New political party to reform government

Here’s how bad things are in our country:

1. The poverty incidence is 34.2 per cent (Year 2000 figure). Thirty million Filipinos live on less than P23 a day.

2. About P150-billion, or one-fifth of the government’s national budget was lost to corruption. An international survey ranked the Philippines No. 9 in terms of corruption in a scale of 1-10 ("1" for the least corrupt; "10" for the most corrupt).

3. The government’s budget deficit for the first six months of last year was more than P40-billion because of uncontrolled government spending.

4. Our national debt is P2.43 trillion, and our foreign borrowings, P1.64 trillion.

5. The unemployment rate as of April this year was 14 per cent, or over 5 million jobless Filipinos.

6. The World Competitiveness Report ranked the Philippines No. 40 out of 49 countries in terms of economic progress.

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These unsettling statistics are from the mouth of lawyer Mario E. Ongkiko, who, you will recall, served as deputy legal counsel of the Agrava Fact-Finding Board. He says Filipinos can no longer leave the job of solving these problems to government because government "oftentimes" has posed itself as "more of the problem, rather than the solution."

But who is gong to provide the solution? Ongkiko says we, private citizens, keep ranting and complaining about how bad the government is running the ship of state, but we voted for the people who are in governance now. Ongkiko sees that the only way to get out of the mess is for us to become "change agents," who can save a "sinking ship."

He reminds us of a Catholic bishop’s statement in 1997 – a statement which could very well be applicable today: "If we are what we are today – a country with a great number of poor and powerless people — one reason is the way we have allowed politics to be debased and prostituted to the low level it is now."

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It is precisely for us citizens "to become part of the solution" that Ongkiko and a group of committed Christians are calling everyone to be members of a new political party being formed called KAPATIRAN SA PANGKALAHATANG KABUTIHAN (Kapatiran).

Kapatiran’s objectives are: 1)To develop an enlightened and responsible citizenry through character development and value formation from where servant-leaders (candidates) will emerge; 2)to promote a consistent ethic of life; 3)To introduce a new kind of politicis; 3)To promote a strong and responsible two-party and multi-party system, and 4)To field local and national candidates who are morally upright, with academic qualifications and experience, and who believe in the principles, values of Kapatiran."

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Nandy Pacheco, board chairman, says Kapatiran is giving highest priority to the development of responsible and mature citizenry through character development. "Election of good leaders will depend on the kind of voters we have. We get the public officials we deserve, Their viritue – or lack of it – is not only a judgment on them, but on us. Every political choice we make, also affecs the persons we are. Hence, the need to educate the voters from where good and morally upright candidates will emerge. Any sound tree bears good fruit, while a decayed tree bears bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit any more than a decayed tree can bear good fruit."

Nandy says the "new kind of politics" being espoused by Kapatiran is focused "more on moral principles than what is politically expedient, more on the needs of the poor and the vulnerable than the contributions of the rich and the powerful, more on the pursuit of the common good than the demands of spiritual interests, more on the cultural life than the culture of death and violence."

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The party, which has yet to be credited by the Comelec, was formed by "ordinary citizens and ordinary lay people who can no long sit idly by while they see the betrayal of public trust by elected officials. The party is in response to the call of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II) to the laity "to participate actively and lead in the renewing of politics in accordance with the Values of the Good News of Jesus."

Other officers of Kapatiran are really more than ordinary citizens: Manuel Dayrit, a retired banker, vice-president; lawyer Adrian Sison, secretary-general, and Isabel B. Pilar, real estate broker, treasurer.

Trustees are: Peter-Paul S. Bautista, Ricardo Bolipata, Jesus de la Fuente, Dean de la Paz, Romulo del Rosario, Rodolfo E. Dula, Baltazar N. Endriga and Metodio Palaypay.

Citizens are asked to sign up and be card-bearing members of Kapatiran. Call Rina, 8191624, or Myrna, 633 0243 or 635 2796, or e-mail [email protected].