If we are now agreed that we need to work together to inspire and help resuscitate and rehabilitate the only country we have, I would like to point out an exciting opportunity to finally rid ourselves of corrupting feudalism that has plagued our country for decades since our liberation from foreign rule.
I am confident that recent events, disastrous or innocent, have come together to enable “the pearl of the orient” to finally rise from the ashes. On the minus side, I am talking about disastrous massacres, unprecedented scandals among national leadership, the series of typhoons that seem to be increasing in intensity, floods, earthquakes, man-made conflicts and outside threats. On the innocuous side, we have the following strengths, the smiling, resilient and God-fearing people that can pick up junk refrigerator bodies from the thrash to turn them into life-saving fishing boats. Our biblical misfortune has served as an opportunity to call in international assistance, which saw many countries of the world community to forego political differences to rush aid to our typhoon survivors.
At the same time this confluence of events also somehow pricked the conscience of legislators, who are mostly products of political dynasties. Lo and behold, they are now talking about filing a bill banning political dynasties. At the same time, the Supreme Court has declared congressional pork barrel unconstitutional and may no longer be used by legislators to buy votes to perpetuate themselves in power.
Although these developments still belong to the realm of future possibilities, it is logical and timely to pick up on what Gising Barangay Movement is all about.
Following is the tail-end of a series of email exchanges on the matter.
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Tancio,
I agree with your sentiments and thus am trying to find out more about the candidates in our barangay. I read the manual of the Gising Barangay Movement (GBM) in 2009 and tried to get involved in the deliberations on the municipal budget in Taytay (not barangay level) in 2010 because I happened to have neighbours who introduced me to the lady Vice Mayor (now she is the new Mayor) who is the head of the Sanguniang Bayan which approves the municipal budget, which is made up of the budgets of the five barangays in Taytay. Although small in number, each barangay is quite large in population and in income. The barangay I live in includes SM City Taytay.
Apart from Raffy, the GBM was started and continues to be pushed by Manny Valdehuesa, a graduate of Xavier University who taught at the ADMU grade school, was later in charge of the ADMU press and then got to work for UNICEF.
I am happy that you are bringing the GBM to the attention of others. Indeed, if the better off and more literate citizens will only take the barangay government seriously, we might have less problems of corruption. Corruption does not only occur on the top levels of government. It is in all levels.
Joseph
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Raffy, Tancio, Joseph, et al.:
Greetings from Gising Brgy Movement!
To Raffy: we are partners/Co-Convenors in this crusade; no need for concern on possible infringement of ownership or credit!
To all: thanks for picking up this thread. It is so very important.
Perhaps because we've been calling it the "smallest" unit of government, we unwittingly make the barangay appear as having the least significance or importance; ergo not worth bothering with. But of course, this is not so.
First, this is the primal base of our nation, out of which grew our republic, and out of which folk practices and traditions grew our national culture.
Second, it is our basic community, the home of every Filipino -- in whom sovereignty resides and from whom all government authority emanates. It is here that every Filipino exercises his sovereignty thru the vote he casts in its precinct and raises the voice (or ought to) in the Barangay Assembly, which is a parliament except in name.
However we behave in it, whatever we do or not do in it, shapes the character of Philippine society, government and political culture. If we're uninvolved, inattentive to its governance, and tolerant of malpractices and corruption in its affairs, the tolerance becomes the norm and spreads horizontally and vertically. It's what happens when proper citizens leave governance, the common good, public efficiency, or honesty to others to determine or enforce.
Overall, the primordial importance of the barangay is better appreciated from the law's definition of its role, a role largely unperformed for lack of participation by knowledgeable sectors of the community.
Role of the Barangay: "... the basic political unit and the primary planning and implementation unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled." Sec 384 R.A. 7160, Local Gov’t Code.
Thus far, due to non-participation of knowledgeable barangay residents, planning and implementation is non-existent or inadequate or way below standard. Its all-inclusive parliament, the Barangay Assembly -- literally a Constituent Assembly -- serves more as a tool for trapo conditioning/manipulation of the masses than as a forum for issues. And its dispute-resolution mechanisms are ill-served by their being surrendered to the less educated, less motivated, and corruption-prone sectors of the community.
Imagine the impact on quality of life, politics, and governance if Ateneans and La Sallites and professionals including the devout sectors were to act like the leading citizens that they are at the grassroots.
Gising Barangay Movement needs new blood and all the leadership you can offer wherever you are......
Raffy and I are about ready to be pastured.....Please help energize the primal base of our republic...It's the little things in the barangay that make up the big things in the nation...
Government is everybody's business; if you're not involved, who can expect good governance!
Manny Valdehuesa
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To all my contacts:
Please read what Manuel Jr. Valduesa has to say about GBM. But since I personally am already ready to be pastured (if not already pastured), I wish the young blood will pick up the challenge even for the sake of our great grandkids. I don't want them to migrate when it's so much fun in the Philippines.
I appreciate the zeal of some of you, like Vic Floresca from my LaSalle batch. As I said there is still hope . . . There is no better chance than now . . . .
YOU CAN START RIGHT NOW BY FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE IN YOUR BARANGAY. BEFRIEND YOUR BARANGAY CHAIRMAN TO GET HIM TO INVITE YOU TO THE BARANGAY ASSEMBLY. MAKE SURE HE KNOWS YOU ARE NOT A THREAT TO HIM BUT IS THERE TO HELP HIS CONSTITUENTS.
Tancio
