Quo Vadis NGOs? ( Whither goest thou?)

I am preparing to cross over to politics and governance and so I thought I would share some snapshots of my work that I have been doing for a quarter of a century. Non government organization (NGO) work is about social development work and it is midway between state and the market or midway between the public and the private sector engaged in pure profit. It is about working to create mechanisms and institutions or changing structures to bring about development and people’s empowerment. Although, it is related to social work, emergency relief work and the like, NGO work is a much more sustained work across time and so the impact of our work is not immediately discernable. Examples of work to create or change structures is NGO work in the policy arena. Results come after engagement with a lot of groups and agencies in a very engaged advocacy or lobby process. Successes are few and far between but long lasting. Examples of these are: efforts of the women’s movement to enshrine a gender equality movement in the Philippine constitution, rewriting the rape law, passage of the Sexual Harassment Law, passage of the Anti- Violence Against Women And Their Children Act, the Davao City Women Development Code, the Urban Development & Housing Act (UDHA) by NGOs and networks working with the urban poor sector - to name a few landmark legislations.

I am also part of the older generation which must work consciously to increase our tribe and more importantly to nurture a successor generation. One of our efforts to develop a successor generation is to bring NGO work to the level of theory and academia and as well to bring the academic community ( mentor and students) to our development sites in the hope that students will be introduced towards a career in social development work.
Another track is influencing curriculum development and education in general to be relevant and responsive to the Philippine problematique.

In recent times, many NGOs have folded up to due to drying up of donor funds or due to changing priorities of funding agencies. Ideally, donor agencies must work with the NGO community and other stakeholders in defining the Philippine problematique and then call for projects addressing the identified problems. This way, NGOs can position themselves strategically in influencing or identifying sharply and incisively the development issues, themes or sites.

Funds are also created to respond to global issues and events. For example, after 9/11, there was focus on social justice development themes which was fine because most NGO work in the Philippines are under this development area. After all, poverty reduction, human rights ( social, cultural, economic, political rights) work, judicial reform, good governance projects can be packaged under this theme.

Then came, the world financial crisis of 2008 which is now affecting the prognosis of NGO work. NGOs have responded to this development by, among others, setting up social enterprises such as scaling up of micro finance enterprises in the hope of weaning from donor agencies at some point in time.

Anyway, amidst a changing economic landscape and amidst a not so glowing future in NGO work, my message to the younger generation who must be harnessed to make this world a better place is : Social development work will always be relevant for as long as there is poverty, social inequality, human rights violations, environment degradation, or corruption in government.

Particularly at this unspeakable horror in Mindanao, when a heinous crime against humanity has just been commited against more than fifty Mindanaoans who were massacred on their way to filing an election certificate of candidacy, there is urgent work to address violence related to elections, land conflict, unresponsive justice system, insurgency, clan wars or rido and warlordism. We have civilians arming themselves much like a private army in the service of powerful political dynasties. And for a long time now, we have tolerated abusive civilian voluntary groups (CVOs and paramilitary elements) who are doing police and military roles. There are so much arms in Mindanao used to sow terror in order to gain or maintain political hegemony. All these have been allowed with impunity.

As we women say, work never ends. The task is gigantic and NGOs could use a lot of help.

Boxing & the Pacman

Boxing as a violent contact sport has not changed basically since the Greek and Roman times 4,000 years ago : hand-to-hand, one-on-one contact pitting a boxer against another of relative strength and size to amuse a crowd or millions of spectators. Boxing is as archaic and uncivilized as violence itself. Perhaps, the safety measures have improved over time such as the form – fitted mouthpiece, the headgear in the Olympics, the presence of skilled referees who may stop a bout when one or both boxers are injured and ringside physicians who may stop a fight or bout at their own professional discretion and determination at any point in time. It is true, we are awed at a rare boxing gift. Not anybody can be a Manny Pacquiao, fondly called the PACMAN, the only Filipino boxer who has won seven world titles in seven different weight classes. Millions of Filipinos covet the fame and glory of an ordinary Manny Pacquiao. We admire all the discipline that goes with the preparation for this sport, as we saw in our own Manny Pacquiao : fitness endurance, pain endurance, strength, mental stamina, skill and speed. It is true that most sports like horse racing, fencing, football, basketball, martial arts, hockey, soccer, etc are most likely to result in injury or disability and thus banning boxing as a violent sport will not prevent or limit the incidence of sports related injury. But, I would classify injuries to these sports as sport related accidents.

Not so with boxing where the goal is to deliver the violent punches that is sure to cause injury. For me, boxing is a legalized way of attacking another person, a bloodthirsty sport, uncivilized, a money-driven scheme and all these for amusement. Millions of people cheer for the punches of a potential killer, or pay to watch the maiming and injuring and all in the name of sports and entertainment. Someone described a strong punch to one’s head as akin to “ one’s soft brain being rammed into a rigid skull much like an egg yolk slammed into the side of an egg shell.’’ Time magazine has, accordingly, reported that in the last decade, over 70 boxers have died from boxing related causes. All these are so relevant as we witnessed our own boxer, Z Gorres, a rising boxer who is reportedly in critical condition and in medical induced coma to relieve a brain swelling or even the boxing star himself, Manny Pacquiao, who is suffering from an ear injury. It was sad to see Manny Pacquiao, soon after he defeated Miguel Cotto, feeling powerless to freely turn his head because of his ear injury. As expected of ever protective mothers, Aling Dionisia, Pacquiao’s mother, was heard as saying that she has had some clairvoyant feelings that something will happen to his son in the next bout and so if it her up to her, she will not let her son fight in the ring anymore.

Kaye, my only daughter who is very much into sports ( tennis, surfing and skimboarding) says of the recent Manny Pacquiao – Miguel Cotto ( Puerto Rican boxer) boxing “my views about boxing is different now, and it is a reaction to people’s comments on various social networking sites saying that the fight should not have been stopped prematurely at that round yet because people wanted to see a total knockout. Boxing is barbaric and the people who enjoy it are no different from the Roman masses who enjoyed the Gladiator fights.” This sounds to me like the centuries’ old discrimination and violence against women that is still with us in this day and age.

Non Partisan Creative Politics

When the election campaign period starts come February 2010 ( national campaign) and March 2010 ( local campaign), our non partisan politics now will ripen into non partisan political campaign lest we be accused of premature campaigning now. Non partisan politics is, of course, a reaction to traditional partisan politics. The connotation of traditional politics is that these are all about patronage politics, political dynasties and powerful political parties serving the interests of big business who are funding their campaign. Patronage politics are all about the disbursement of largesse in exchange for political favors like votes or the behest of political support to promote the hegemony of those in position of power and authority. This is very unfortunate actually because, ideally, big business and those in power and authority should be serving the interests of all and promoting development for all citizens. But, realpolitik is what it is. Non partisan people’s campaign is campaign by basic sectors and ordinary citizens. It is a citizen campaign for changes towards good governance and social development. Examples of non partisan creative politics include those by the Change Politics Movement, NoyNoy Aquino People Power Movement ( NAPM: and yes, that should be the meaning of the P for now), and the new People’s Politics of presidential aspirant Chiz Escudero as he describes it after bolting out of the Nationalists’ People Coalition (NPC) political party.

My sense, though, is that a non partisan campaign, as a stand alone campaign strategy, is not yet enough to win a national candidate. A coordinated national and local machinery and organization are crucial ingredients. Thus, a national political party is needed to win a president. Which is why, only parties with a national constituency can be registered in the Comelec as a national party. Perhaps, there is wisdom in the proposed bill that political parties should have state funding so that those without access to large funding can join a national or local election political campaign. But, then again, party list groups have registered an objection to this kind of state support to mainstream political parties which have already access to funding from many powerful sectors. Still, genuine political parties with clear political vision and platforms still need to be improved in our country.

As part of our advocacy, I am sharing here an abstract of a Development and Reform Agenda which was drafted under the auspices of our national network, the Caucus of Development NGO Networks ( CODE NGO), after a nation wide consultation among members of the Change Politics Movement and other civil society groups. We are using this reform and development agenda in our voters’ education program and we will use this for later, too, as basis to monitor compliance by elected candidates. The main points of this reform agenda are about transparency and good governance, empowerment of basic sectors, reformed system of civil service bureaucracy, constitutional reform through elected constitutional convention delegates, federalism, asset reform, social safety nets for the poor, health, population policy, education, building peace by pursuing and sustaining the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF), and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Mindanao (RPMM), promoting sustainable economic development through reforms in the management of our natural resources and agricultural sector, strengthening the local economy by supporting micro, small, and medium ]enterprises (MSMEs), promoting fiscal and tax reforms by directing the lump sum allocations and “discretionary funds,” i.e. Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF, President's Social Fund, etc. ( pork barrel) to local governments, supporting measures that propose the inclusion of magnitude and incidence of poverty in the determination of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), increasing government revenues and conducting a debt audit by forming a Congressional Debt Audit Commission that will scrutinize all public debt and contingent liabilities, among others.

Life as a celebration

“ I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge -- myth is more potent than history -- dreams are more powerful than facts -- hope always triumphs over experience -- laughter is the cure for grief -- love is stronger than death.”

- Robert Fulghum

A few days from now, all roads will lead to memorial parks and cemeteries in observance of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day. My family is still grieving over the passing away of two women : my aunt and my mother in –law. Perhaps, we will never get over grieving the death of our parents as we fondly remember them every now and then. Anyway, the first two days of November are the structured times to do our remembering of our dearly departed. Indeed, as the ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything under heaven.

To us mortals, talking about death is morbid. But, death is so natural and it happens all the time. When it happens in our family, we kind of pause and make it an occasion for reflecting on the mysteries of life and our mortality. We make an accounting of what is important in life. Are we just going through all the motions of surviving or really living? How do we want to be remembered when we die?

There is also a material aspect to dying and I wish to share some parts of that. Presiding over the practical side of funeral arrangements fell into my lap last week. One takes care of the hospital papers, embalmment to last the whole wake, the rituals and prayers during the wake, informing relatives and friends,

arranging the memorial park or cemetery, the church service and the burial ritual. Unlike, in the Muslim world, where the burial ritual is done within twenty four hours, the wake for Christians usually lasts for days. Some funeral parlors have services that take care of everything. Some funeral parlors also make arrangements for a pauper’s burial for the poor where the funeral expenses are subsidized by the state. Our Davao City government, for example, has an efficient way of subsidizing funeral expenses for those in need. For this, one gets the bill or statement of account from the funeral parlor and presents this to the city hall and the funds are paid to the funeral parlor. For all these, the crucial documents are the death certificate and the barangay certification. Although, we all die and that is the great equalizer, the practical funeral arrangements remind us always that even in death, there is a social stratification or division of people into social classes of the rich and the poor.

If the deceased has properties, inheritance passes to the heirs upon death. One needs the courts for probate ( a procedure where a will is proved valid or invalid) if there is a will or just an extrajudicial partition of properties as soon as the heirs agree to the project of partition and this needs to be published. It is a good idea for decedents to identify which piece of property is given to which child so that there are no surprises and to prevent siblings’ conflict upon death of donor or decedent. As death, taxes, too, are a certainty. Some donate their property to their children while still alive and for these one still needs to pay donors’ taxes. The privilege of giving is taxable. Many great women and men have immortalized themselves by their work, bequests, donations and accomplishments that have outlived them. We cannot bring our money to heaven and so let us celebrate life always by sharing ourselves to humanity in life and in death.

