainforest near Mendocino, California. The objective is to build on the experimental models developed in the 1960s in the United States by Buckminster Fuller and Robert LeRicolais. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate bamboo’s structural and aesthetic capabilities.

Bamboo vehicles

Bamboo is a viable material for transportation. In Cambodia, people exasperated with the woeful rail service, built their own bamboo train that reaches speeds of 40km/h (25mph). In Africa, the Design for Development Society is spearheading the design and development of emergency medical transportation devices (EMTD). Using the criteria of site specific materials, designs, and systems; the organization has identified bamboo has a key material. Hence, they are looking at designing, producing, and piloting five bamboo ambulances.

Bamboo bikes

For me personally, there are exciting developments vis-à-vis bamboo and biking. In this era of permanent sky-high oil prices, biking is getting a second look as a healthy and cheap alternative vehicle. In recent years, innovative designers have taken to bamboo as the material for bike frames. Craig Calfee of Calfee Design has designed and tested a bamboo bike and concludes that they are just as good, if not better than the usual high-tech materials used. His high-performance bamboo bike frames sell in the$2500 range.

Calfee is not only a bike businessman, but someone who believes in the potential of the bike to help societies. He partnered up with the Earth Institute at Columbia University to develop a bamboo bike program in Ghana. The potential to scale up and replicate is significant.

Inspired by Calfee, Bruno Meres, an engineer and industrial designer based in Bratislava, Slovakia, designed his own bamboo bike. His innovation is a woven bamboo bike frame. After one year of intense use, the bike is in good shape. He also noted that bamboo makes the bike ride less jarring.

Bamboo bikes have a long history. The Veteran Cycle Club notes that in England, Patent No.8274 filed on April 26, 1894, was on a bamboo bike. In the London Stanley Show of 1894, bamboo bikes were a show sensation. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a company named London Stanley sold a bamboo bike model in 1898. Today, a complete do-it-yourself bamboo bike construction manual can be found at Instructables.com.

Bamboo should be a leading material in the Philippines and Filipinos should be experts in bamboo application. Afterall, it is part and parcel of our culture, history, and environment. We’ve used it for housing, furniture, ritual, games, food, medicine, tools, etc. Heck, we even have one of the most spectacular bamboo organs in the world, the Las Piñas Bamboo organ.

Gerry Brioso referred us to the bamboo jeep in Bangued, Abra, where government worker Chris Adriatico built a bamboo jeep as early as 1992. Local officials also use a bamboo vehicle, seen below, in official activities to promote bamboo use in the province. Kitschy, but an attention getter.

Bamboo is high tech and green tech.

Bamboo is a sustainable business for Filipinos.

Additional information:

Master Plan for the Development of Bamboo as a Renewable and Sustainable Resource. 1997.

Rivera, Merlyn N. (N.D.) Philippine National Report on Bamboo and Rattan. Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), College, Laguna, Philippines.

Rojo, J. 1999. ‘Bamboo Resources of the Philippines’, In Proceedings of the First National Conference on Bamboo, Iloilo City, Philippines, 65-70.

ONE a Filipino Celebration: Fil-Ams’ coming out party

This coming Memorial Day Weekend, May 24, 2008, the busiest highway in the United States will be the Filipino-American Highway (CA 54-CA 125). Thousands of Fil-Ams and Filipinos are joining a huge motorcade to launch the Gawad Kalinga ONE celebration at Kimball Park, National City, Metro San Diego, starting at 10 a.m.

ONE a Filipino Celebration seeks to honor and celebrate the Filipino dream for solidarity and pride in our culture. Now is a good time to do so, and San Diego is the ideal site to celebrate the best in the Filipino.

Afterall, Fil-Ams comprise the largest Asian/Pacific Islander population in San Diego County with a population of over 145,000 as of 2005. San Diego City alone has 75,000 Fil-Ams. Fil-Ams have been present in San Diego since 1903 when a handful of Filipino students attended State Normal Street, now known as San Diego Sate University. Fil-Ams since then have been an integral part of the socio-economic and political life of San Diego.

Fil-Ams in San Diego have an estimated median household income of $56,264, a per capita income of $17,835 and a disposable income of $1.97 billion as of 2006. Over half of Fil-Am occupations are white collar with 32% in management or professional positions and another 29% in sales and office work. Another 18% are in the services sector (Sources: Asian Pacific Legal Center 2005, U.S. Census 2000, Filipino American Development Initiatives 2006, www.gk777sd.com).

