The fruits of freedom

It was 116 years ago when the Philippines first declared political freedom. But our political system has never reached that stage of maturity where the restoration of lost liberties and transformation of social values depended on political parties. Leadership has been based on specific political personalities like a Ramon Magsaysay or a Corazon Aquino.

Today we attribute the reforms that have moved this country from being the “sick man of Asia” to being its next economic tiger to the leadership and moral fortitude of P-Noy. And that is why there is so much concern about the 2016 presidential elections. As the Economist magazine said: “The [Philippine] president  has done better than many expected but must know he cannot safeguard any of his reforms from a future government that chooses to be profligate or corrupt.”

The future of our country cannot just depend on the leadership of one person We need to change  the nature of political parties in this country. Throughout the  political history of this country, we have seen practices like the exodus of politicians from one political grouping to the ruling political groups.

Senator Claro Mayo Recto was our nation’s most prominent statesman and nationalist. He was an intellectual giant in the Senate and in the crusade for nationalism. More than 60 years ago, Recto wrote that the basic cause for our weak political system was that we inherited what was inherently a colonial system which was perpetuated by the ruling elite of this country. He wrote:

“Political patronage on the scale and in the strictly partisan manner it was being distributed, and the lack of autonomy of provinces and municipalities in the management of local affairs, particularly in the matter of raising their own revenues, placed these administrative units completely at the mercy of the central government.

Their growing needs, especially permanent improvements like markets, schools and barrio roads, made inevitable the continuous grants of aid by central government to the local governments which practically made the veritable fiefs of the former, with the controller of the party patronage as the feudal lord, whose will had to be obeyed in all matters of party business by the local chieftains under pain of political liquidation.

In such circumstances no opposition could survive. In reality the party system became known in this country only since 1946 with the birth of the Liberal Party, a splinter of the Nacionalista, motivated by a purely personal rivalry between two Nacionalistas in the struggle for the presidency.”

Political patronage has  led to government corruption, which has been the primary cause of the social ills in this country. Even in the 19th century novel by Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo, Father Florentino, in a dialogue with the hero Simoun said:

“True, the vices of a government are deadly in itself, they cause its death, but they also kill the society in which they develop. For an immoral government there is a demoralized citizenry, for an administration without conscience, there are rapacious and servile citizens in the town, and bandits and thieves in the mountains. Like master, like slave. Like government, like country.”

But it is not enough to just appoint honest and sincere people in government. Even these new appointees will become tempted to the harsh reality that political patronage, if it continues to exist, is the essence of government in an obsessively centralized and Metro Manila-centric government.

The permanent solution to transforming our political system is to eliminate the fixation that political patronage is the primary goal of political parties. The goal is to minimize, if not eliminate, access to political patronage.

The elimination of pork barrel funding is a big game changer. But it is critical that pork barrel is not resurrected in some other form like “earmarks.” The next step is to ensure that the voice of the people is truly heard by ensuring clean and honest elections. Recto also wrote what now sounds like a prediction for the 2010 presidential elections:

“Times have changed, rulers have come and gone, but our people, by and large, have kept alive their unerring sense of justice. They know in their hearts when something is wrong and when they are given the opportunity of rendering their verdict through the untampered use of the ballot, they have seldom made mistakes.”

The third and final step is economic empowerment of the Filipino people. This can only be done by reducing poverty levels. An approach to this is to remove the dependency of the poor on doleouts from politicians and institutionalize the provision of the basic needs of the poor. This is done through programs like Universal Health Care, Conditional Cash Transfer and quality public school education. Also the poor should have equal access to justice and human rights as the very rich.

Independence Day is a good day to remember that the history of this country is a saga of the Filipino struggle and triumph for freedom. The first was against the Spanish colonizers which led to the declaration of Independence on June 12, 1898. Then came the Philippine-American War that combined a military and political fight to regain our political freedom. Then the Japanese invaders and the guerrilla movement that ended only with the Japanese surrender in 1945.

Then there was that terrible nightmare when Marcos imposed martial law and imprisoned thousands of freedom fighters like Ninoy Aquino, Jose Diokno, Chino Roces and students, labor leaders and journalists.

The struggle for economic and political freedom is never ending. It is important that we do not become cynical and give up hope that we can transform the Philippine political system. From Recto to P-Noy to future leaders, the goal of transforming Philippine politics from one based on personalities and political patronage to one based on political parties with real policies and ideologies must continue.

Only then can every Filipino truly enjoy the fruits of freedom.

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Email: elfrencruz@gmail.com