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It is
one day after the Holy Week. Traffic is back with a
vengeance. Shopping malls are open once more. Movie
houses are showing the usual fare and the churches are
now emptied of the huge crowds which jostled and pushed
for the solemn masses, services, visita iglesia, the
spectacular processions, the salubong of the Catholics
and the Easter sunrise services of the Protestants.
The
politicians are back, as well. They are back from the
Pacquiao match (in aid of legislation), and from
hideaways here and abroad. The government managers are
back, too—tanned, healthy and refreshed from
uninterrupted rounds of golf governance.
The
highest officials of the land—the President, Vice
President, Senate President, Speaker of the House and
the Chief Justice—have made statements on the
significance of Easter Sunday. Their carefully retouched
photographs have been duly published in newspapers and
beamed on television stations.
In the
meantime, Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the [Philippine]
Earth who do not have the werewithal to go off on
holidays continue to struggle for survival. Theirs were
perhaps the most sincere prayers, the most fervent pleas
for deliverance from poverty and the most heart-rending
cries for help.
They
were recently admonished by the government to reduce
their rice intake. Many of them have actually forgotten
the taste of rice. In the provinces, they subsist on
boiled green bananas, camote (sweet potato), cassava and
salted fish. In the cities, they survive on cheap,
salted noodles. If they can’t afford rice, maybe they
should eat cake?
It’s
business as usual; or is it? I think not.
Cynics,
weary of the many tumultuous efforts at reform, merely
yawn at current exercises in the search for truth. They
say nothing, but nothing can move and remove this
administration. Nothing can wash away the centuries of
dirt and corruption.
Analysts, however, are advising caution with this smug
assessment. A New York-based analyst even stated that
there is a wide margin of error in the conclusion that
the President will last until 2010. Many variables, he
said, can make a difference.
There
have been innovations in the strategies and tactics of
those who want change. They are learning from the
lessons of past failures. For example, the mood is not
to have politicians play a dominant role in protest
actions. New, credible players have emerged. The most
prominent of the emerging groups is FSGO, or former
senior government officials.
Enter
the FSGO
Former
senior officials of government were first noticed by the
public and media during the first ecumenical mass
organized by former President Corazon Aquino. Their
statement “Time To Go” was very well-received. Since
then, their ranks have swelled to more than 80 former
members of the Cabinet, assistant secretaries and
undersecretaries, as well as executives of
government-owned or -controlled corporations.
The
names and faces in FSGO are familiar to the public.
Certainly, they don’t want their old jobs back, as
claimed by an administration official. They are doing
very well in their professions, thank you.
Take the
economic cluster, for example. There are at least three
former secretaries of finance, three former National
Economic and Development Authority directors-general,
and a former governor of the central bank of the
Philippines, plus a wide array of undersecretaries and
assistant secretaries.
The
other clusters are just as distinguished. And who can
hold a candle to former senator Ting Paterno, also
former Cabinet secretary?
The
statement issued by the economic cluster on March 13
tore apart the claim of the Arroyo administration that
the economy is on a momentum; therefore, “political
noise” is not encouraged so as not to disturb the growth
of the economy.
The
cluster countered that “fighting corruption is never
harmful to the economy.” It negated claims that the
economy is gaining momentum and pointed out that poverty
is increasing.
According to the cluster, “Corruption has taken a heavy
toll on the economy, and its worst victims are the poor
who are de4prived of vital social services that the
stolen billions could have funded.”
FSGO and
the Philippine Development Forum
On March
26 and 27, the Philippine Development Forum (PDF) will
hold its annual event in the
Fontana Convention
Center at Clark Field, Pampanga. This is the annual meeting of
international donors and the government on the state of
the country’s social and economic development. The
meeting will be also attended by civil society, business
leaders, development experts and media.
FSGO
will present an open letter to the PDF on good
governance, corruption and the PDF. Abangan! |