The Philippines According To Presidential Bets

The Philippines is the sum of all its local government units. Four presidentiables ( Secretary Gibo Teodoro, Senator Chiz Escudero, Senator Manny Villar and Senator NoyNoy Aquino) faced a job interview with one hundred ( 100) local government champions at the Asian Institute of Management and aired live this week by ABS-CBN in its Face to Face program. This forum-interview with the four presidentiables was under the auspices of the The Galing Pook Foundation, IPD, Synergia, LGSP ARMM, ASOG and FES. For the responsible voter, it will be crucial for us to know where the future president will be leading us on the three themes tackled (resources, accountability and autonomy) when applied to issues close to the hearts of local government officials such as local budget, accountability of national officials to local officials, fiscal autonomy, the pork barrel or countrywide development funds, reward system for good performance, political parties, extraction of natural resources, reproductive health bill, the visiting forces agreement, charter change and political dynasties.

I will highlight here the items that for me stand out.

Sen Chiz Escudero who is turning 40 years old this week said that all he said should be heeded whoever is the next president. On the Mindanao peace process, Secretary Teodoro, the presidentiable who hails from the defense establishment is quick to admit that he does not espouse the military solution per se. He said that there are many variables but one common issue is that there are many arms on the side of rebels and so he thinks that one solution is to disarm the rebel groups as a prelude to democratic dialogue between various stakeholders. Sen. Chiz Escudero said that indigenous political institutions should be part of the Mindanao peace process. This could be also useful for other autonomous regions like the Cordilleras.

Senator NoyNoy Aquino who is current chair of the Senate Committee on Local Governance said that the essence of devolution is sharing democratic governance to the local government units and which is akin to the principle of people power.

All presidential bets said capacity building for local government officials is important. Senator Noynoy said that national officials have a lot to learn from local government officials, too, who know best the local color. Dr Alex Brillantes, an analyst from the University of the Philippines said local government officials can benefit to learn from peers such as the prominent LGU leaders as Mayor Hagedorn or Mayor Sonia Lorenzo or Mayor Robredo.

Secretary Teodoro is in favor of reproductive health as a population management measure. But, the women’s movements have moved away from the paradigm of population control & management towards the paradigm of reproductive rights which is a shift from demographics and numbers towards the individual rights of each human being.

Senator Villar, the housing entrepreneur and who rose to serve as House Speaker and Senate President has a very national and macro perspective. He also believes in increasing the so called pie of internal revenue allocation rather than changing the percentage of local and national allocation or division. He does not say though how to increase the entire pie.

All presidential bets are open to charter change. Sen Escudero says the issue of charter change should be settled through voting by asking if people say yes or no to charter change, when and how. Senator NoyNoy says charter change should not be open ended but a social contract should be drafted to determine the metes and bounds of what to change in order to limit to certain changes.

Senator Escudero is for the abolition of the pork barrel which he defines as a lump sum allocation and which should be replaced with line item budgeting while Sec. Teodoro says that the pork barrel can be a local tool for developing local infrastructure like transport and communication, markets, roads, schools, evacuation centers, and agricultural production.

For those who are seeking for a platform of change and transparency, you would like Senator Noynoy's answers to how to go about increasing the local internal revenue collection. NoyNoy said he can guarantee to increase the internal revenue allocation by stopping the “leakage.” He says there is no need to change the percentage of allocation as all national funds will ultimately go to a local government unit anyway; an audit of local government performance will be based on agreed goals and agreed parameters of measurement up front. Ultimately, Sen NoyNoy Aquino says, the reward of good performance of local officials is, anyway, through the ballot during election.

FLOODS in MANILA

Where does the rain come from? Waters from the seas, oceans, rivers, lakes, clothesline, etc are dried up by the sun in a process called evaporation and become clouds and when cooled off, fall as rain. Trees are called rain trees because they absorb water that evaporates again and falls down as rain. So trees bring about rain but prevent flood and drought. So, we need forests and trees in large parks in our cities.

Third world colonial cities are characterized by cancerous growth we call the urban blight. Even before the “Ondoy” floods, Marikina valley, Cainta, Pasig and most of Metro Manila are all blighted urban centers that are very evident when diagnostically viewed with our naked eyes from a higher ground and analyzed with an urban planning lens. Therefore, we should put a limit to the size of our cities and put a stop to building megacities. Cities should be small and beautiful.

