‘Nationalistic third force’ launched today by Guingona

Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. will launch today a national movement touted as "a nationalist third force" that will advocate nationalism and good governance to bring about "hope and awareness" for the Filipino people.

To be called "Bangon!," the movement seeks to coordinate the efforts for free, honest and orderly elections next year, and to "revive in the hearts of the citizenry the spirit of nationalism," said Ariel Felix Ortilla, the movement’s secretary general.

It will also prepare various sectors to face the flaws of governance like corruption and social inequities, he added.

Guingona, who has resigned as president of the pro-administration Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), has agreed to head Bangon!, which is envisioned to be a non-partisan political organization that will advocate government reforms, Ortilla said.

Organizers said Guingona was expected to make an important announcement in connection with the actions to be taken by Bangon! and his own views on the May elections.

In an interview during cocktails sponsored by the Christian Muslims Democratic Movement (CMDM) in Malate, Manila Tuesday night, Guingona said he accepted the leadership of Bangon! because he could use the non-partisan organization as a vehicle in pursuing reforms in government.

"It will not be a pro-opposition or pro-administration group," he said. "But it will be for the people."

Ortilla said various leaders of civic groups and non-government organizations are expected to sign a manifesto entitled "Bangon: Pilipinas kong mahal" at the Kalayaan Hall of Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan at 9 a.m. today.

The manifesto will state the movement’s goals and aspirations, he added.

Other leaders of Bangon! are STAR columnist Teodoro Benigno, former Government Service Insurance System general manager Cesar Sarino, former senator Wigberto Tañada III and several other personalities from the Church, academe, labor and peasant sectors.

Ortilla described Bangon! as a core group of society’s middle forces that are driven by fierce nationalism.

"Bangon! believes that only nationalism can save the nation," he said.

"From this will naturally flow the surging economic nationalism that will strike down the phony and rickety in our democracy. Bangon! will stress the importance of nationwide education. Only through mass and advanced education can we dispel the ignorance that blights our nation today," he added.

Ortilla said the Bangon! manifesto deplored the prevailing inequities in society.

"The Philippines today is a lost nation — in tears, in rags and in chains," read the manifesto.

"Over 82 million Filipinos are stuck in the past, stragglers in the present, blocked from forging the future. The elitist leadership exercises a stark and ruthless form of apartheid where the citizenry can in principle complain.

"But the people cannot as of now liberate themselves from the grinding poverty and political vassalage that has long transformed the nation’s democracy into a big joke," it said.

Ortilla said the upper 10 percent of the population "own about 75 per cent of the nation’s wealth and live in luxury."

The huge majority of eighty percent possess only a trifling nine percent and live in penury, he added.

It also deplored Transparency International for listing the Philippines as the 11th most corrupt country in the world, and the Asian Development Bank which declared the country as "the worst culture for foreign investments" in Asia.

"We have been previously called the ‘kidnap capital’ of Asia if not the crime capital of Asia," read the manifesto. "Asiaweek just years ago tabulated we have more murders committed per capita than anywhere in Asia."

The manifesto said it seeks to inspire the Filipino people that there is still hope in solving the country’s political, social and economic problems.

"The nation must now rise in anger, in outrage before it’s too late," read the manifesto.

"Runaway graft and corruption define our once lovely land. Crime and violence wrack it to its depths. Poverty is its hideous body and gorgon head. Callous and greedy leadership swims our waters like man-eating sharks.

"The very mention of pork barrel makes us retch. Is everything hopeless? Have we reached a dead-end? Is the social volcano everybody fears about to erupt and engulf us all?

"Have we all lost the capability for national greatness? We hardly think so. And that is why we are now launching BANGON! to fill a gaping void that has long existed in our society.

"Without resorting to violence, BANGON! aims to ignite hope into the citizenry, unfasten its chains, rekindle the dreams of our national heroes.

"We have to awaken our youth. We have to convince them there is a way out of the vast and terrible sinkhole we are in.

"We have to give our youth hope, courage, the vision our nation will again be on the march. They will sing the full-throated song of nationalism. They will exude boundless energy. They will unlock the Filipino genius that can move mountains, and transform our lives.

"We have an incredible national debt of P3 trillion, a foreign debt of $55 billion, a budget deficit of P230 million. Annually the amount of P200 billion or more is lost to government corruption," the manifesto said. — Sammy Santos