A Program of Hope for the Nation Through the Practice of the Politics of the Fringes or Pulitika ng Sagigilid
Our aspirations for the marginalized or the sagigilid
The aliping sagigilid (slave in the corners) was considered the lowest caste in pre-Spanish Philippine society. They were considered properties of their masters, thus they can be sold to other masters. They were the downtrodden, the poor, those without any properties, those who were sold to pay for debts, those who were vanquished because of war, those who live in perpetual insecurity.
That has been the sad state of affairs in our past, a past that continues to haunt our society until now. We see farmers and fishers forced to live in debt because they cannot earn enough to live a decent life. We see our own professionals turn into overseas Filipino workers performing menial work for foreigners, oftentimes abused by their foreign employers and, worse, their own kababayan. We see the poor living in inhospitable areas in the margins of cities, living in insecurity for their lives.
These are the modern-day sagigilid. They may not be actual slaves, but they have live lives like those of slaves in the past, experiencing insecurity, hopelessness, and poverty.
According to the latest available poverty data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB 2009), 26.5% of Filipinos are poor, living below the poverty threshold. Almost half of the 1,643 cities and municipalities have poverty incidences ranging from 32.1% to 60%, while 67 municipalities have higher than 60% poverty incidence. Seventeen of the 20 poorest municipalities in the Philippines are found Mindanao.
The real essence of inclusive growth is the creation of wealth that puts people, most especially the marginalized – the sagigilid – at the forefront. We shall do away with the ‘trickle-down’ growth model wherein those at the top should be the first to develop, with the assumption that this growth-from-above will eventually find its way down to those in the lower strata.
We shall work for a government that provides opportunities for all through policies that redistributes power and resources so that everybody, most especially those who have been living in the margins for so long will enjoy the fruits of the country’s economic strength.
To this end, we shall pursue the following programs –
EKONOMIYANG AGRESIBO’T WALANG NAPAG-IIWANAN
(AN AGGRESSIVE AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMY)
Our basis for good governance is moral leadership: Good politics is good economics. And without moral leadership, we cannot translate economic growth to genuine human development. Economic growth is a means to provide every Filipino with food on their table, roofs on their heads, and social security.
After the initial euphoria of a seemingly strong economy, growing at 6% and the Philippine Stock Exchange Index breaching the 6,000-mark early this year, we have to step back and assess its effects on the poor and marginalized. While a strong peso indicates that our economic fundamentals are good enough for foreign money to flow in, an unchecked strengthening of the peso has negative effects on the export services, the overseas Filipino workers, and jobs creation – the main resources of the country’s manufacturing backbone, and the very people in the fringes that we are helping.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported exports receipts totaled US$3.551 billion last November, up 5.5 percent from the same month in 2011 but down 19.4 percent from October 2012. And while the Export Development Council projected exports growing at 8% for 2012, the Philippine Exporters Confederation projected 2012 growth by only 6.5% to 7.5%. The group pointed out the strengthening of the peso as one of the main culprits for the lagging growth in our export industry.
What we envision is growth that is inclusive, and vision of an economics for the fringes – or ekonomiya ng sagigilid. We shall thus focus our economic legislative agenda on industrial development, creating an industrial backbone based on agricultural modernization and manufacturing.
We shall also focus our legislative agenda towards the protection of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The welfare of the OFWs shall be the core of our foreign policy, especially since the Senate’s primary function is to define the country’s foreign policy together with the President. OFW remittances contribute substantially to nation building, with total remittances growing at 14% annually, and contributing 10% to our GDP.
It is, however, lamentable that our “modern-day heroes” are one of the most vulnerable segments of our population. At present, there are an estimated 4,000 OFWs languishing in prison in different parts of the country, with 130 of them facing the death penalty. And in our experience helping some of them, we see that the government has no capacity to fully assist them.
EDUKASYON NA NAPAPANAHON
(RELEVANT EDUCATION)
Competitiveness is not only a function of relevant physical infrastructure, but also of a highly educated human resource. It is the government’s responsibility to provide its citizens with opportunities for advancement.
Based on the latest data from the World Bank, the Philippines spent 2.7% of its Gross Domestic Product to education, compared to 3.5% of Indonesia, and 3.3% of Singapore. Average teacher-student ratio was at 1:40 – despite the fact that teachers comprised 30.4% of the entire government workforce, the largest occupational group in the Philippine Civil Service.
We shall focus our energy towards an education that not only produces skilled laborers and technicians, but an education that produces engineers, scientists, and knowledge workers that will help in the country’s industrial development.
To achieve this, the government must work towards free college or tertiary level education for poor but deserving students, emphasize the mastery of English and Filipino in public schools, colleges and universities, and ensure that technological colleges produce world-class graduates in highly in-demand skills such as software programming and ICT.
The country’s educational system should also ensure the mandate of Science High Schools and promote research and development of technologies that will boost agricultural production in state colleges and universities.
ENTRE-PINOY NA MASANG PILIPINO ANG NANGUNGUNA AT NAKIKINABANG
(ENTRE-PINOY THAT IS BENEFICIAL TO THE COMMON FILIPINO)
The sagigilid continues to haunt our society: those in the margins – farmers, fishers, contractual workers, indigenous peoples, and the poor in general – continue to live in debt because they cannot earn enough, and to in inhospitable areas in the margins of cities, living in insecurity for their lives.
We shall ensure that the sagigilid will be part in the benefits of our economic growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment