Archive for October 2007

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Made to Stick

October 30, 2007

The subtitle of this book promises to give answers to the question: Why some ideas survive and others die.

It was on the internet that I first read about Made to Stick by the brothers Chip and Dan Heath. Their website gave excerpts and reviews that caught my interest. So when I went with Girlie and Ayen to Trinoma, I looked for the book at the National Book Store.

Luckily there was a copy on the shelves. “It’s the last one left,” according to the saleslady. I hesitated because of the hardbound copy price, and flipped quickly through the book. Too many pages to read in an hour. I decided to buy it as a Christmas gift to myself. Besides I thought Girlie will like it, like many of the other books I buy.

“Why does Tatay spend so much for books?” Ayen asked her mother on our way home. Girlie explained that I need books for my work. We both learned from Charles Handy that his paid work as professional lecturer and author required devoting many days in a year to reading, reflecting, and writing.

I don’t do much of that kind of paid work, so I have other reasons for reading. One is to help me make sense of my life’s experiences and observations. Good books help me live out the second law of lifetime growth – Make your learning greater than your experience.

The other reason is linked to my passion (and also frustration) to develop an alternative higher education program for the grassroots. I read to distill the ideas and wisdom of others, so that I can make them accessible to grassroots leaders. I even have a slogan for this project: Leaders are readers.

The project faces a dilemma that has been articulated by Mario Taguiwalo during the debates on the preferred language of instruction. He disagrees with those who want to use English as medium of instruction; he says that learning is faster and more effective if children and youth are taught in their native language. But he also says that learning English gives the students potential access to a wide world of knowledge. Publications in our native languages offer our students a limited range of choice, since the Philippines does not have a policy of translating as many books as possible, unlike Germany, or Japan, or South Korea.

I used to handle the module on Communications at the Grassroots Leadership Courses of ELF. We told the grassroots leaders that one of the core skills of leaders is communications – in small group discussions, in public speaking, in using media. We went through a lot of exercises, including role-play before actual radio interviews or public speeches.

The Communications modules have received good feedback, and various evaluations did observe that leader-graduates of ELF are effective communicators. But looking back, we could have improved their effectiveness if we had devoted more time to the points raised in Made to Stick.

The authors summarize their core message through the acronym SUCCESs. The six principles for creating successful a idea can also be expressed this way: a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story.

1. Simplicity. This does not mean keeping it short or simplistic. it means stripping your message to its core, using the principle of exclusion. Good proverbs are an example.

2. Unexpectedness. Initially, this means grabbing the audience’s attention, but surprise will not last. We must generate interest and curiosity. We can engage people’s curiosity over a long period of time by systematically “opening gaps” in their knowledge — and then filling those gaps.

3. Concreteness. How do we make our ideas clear? We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information. Sticky ideas are full of concrete images because our brains are wired to remember concrete data. In proverbs, abstract truths are often encoded in concrete language.

4. Credibility. How do we make people believe our ideas? Sticky ideas have to carry their own credentials. We need ways to help people test our ideas for themselves — a “try before you buy” philosophy for the world of ideas.

5. Emotions. How do we get people to care about our ideas? We make them feel something. Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region. We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions. The hard part is finding the right emotion to harness.

6. Stories. How do we get people to act on our ideas? We tell stories. Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we actually encounter that situation in life. Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.

These excerpts from their descriptions of the six principles are too succinct to do them justice. Girlie and I agree that we need to apply them to our advocacy of “lifelong learning,” and a “learning city.” So far, even though we have been enthusiastic in explaining these ideas, our approach has been too conceptual for our audiences.

Categories: Popular democracy

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Participatory Local Governance

October 29, 2007

Walking to Claret School this morning, Girlie and I were still undecided about the list of candidates we would vote for at the barangay elections.

It’s a reflection of our activist history that we keep track of national politicians, but do not know our barangay officials; not even most of our city councilors.

Martial law and centralized authoritarian rule further reinforced the previous emphasis of political activists on national politics. This national focus continued after the restoration of formal democracy in 1986. Even those of us who were promoting “popular democracy” put our emphasis on building broad coalitions of social movements and NGOs.

It was the passage of the 1991 Local Government Code which opened a new arena for political activism – participatory local governance, or PLG. This is where many activists I know channel their energies, and where they experience the “first installments” of the changes that we continue to seek for the whole nation.

Of course national movements have always done a lot of local community work, but they treated such local work mainly as part of building up power to transform the national government and the whole country.

Because they were into opposition politics, they did not direct their organizing efforts among the grassroots communities to influencing the barangay officials, much less to developing new leaders who would run in barangay elections.

Development NGOs did organize peoples’ organizations, or POs, but they tended to limit them to those who are participants in their programs. It’s only later that some NGOs adopted the approach of helping all the residents of a barangay exercise their rights as citizens, and influence the barangay council in how the barangay development fund should be spent.

I got a closer look at PLG a few years ago, as part of an external evaluation team that looked into the work of the CAPP-SIAD consortium. We visited some barangays in Negros Occidental where Quidan Kaisahan, or QK, was working; the work of BMFI or Balay Mndanaw in barangays of Misamis Oriental, and RDI in Ormoc City barangays.

More recently, Quidan Kaisahan asked me to revisit their work in barangays of Murcia and Sipalay City in Negros Occidental. I still owe QK the final report of our evaluation team, but what I saw has confirmed my conviction that PLG is an essential component of any meaningful change, first in the barangays, and eventually in the towns, cities, and provinces. Such change is integral to the change we seek for the whole Philippines.

PLG offers the answer to the question posed by a veteran field worker of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement or PRRM. During our strategic planning, he said that one of the achievements of PRRM in its first 50 years is that “We succeeded in making the barangay council elective.”

“The new challenge,” he said, “is how to make the barangay council effective.”

PLG also gives us at the Education for Life Foundation the most appropriate framework for our core program of “grassroots leadership formation towards grassroots community empowerment.”

Categories: Popular democracy

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Good to Great

October 26, 2007

Have been in Cebu since Thursday afternoon, to act as external facilitator and resource person at a strategic planning workshop of UPVCC, University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College.

It has been an intense but exhilarating experience. I didn’t know that UP Cebu has such an interesting history. Set up just 10 years after UP in Manila, it was closed in reaction to a critical statement by a local politician, its campus used by the Jesuits as Berchman’s College for a while. After re-opening, it was eventually placed under the newly established UP Visayas, headquartered in Iloilo; part of the reason was political, since Cebu politicians were seen as oppositionist to Marcos in the early 1980s.

The formal agenda of the workshop is a review of the development plans that the college had formulated for 2005 to 2010. But I was briefed that one of the issues in the minds of the participants is that of “autonomy,” or the idea of the college becoming a university, like UP Baguio, instead of being only a college of UP Visayas.

I teased them that if they want to retain all the letters in their current acronym, they can simply rearrange them, and have their new “autonomous” name: From UPVCC to UPCCV. From UP Visayas Cebu College, to UP Cebu – Central Visayas.

We did have a session on autonomy, surfacing their hopes and expectations, and also their questions and worries. But that was not the focus of the two-day workshop.

Instead, we devoted our time and energies to revisiting their many plans, and choosing priorities, using methods of the Technology of Participation.

During the afternoon-long session where eight different units reported, one recurring theme was the lack of time, and the lack of money. When I spoke at the end of the session, I quoted what a Brazilian told us in Nairobi, Kenya: “The amount of time and money are given, usually limited, but we have them. What we often don’t have are priorities.”

I also cited a former San Miguel Corporation executive’s pithy definition of strategy – “Choice.”

Because we had to be forward-looking, I shared with them some of the aphorisms of Dan Sullivan’s 10 Laws of Lifetime Growth: Make your future bigger than your past. Make your learning greater than your experience. Make your questions bigger than your answers.

The first is especially relevant, given that UP is looking to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.

I still think that the 1300 pesos price tag is too much to pay for Dan Sullivan’s slim volume. Luckily, I had time to spare when I first saw the book; so I got to read it inside the book store. Later, I got twice lucky; after discussing the 10 Laws at a meeting of managers, they ordered a number of copies and gave me one.

Jim Collins’ pamphlet is even slimmer, at only 35 pages, and it is priced at 495 pesos. It took me a while to decide to buy it, but am glad I did, for it proved useful in preparing for the UP workshop. The pamphlet is a monograph that he originally intended to be a chapter in a future edition of his best-selling Good to Great. Its title is Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

Although he is primarily a business author, his opening statement is unexpected: “We must reject the idea – well intentioned, but dead wrong – that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become ‘more like a business’.”

Instead, he asserts that “the critical distinction is not between business and social, but between great and good.”

A business leader who works a lot with the social sectors challenged his assertion: “In my work with nonprofits, I find that they are in desperate need of greater discipline – disciplined planning, disciplined people, disciplined governance, and disciplined allocation fo resources.”

Jim Collins replied: “What makes you think that’s a business concept?…A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness.” The blurb at the back page of the monograph reiterates this: Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.

Five Questions about Good-to-Great in the Social Sectors

Jim Collins admits that his research into the social sectors is nowhere near his research into the business sector. He says that using the kind of matched-pair research that he used for the business sector will need ten years to complete for the social sector.

But in the meantime, his monograph responds to five questions that have been raised by those who seek to apply to the good-to-great principles in the social sector.

1. Defining “Great” – calibrating success without business metrics.

2. Level 5 Leadership – getting things done within a diffuse power structure.

3. First Who – getting the right people on the bus within social sector constraints

4. The Hedgehog Concept – rethinking the economic engine without a profit motive.

5. Turning the Flywheel – building momentum by building the brand.

This slim monograph has research-based insights and stimulating ideas which can benefit not just state universities and colleges, but also development NGOs that want to be more than good in trying to do good.

Categories: Uncategorized

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Teachers Solidarity

October 23, 2007

This evening, I was asked to facilitate a meeting at the office of PSLink, the largest dues-paying federation of public sector unions. The agenda was how to bring together the different organizations of public school teachers, so that they will be recognized as “social dialogue” partners of the Department of Education or DepEd.

In the past, unions of teachers could negotiate school by school with the DepEd. Later the DepEd decreed that as the national government agency employing the 480,000 public school elementary and high school teachers, it would negotiate only with a federation that represents at least 30% of all the teachers.

That effectively disqualified all existing teachers’ unions and federations.

Fortunately, the DepEd has recently issued more reasonable policies. Secondary school teachers can again negotiate per school. Primary school teachers unions can negotiate by district (usually one town) and this is where the 30% requirement applies. To negotiate at the division level ( city or province), the union must represent at least half of the teachers in the division.

Leaders from four teachers’ organizations met for two hours and a half. I knew some of them from the years of activism; others introduced themselves as part of a younger generation. They acknowledged that they had their political differences and organizational rivalries, but all expressed the desire for greater cooperation.

The four organizations first came together to protest the forcible dispersal of a teachers’ protest action on World Teachers’ Day last October 5. They have also cooperated on the issue of teachers’ payments and benefits in relation to the Government Service Insurance System.

Halfway through the meeting, there was a welcome meeting of minds. After exchanging updates on the DepEd’s initiatives, they agreed that its current moves to amend the Magna Carta of Teachers is a threat to the teachers’ rights and welfare.

They acknowledge that some of the proposed amendments could improve the Magna Carta, but these are few compared to many others that undermine important provisions which have not yet been implemented.

Hence their agreement to call on DepEd to first implement the Magna Carta, instead of focusing on amending it.

I confessed my ignorance, and apologized for asking elementary questions: “When was the Magna Carta of Teachers passed into law? What are its main provisions?”

They laughed and said, “Most teachers have not read it either.”

“When you do your information campaign on the Magna Carta,” I suggested, “please make something easy to recall like the Unicef’s 10 points on the rights of children.”

Even better, if they can distill teachers’ rights into a shorter list. “According to pop psychology,” I told them, “people’s short-term recall is limited to a maximum of seven items. That’s why many do not remember all the 10 commandments!”

Quality teachers for quality education

Since they invited me as president of E-Net, I also challenged them to take up the cause of EFA 2015.

“Teachers’ unions understandably focus on teachers’ rights and welfare,” I said, “and these are ends in themselves. But if you want to get broader public support for your cause, you must also argue that your struggle for teachers’ rights and welfare is a means to an end – quality education for our children.”

There is general consensus that quality teachers are essential to quality education. The public interprets teacher quality as competence and commitment. But these require that teachers enjoy their basic rights.

Before we broke up for the night, they agreed to work together under the working name of “Teachers Solidarity” even while retaining their respective organizational autonomy.

They hope that through their experiences in campaigning together on the Magna Carta, they will learn what further steps to take toward the higher level of unity they need and desire.

Categories: Education for All

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Lifelong Learning

October 23, 2007

This morning I went to the DAR building to speak at a “learning session” of the Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development, or BARBD. I somehow associate their name with Barbie Doll.

As its name indicates, BARBD’s mandate is to help farmers who have acquired land under the agrarian reform program. In DAR’s vocabulary, they are ARBs – agrarian reform beneficiaries, and there are over a million of them.

The ARBs are organized into agrarian reform communities, or ARCs. Some ARCs are as large as a whole town, some are as small as one barangay; most are a cluster of barangays. There are over 1000 ARCs.

Some of the BARBD staff had attended the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Festival sponsored by E-Net. Right after my presentation about ALS, they invited me to discuss how to integrate ALS into their development programs for the ARCs.

