PATAS NA LABAN, PARA SA LAHAT
Towards a Society of Equal Opportunity
Speech Delivered by
Senator Panfilo M. Lacson
before the Far Eastern University student body
sponsored by the FEU Political Science Department
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Let me begin with a true story:
There was a poor couple from Imus, Cavite who had eight children. Every single day was a difficult grind. The father was a jeepney driver, and his wife had to make both ends meet by selling dry goods she bought from Divisoria in the Imus public market.
Subali’t sa tulong ng dasal at sa pagpupunyagi, nairaos din nila at napagtapos ang lahat ng kanilang mga anak. Awa ng Diyos, lahat ay naging propesyunal.
Ako ang ika-apat sa kanilang mga anak, at sa pagkakataong ito, dinadakila ko sila, lalo na ang aking ina na kailan lamang ay sumakabilang-buhay na.
I thank her and my 94-year old father profusely not only for the personal sacrifices they underwent to make me what I have become, but more so because of the moral values they instilled in each and everyone of us, values that we try very hard to live by.
Now let us relate those values with what has become of life in our beloved, if benighted, land:
The days of my birth into this world were better times. There was an air of feverish reconstruction following the end of the Pacific War three years before.
Even if you were poor, there was a public health care system that could be relied upon when you got sick. Public education in the primary and secondary levels were as good as the exclusive private schools. I should know. I was a product of the Philippine public school system, and I am very proud of that.
Tahimik ang buhay noon, at nirirespeto ang mga pulis. Tinitingala ang mga opisyal ng bansa, mula sa alkalde hanggang sa pangulo.
May pag-asa noong umangat ang tulad naming anak lamang ng ordinaryong manggagawa.
Noong mga panahong iyon, patas pa ang laban. Mayaman o mahirap.
Is that still possible these days?
Firstly, the population has grown. There were 19 million Filipinos when I was born. Twelve years later, in 1960, we had become 27.5 million. We are now 90 million, and by 2015, perhaps earlier, there will be a hundred million Filipinos packed in land smaller than the state of California.
Second, we have not made proper use of our resources. We have abused practically every gift the Lord has provided. Our cities are a picture of urban squalor; our countryside remains under-developed, unable to provide the population even with enough food. As a result, we export our men and women so they give us the money to import the goods that we who are left here, consume.
And third, we have allowed our leaders to abuse us. We kept quiet through the years that they bought elected power, and profited immensely from such. We have tolerated small corruption from clerks and lowly bureaucrats. We have watched our mayors and local officials enrich themselves from construction and even garbage contracts, yet we keep electing them to office, and after them, their wives, their sons and daughters. We suffer bad roads because our congressman made a hefty commission of as much as 40% from the use of his pork barrel. Officials appointed by the president make money in smuggling, in jueteng, in almost every imaginably illegal act. In short we have long tolerated abuse and corruption.
Public office has long ceased to be public service.
Public office has become a business endeavour, an opportunity to misuse and abuse public funds for personal gain.
Democracy is no longer a government of, by and for the people. It has become of, by and for stealing syndicates masquerading as government.
As a result, our public hospitals are under-manned, under-equipped, and have no medicines for poor and needy patients. Their children are malnourished. They go to sub-standard schools where they are mal-educated, packed like sardines in classrooms. Many stop schooling after the primary grades to help the rest of the family earn subsistence incomes.
I went through public schools all my life, including the Philippine Military Academy. Except for college, my brothers and sisters went through the same public school system. Pero ngayon, kaya pa ba ng isang pamilyang mahirap na may walong anak ang mapagtapos sila hanggang kolehiyo, ano mang pagsikap at pagtitiis ang gawin ng kanilang mga magulang?
Noon, patas pa. Parehas pa ang pagkakataon. Ngayon, kung pinanganak kang mahirap, pambihirang swerte na lamang, tulad ng pagtama sa lotto, ang siyang inaasahan. Hindi patas ang laban.
Poverty has worsened. Hunger stalks the land, so much so that the latest World Bank report says we are among the five hungriest nations on earth.
Our so-called democratic institutions have little credibility because of years of little efficiency, little effectiveness and much too much corruption.
You are afraid to report crimes to the police. You are afraid the fiscal will demand money when you file a complaint. And you face corrupt judges who will dispense favors to the rich and powerful, but woe unto you if you are poor and powerless.
Is there democracy where there is no justice? Is there freedom, where the scales of justice tilt against the down-trodden?
Patas ba ang laban ng mga maliliit kung mismong pamahalaan ay kakampi ng malalaki at makapangyarihan? Patas ba ang laban kung katarungan ay ipinagkakait sa mga kapus-palad?
Hindi patas ang laban.
Our legislators keep quiet despite a long train of abuses by the executive, because they are paid with pork barrel and additional perks. Our local government leaders are helpless when resources that are theirs by law, are withheld by the budget department.
Those who are sworn to uphold the rule of law and protect the people are led by generals who have had to compromise noble values learned in the Academy in order to get stars on their shoulders. Values such as loyalty, integrity and courage are surrendered when they compromise righteousness to politics.
The cadavers of our democratic institutions are plain for all to see. We have to give life back to them, but we cannot do that when the single most powerful institution --- the presidency --- is itself damaged, its corrosive effects having contaminated all in our system.
So --- where do we go from here?
Through the years, we have seen how the awesome powers of the Philippine presidency have been abused for personal interest, be it a concentration of political power, be it self-enrichment --- usually both.
Politics, as the revered Senator Jose W. Diokno once said, is “nothing more, nor less, than concentrated economics”.
The right use of political tools to effect good governance is intended to produce what is optimum in macro-economics, which is the provision by government of the means for everyone, the poor most of all --- the opportunity to lift themselves into sufficiency and a brighter future. That is concentrated economics.
Sa madaling salita, ang pamahalaan ay naririyan upang gamitin ang kapangyarihang ipinagkaloob ng mamamayan para gawing patas ang laban --- pantay ang oportunidad, para sa lahat.
Nguni’t ano ang ating nakikita? Imbes na protektahan ang mahihirap, pinapaboran ang malalaking oligarkiya at monopolyo. Government regulation has become a tool for market manipulation instead of consumer protection.
Taxation is supposed to be the great equalizer. Instead, we legislate loopholes for the rich to evade paying the right taxes. And bribing the taxman, they are able to evade paying once more.
The awesome powers of the presidency must therfore be used to ensure that just and proper taxes are collected, with every centavo going to the treasury. Walang kotong, walang lagay, walang palakasan, walang ayusan. Ang lahat ay dapat magbayad ng wasto, mayaman o mahirap --- parehas dapat sa harap ng batas.
Patas ang laban, para sa lahat. Ito ang susi sa mabuting pamamahala.
Public purpose is defined by the national budget. That budget is crafted by the executive and presented to Congress for approval or amendment. Under our system of government, it is still the presidency that matters most in the definition of public purpose, as well as in its implementation.
To provide equal opportunities so the poor can advance, we have to focus on the right priorities. Para maging patas ang laban ng mahihirap, kailangang gamitin ang pondo ng bayan sa wastong mga pangangailangan. What are these?
Health. Kalusugan para sa lahat.
In the countryside, people die without having seen a doctor. Infants die because of improper primary care and poor nutrition. In the urban capitals, the health situation is worsened by congestion in the slums, poor sanitation, and inadequate hospital facilities. Getting sick for many is like a slow death sentence, not because illness is terminal, but because medication is unaffordable.
The Philippine public health system is in the ICU, and requires an emergency solution. And to paraphrase our bishops, “not later…but now”.
The national government must launch an affirmative action intervention for the public health system. For five straight years, every peso of the IRA that goes to public health must be matched by another extra peso from the national government, to ensure acceptable health standards within that timeline. After that, the LGU’s must learn the proper prioritization of their IRA, and assume full responsibility for the health needs of their constituents.
Sa kalusugan ng bawa’t mamamayan, dapat parehas. Dapat, patas ang laban.
Of equal importance is education.
Wastong edukasyon para sa lahat ng kabataan.
The poor have little chance in the constant struggle that is life for as long as they are poorly educated and their children are mal-educated. Hindi kailanman magiging patas ang laban kapag hindi nakapag-aral ng maayos.
Public education in the fifties and the sixties gave us a fighting chance. Public education in the first decade of the 21st century has deteriorated to the point where even security guards and janitors need a few years of college mis-education, just to be employed.
The whole world is passing us by. Time was when our public school system was a model for all of Southeast Asia. Now even the poorest in Africa look to other models elsewhere.
Maibalik man lang sana sa ating kabataan iyung pagkakataon na ibinigay sa akin at aking mga kapatid, na bagama’t anak-mahirap, ay nai-angat sa pamamagitan ng pag-aaral sa public schools.
At nang sa gayon, maging patas ang laban. Para sa lahat.
And then there is internal peace --- order in a society where a culture of impunity has taken root, because there is an appalling lack of political will to uphold the law and ensure compliance with the law.
Ngayon lamang natin naranasan ang kakaibang karahasan, kung saan maging ang buong daigdig ay kinukondena ang extrajudicial killings ng mga aktibista at mamamahayag. Walang napaparusahan at walang nahuhuli.
We must ensure that no individual is above the law. No one must get away with any kind of crime. Every act of impunity diminishes law and order. Every exception to the rule is an injustice to society itself.
We must have the requisite political will to deal forcefully with crime and punish all criminals, no matter what and no matter who. And any officer of the law must serve the ends of justice, without fear or favor, or be themselves prosecuted without hesitation.
Patas ang laban, para sa lahat.
Hindi yung palakad na ang ilan ay pinakakawalan sa selda, gaano man karumal-dumal ang krimen, dahil mayaman o ma-impluwensya ang pamilya.
Only when peace and order can be taken as granted will investments into the economy flourish. Maski negosyo, lokal man o dayuhan, humahanap din ng patas na laban.
Maging sa pamamalakad ng pambansang ekonomiya, dapat ay maging patas ang pananaw ng pamahalaan sa lahat. Hindi yung pinapaburan ang malalaki at bahala na sa kanilang buhay ang mga maliliit.
The regulatory powers of government must focus on three areas: consumer protection, environmental protection, and the payment of just and fair taxes. These regulatory powers must not be used to promote, entrench, or protect monopolies and cartels that inflict damage upon consumers.
Level the playing field. Maging sa kalakalan, dapat ay patas ang laban.
And then there is the matter of food sufficiency. For far too long have we been importing food, be it rice, or vegetables, meat, and even fish. (Opo, bagama’t pinapalibutan tayo ng isang katerbang tubig, umaangkat pa tayo ng yamang-dagat.) Hindi maaring magpatuloy ang ganito.
Countries like China ensure enough food production to feed a billion and three hundred million mouths. For our country of relatively fertile lands, a tropical clime, and seas all over, importing food defies all good sense.
Food production must likewise be accorded highest priority, both to give our marginal farmers better incomes, and protect our consumers from the spectre of food shortages.
We help our farmers and fishermen, not with over-priced and worse, fake fertilizers. Not with over-priced irrigation systems and over-priced yet sub-standard farm-to-market roads. But with real farm inputs and real post-harvest facilities to allow them to be more productive.
Panahon pa ng Kastila ay api na ang mga magsasaka’t mangingisda ng ating bansa. Kailan pa natin sila bibigyan ng patas na laban?
Nguni’t lahat ng ito ay hindi magagawa kung hindi natin ititigil ang katiwalian at kurakot sa ating bayan. Habang ang badyet ng gobyerno ay pinagsasamantalahan, at habang ang buwis ay patuloy na dinaraya, hindi magiging patas ang laban para sa lahat ng mamamayan, magsasaka man o mamimili, taga-nayon man o taga-lungsod.
Even our good bishops tell us that if we stop corruption, we will have enough money to build hospitals and schools, and give equal opportunity to the poor and marginalized.
Stop corruption and we can provide support to our farmers and fishermen too. Stop corruption and we can ensure better peace and order. Stop corruption and business will flourish, the market will be competitive and fair, and even prices will stabilize.
Put an end to corruption, not later --- but now!
I keep saying that in our country, government is the problem. More appropriately, bad government is the problem.
And the solution is good government through a leadership that will put country above self, always and ever.
Kung pamahalaan --- masamang pamamahala --- ang siyang problema, mabuting pamahalaaan ang siyang solusyon.
And this can only happen if we have the right men and women in public leadership, men and women who possess the political will to do what is right and fight what is wrong --- that is the solution.
I wish to thank the faculty and students of the Far Eastern University for giving me this opportunity to be able to share my simple vision for the nation.
Let us from here on resolve that we will fight to give every Filipino, rich or poor, young or old, Ilokanos or Visayans, Tagalogs or Bikolanos, Christian Mindanaoan or Muslim or katutubo, the equal opportunity to make democracy truly meaningful in their lives.
Patas ang laban, para sa lahat.
Iyan ang kailangan. Ito ang dapat nating ipaglaban.
Patas na laban, para sa lahat.
Magsama-sama tayo sa adhikaing ito. Not later, but now.
Maraming salamat po.
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