I lived in Manila for seven years in the pursuit of studies and work that paved the way for my career track. Manila as the financial and political center of the Philippines has a way of trapping us. I hope our students go home after university studies and serve in the provinces where they are more needed. Manila as a large metropolis has really deteriorated over the years. Its carrying capacity for humanity has overflowed to the brim many times over. Father Ben Nebres, sums it up when he said: “ When one has to wake up in Manila at 4:00 a.m. to be in the office at 8:00 a.m. is not development.”

Although, the magnitude of the “Ondoy” flood is an all time worst since 40 years ago, floods per se in Manila is a regular fare since time immemorial.
Which is why, knee deep waters flooding areas near Quaipo and Espana in Manila did not get attention anymore in the light of the severity of the situation in Cainta, Pasig and Marikina where the waters reached the roof of homes. Yet, everyone was really caught unprepared for these kind of disasters that visit us with frequent regularity as if on schedule.

The electronic gadgets like email, cell phones and social networking were so handy over the weekend in connecting us with friends, relatives and fellow Filipinos at large. The television brought the horror of the floods to our living room. The little boy crying because his notebooks and school things were destroyed by the flood really broke our hearts.

I hope we really resolve to learn the lessons of this “perfect flood.”
Many areas of Davao City such as Bangkal and Bajada and even our central business district have been flooded in the recent past. During a flash flood last year or the other year, I was trapped in an office for hours because the roads were full of vehicles stranded by impassable roads due to knee deep flood waters.

We must flood our urbanization planning with thoughts of preventing floods because Davao City should be beautiful and safe befitting our reputation as one of the most livable cities in the world.

Elections Reimagined

When we conduct electoral campaign and voters' education, we usually start with a discussion of the national and local situation. Then, it is followed by a discussion of our vision of our ideal society, concepts of good governance and democratic politics and then finally by a discussion or a commitment to lead or contribute to the attainment of short and long term strategies to reach the vision. At some point, voters also need to be introduced to the new automated election computerized technology. As the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has warned, the poll automation would not totally prevent cheating and therefore we have to organize ourselves around creative ways of safeguarding our votes.

The change politics movement is feeling confident about its ability to promote clean and free elections towards good governance and genuine development. The current hurdles or barriers to achieving these are not really that insurmountable. For it is not difficult to outbid a corrupt way of governance. We used to think that to be able to join the elected bureaucracy, one has no choice but to dip in bad politics first because this is the only way of winning. This kind of thinking undermines the voter or takes advantage of the hungry voter. How is the hungry voter taken advantaged of? The many ways are not unknown : the politician takes advantage of existing local government structures like the barangay leaders as the purveyor of patronage and largesse. The roads, the water system, and other programs like health, housing, education or Philhealth insurance which are actually part of governmental function are communicated and marketed as part of patronage. This is the theme of the current television infomercial of government officials. A variation of the theme is how the person (who is planning to run for a government position) is best able to have feelings of empathy with the poor and thus will work for the poor because one came from the ranks of the poor. We need to ask ourselves whether we are contented with our current condition of poverty with such government officials for decades now. Urgent cash donations just before the elections have been a practice for the longest time now and that is why they say candidates need so much funds to win. What is pathetic is for everyone to say that this is a reality that is difficult to change. The voters are rounded up to a place after the voting for confirmation or extraction of proof that the voting was indeed according to the terms of the vote buying transaction. As the “dagdag bawas” victims have sworn, the cheating is also found in the canvassing of ballots at different levels. With automation, the mechanism of cheating will take on a different form as the computerized counting is cumulatively straightforward and at once.

Half of the entire Filipino population are poor due to failed policies and corrupt governance. As citizens, we have been so used to traditional feudal patronage politics and this has hampered development and good governance. To re-imagine development is to change corrupt patronage politics towards a more democratic and participative politics involving communities. One important strategy is peoples’ policy agenda building : drafting of a peoples’ policy & legislative agenda towards meaningful poverty reduction programs such as asset reform and food security. This agenda can be presented to candidates and citizens can be organized around monitoring government compliance of these election promises.