Values formation

Our economy seems to be really doing well under the Arroyo administration. Even if skeptics and perennial critics from the opposition express doubts on the accuracy of the facts and figures, it cannot be denied that our economy expanded in the year 2007. Whether the growth rate is really 7.3% which is allegedly the highest in 31 years, or whether this growth is due more to other factors like the OFW remittances than to the right economic strategies adopted by this regime, statistics still show that the country’s gross domestic product grew particularly in the services, industry, agriculture, fishery and forestry sectors. There are no reasonable grounds to doubt these figures. From hereon it is just a matter of sustaining the momentum.

But good economic performance should not be used as a means to set aside, condone and forget the many perceived anomalies and corrupt practices that have been exposed, denied but not disproved. Our economy may be robust but if there is moral bankruptcy there is no true prosperity. Indeed despite the glowing statistics being bandied about, the main bulk of the populace still do not feel their effects as many people still live below poverty level. If the problem of worsening corruption is checked or at least minimized, more people will certainly enjoy the economic boom.

The finger of blame however should not be pointed at the government alone. If it takes two to tango, it takes two to commit corruption. All of us must undergo some kind of change as I wrote in my Philippine STAR column last Monday, January 28, 2008 entitled “More Essential Change”.

In reaction to the said column I received the following e-mails containing foods for thought on how people can change which I find worth sharing. The first came from Ms. Heidi O. Sison, the founder of Character Building Foundation Inc. who says that:

“Everyone is responsible for their own life for we all have free will. In claiming this freedom all of us must understand that it is never absolute. Prudence must dictate there are things we have to give up in order to be free; never forgetting that what is wrong cannot be right just because everyone is doing it; that doing right (GAWIN ANG TAMA) should be our battle cry. Through all these, don’t forget HOPE is in your hands”.

To sell values is the toughest merchandising one can ever pursue. Unlike food, clothing, cars, shoes, houses that can easily be marketed because you can taste its goodness, feel its comfort, experience modern technology, selling values is very frustrating. Values have no shape, size, color or texture. The buyer and not the seller will have to do the hard work. All the seller does is create awareness that buyer has skills and it is very important that he participate in building the nation using these same skills in order to complete the picture of a progressive nation.

It’s been a difficult journey. People used to laugh at us and call value formation as Heidi’s impossible dream. If we were to judge by the group of people (politicians, journalist, religious groups, businessmen, etc.) who articulate the same line now, then we can say with certainty that the level of awareness as far as our mission is concerned has climbed a higher level.

The next level of awareness must now show how this can be put into motion. Movement for Renewal of Values is continuously testing different methodologies. Every Filipino must move to make their values work. Only then can we say 90 million Filipinos are participating in building a progressive nation. No one person can do this. It will take all of us to make it happen.

Today we find ourselves at another crossroad.  We can handle this.  By now we have learned the lessons of the past. Tomorrow we’ll be faced with lessons learned and less mistakes, more love and less hate, more hope than the feeling of nothingness that prevailed in the past year.  We now know HOPE is in our hands. GAWIN ANG TAMA”

On the other hand, Mr. Eduardo R. Alicias, Jr. of Cainta Green Park Village has a more pragmatic suggestion on how we can achieve this change in people. He proposes some kind of change in social structure that also entails a Charter Change to speed up the process. Mr. Alicias wrote:

“This is a reaction to your Philippine STAR column dated 28 January 2008.

There can be no denying the need for people to change, for people to become more self-disciplined. But this is a very slow evolutionary process. The church, any church, presumably has been advocating this kind of essential change for at least two thousand years, and it seems nothing much has changed. Fortunately, however, we can do something outside the evolutionary framework to speed up change. Changes in nature and in society can be speeded up by structural engineering. For example, a dam is a manmade structure designed to store and elevate water, which can then be used for power generation and irrigation. We can pray and wait for nature to create a natural dam, but that would be too long in the future, if at all. By the same token, social structures, like forms of government, can be engineered to speed up certain desired changes; and these are not mutually exclusive interventions. In other words, we can do these things while waiting for evolution to effect the needed essential change in people. That’s why we need laws, statutory and/or constitutional; and we need to craft the same according to social imperatives, not according to the color and/or appearances of advocates and opponents of proposed change. The underlying essential issues need to be discussed and ventilated in media, much more than the less important issues like whether or not the proposed cha cha will prosper or not or the past actions and/or current political affiliations of the proponents and opponents. In this connection, you might find useful and interesting to read the results of some empirical studies regarding the effects of some structures or forms of government on democratic stability”.

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