Nationally, about four million Filipinos live in the United States and have a median annual income of $65,700 second only to East Indians (U.S. Dept. of State Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs 2007, U.S. Census Bureau 2004). In the U.S. Census Bureau of 2002, Fil-Americans owned over 125,000 businesses, employed close to 132,000 people, and generated nearly $14.4 billion in revenue. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) estimated that at least 65% of the remittances to the Philippines in the year 2000 came from the United States.

Clearly, Fil-Ams are significant economic group in the United States and the Philippines.

Victoria P. Garchitorena (2007), President of Ayala Foundation Inc. noted that this “culture of migration” of Filipinos not only has influenced development in the Philippines; two sets of phenomena have also emerged. The first is the development of an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) middle class with “aspirations, ambitions, and ideas” for a better future for their children that includes education and demands for better services and governance. The second is that overseas Filipinos are major contributors of “time, talent, treasures”.

The reasons for this philanthropic spirit include a desire to give back and help the mother country, the Filipino culture of compassion to the poor, underprivileged relatives and town mates, a wish to maintain ties with the homeland, and a concrete expression of their faith and values of sharing and caring.

Garchitorena and the Institute for Migration and Development Issues’ (IMDI 2006) Jeremiah Opiniano note that about 3,000 Filipino associations exist in the United States alone. Many of these associations are conduits for donations and assistance to the Philippines. These associations vary in type such as hometown associations, professional groups, alumni associations, community organizations, faith-based groups, student associations, cultural associations, national associations, and dedicated and public charities. Recipients of their aid include churches and other faith-based institutions, universities and colleges, hospitals, NGOs and foundations, government, direct to individuals, and special projects and initiatives.

This diasporan philanthropy is no clearer in the work of Gawad Kalinga supporters and volunteers in the United States. Of the 1,700 Gawad Kalinga communities established in the Philippines since 2003, 311 were sponsored by Fil-Americans and their friends and relatives. Two successful San Diego businessmen alone, Tony Olaes of ODMart and Robert Sanchez of GlobalTel Media, have committed to funding 20 GK villages and at least 4,000 GK homes respectively. Both are incidentally, the key movers and organizers behind this ONE celebration.

Thus, there are reasons to celebrate. The Philippines is an emerging economy, despite the corruption and inefficiencies that plague the bureaucracy. We are developing as a nation because of our culture of resilience, of daring and risk-taking, of hard work, competence, and ethical work discipline. Our OFWs are the best reflection of this. As one business professor told me, Filipinos are the best in work that entails nurturing.

We are also tops in the compassion business. Gawad Kalinga, an ambitious Philippine community development cum nation building movement, seeking to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities, in seven years, is reshaping the field of community development. The global implications and replicability of GK’s nation-building model on the emergence and development of other forms of social movements and civil society–state governance are compelling. The late Jesuit historian and visionary, Horacio dela Costa (2002) once wrote that for the Philippine nation to develop to the best of its abilities and potential, the Filipino people must do three things, namely: (a) build and strengthen communities; (b) link the communities with common goals-ideally national goals; and, (c) recapture the bureaucracy. Culture trumps all and Gawad Kalinga’s model may be one cultural model for nation building.

In recognition of the success of the Filipino and the potentials yet to unfold, the Fil-Am community and Gawad Kalinga/ANCOP USA are sponsoring ONE a Filipino Celebration. As a coming out party of the Fil-Am community, ONE seeks to show what solidarity in the community can achieve. Activities include:

• The culmination of the Highway/Caravan of Hope 65-city speaking tour of Gawad Kalinga International Partnerships Coordinator Dylan Wilk and GK1MB USA Coordinator, Nathan Mari along with their spouses. See http://www.ancopusa.org/highwayofhope/;
• The FILIPINO SOLIDARITY CARAVAN on America's only Fil-Am Highway (http://www.gk777sd.com/caravan.html);
• ONE Celebration, from 10:00 a.m. -6:00 p.m., Kimball Park, National City
  11:00 am. Hosted by Danny Javier of Apo Hiking Society, the celebration will feature GK officers led by founder Tony Meloto and numerous surprise guest performers. The celebration ends with a Vigil Mass, and;
• GK Builders Summit (May 25-26, 2008 at the Marriot Del Mar Hotel). This is a two-day workshop on engaging potential and active GK One Million Volunteers or GK1MB. See http://www.ancopusa.org/gksummit/schedule.htm for the schedule and workshop details.

Be part of history unfolding. Join in creating a vision of the Philippines that is fueled by hope and made real by the compassion, love, care, and generosity of Filipinos. Make your business the Philippines. The Ateneo Graduate School of Business did when their 40^th anniversary theme was “Our country is our Business.”

As Tony Meloto said, “Truly I am blessed that God made me a Filipino.”