Change Politics in the Philippines for 2010 Elections

May 10, 2009, exactly one year before the 2010 elections, was greeted by civil society, artists and media outfits by gathering people from all walks of life and engaging in meaningful discussions on how to reclaim politics from lesser politicians who are not able to do justice to good governance in our beloved nation.

One of the movements in the Philippines is called the Change Politics Movement ( CPM) which came on the heels of various national and regional meetings to discuss the state of our nation’s governance. Our movement was launched simultaneously last Sunday, May 10 in the national capital region & various cities in the Philippines ( Cagayan de Oro, Butuan City, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cebu, Ormoc, Samar, & Naga). The ration d’etre of this movement is to organize a critical mass of citizens towards choosing and actively campaigning for a common slate of national candidates for the 2010 elections who will be accountable as public servants and who will bring about the much needed reforms to our government and nation. The movement is determined to give birth to an active citizenry and to make politics “ the sacred covenant that is meant to be – between the leaders and the constituencies.”

In my city, Davao City, the launching of the Change Politics Movement at the student lounge of the Holy Cross of Davao College was graced by more than 250 women and men from Southern Mindanao: from Davao City, Samal City, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte & Davao Oriental. Through national video conferencing, reports and results of the various workshops in different parts of the country were shared among all of us from different locations. The national discussions sought to determine the criteria for selecting who will be the presidential candidate of the movement. In a national video conferencing, a consensus was reached on the criteria and these included integrity and track record which is defined as character & credibility, competence, leadership and politics and the candidate’s position taken on issues such as poverty reduction, corruption, human rights, peace, agrarian reform, the environment, etc. Another important set of criteria that came out in the movement’s national video conference last Sunday was about the strategic issues that the next president should immediately address :

A) to immediately stop the plunder of the public coffers
B) to rebuild and strengthen democratic institutions
C) to raise sufficient resources & ensure proper allocation & spending of public resources for priority programs
D) to raise productivity ( especially in rural areas) & ensure fair distribution of assets of production, benefits and public funds
E) to ensure social protection for the poorest and disadvantaged communities
F) to set the foundation for restoring the peace track with armed parties

The presidential candidate to be chosen must have capacity to win and seriously engage in the electoral contest for the highest post in the land : whether such candidate has a level of public recognition on a national scale; if there is an actual & potential extent of support constituency; access to or capacity to raise funds; actual presence of organized support and machinery in different parts of the country and whether the candidate has alliances who also believe in reform and change politics.

All members of the Change Politics Movement will choose the Philippine presidential candidate and the entire slate of national candidates on August 8, 2009.