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!
(Ms.
Leonor Briones is a former National Treasurer of the Republic
of the Philippines. She is currently teaching at the University
of the Philippines' National College of Public Administration
and Governance. She is also a co-convenor of Social Watch Philippines.)
After
the Holy Week: Business as usual?