The current education programs in the ARCs are mainly school-based, and have the strength and limitations of formal education. I reminded them that less than 50% of all children who enter Grade One manage to finish four years of secondary school. Of course we should improve the school-based system, but that will not help the out of school children and youth.

I presented my usual arguments for the strategy of “walking on two legs” toward Education for All or EFA 2015. One leg is the improvement of the formal, school-based system, and the other is the building of alternative learning systems.

Since they told me that their emphasis is on “community-based systems,” I said that it makes sense for them to focus on installing alternative learning systems in the ARCs they are serving.

During the Q and A after lunch, I was asked about how ALS relates to “lifelong learning.” I was surprised to know that BARBD has included lifelong learning as one of it programs for ARC. I clarified that while I discussed ALS for basic education, there is also ALS for post-basic, technical and higher, education.

Can’t stop learning

Just before I left the session, I was again approached by the staff person who did the introductions. He said that he read the book I wrote in 1986, Touching Ground, Taking Root: “What you wrote then helped me sort out my thinking, about my faith and my activism.”

I thanked him for his kind words, and thought I should be doing more work on the book I want to finish for my 65th birthday.

From time to time, I have been told by people whom I do not know personally how my earlier writings helped them reconcile their Christian faith and their involvement in the left-led national democratic movement. Generally, they feel sad about the later splits in the movement, and the internecine conflicts that persist.

For thousands of our generation, our involvement in the national democratic movement during the martial law years is a significant part of our lives. We can understand the passions of those who quarrel about who is the “correct” and legitimate heir of the national democratic heritage. But we also feel the need to affirm and honor our shared heritage.

The changes ushered in by EDSA 1986 posed many questions, and stimulated healthy debates about how to deal with the political changes inside and outside the Philippines. The debates will continue, sometimes friendly, often hostile. Whether we use the term or not, “lifelong learning” is still a task and challenge for our generation.

Categories: Lifelong Learning

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Extreme future

October 21, 2007

I was in Toledo City when I heard about the bomb blast at Glorietta 2 in Makati. Texts and calls followed in quick succession, sharing news, asking questions, posing opinions. Days later, the uncertainty continues to hang, together with suspicions.

The government of the day has reason to worry. There is public skepticism about its announcement that a terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the blast. When I got back to Manila, “truemors” pointed to government officials as prime suspects. Text messages warn that in the next days a staged raid will uncover evidence conveniently linking the opposition to the murderous act.

I worry that another line has been crossed, and that the Philippine ship of state has slid even further down to turbulent waters.

My current reading only adds to my worry. It’s The Extreme Future by James Canton, subtitled The top trends that will reshape the world in the next 20 years.

I bought the book after scanning it, particularly Chapter 2 on Fueling the Future, which is about the critical role that energy will play.

Here is its take on the top 10 trends of the extreme future:

1. Fueling the Future. The energy crisis, the post-oil future, and the future of energy alternatives like hydrogen. The critical role that energy will play in every aspect of our lives in the 21st century.

2. The Innovation Economy. The transformation of the global economy based on the convergence of free trade, technology, and democracy, driving new jobs, new markets, globalization, competition, peace, and security. The 4 power tools of the emerging innovation economy are Nano-Bio-IT-Neuro.

3. The Next Workforce. How the workforce of the U.S. is becoming multicultural, more female, and more Hispanic. Why the future workforce must embrace innovation to become globally competitive.

4. Longevity Medicine. The key forces that will radically alter medicine, such as nanotech, neurotech, and genomics, leading to longer and healthier lives.

5. Weird Science. How future science will transform every aspect of our lives, culture, ad economy – from teleportation to nanobiology to multiple universes.

6. Securing the Future. The top threats to our freedom and our lives, from criminals to terrorists to mind control. Defining the risk landscape of the 21st century.

7. The Future of Globalization: Cultures in conflict. The new realities of global trade and competition; the rise of China and India; the clash of cultures and values; and the ideological battle for the future.

8. The Future of Climate Change. How the environment is changing and how we need to prepare for increased global warming, pollution, and threats to health. How we must change.

9. The Future of the Individual. Navigating the threats from technology, governments, and ideologies in the struggle for human rights, liberty, and the freedom of the individual in the 21st century.

10. The Future of America and China. How the destiny of these two great nations – from capitalism to democracy, to innovation and security – will shape the future.

The book is uneven, and its audience is primarily the North. But there is enough in it for us in the Philippines to consider seriously. That’s why it adds to my worry. Our political leaders seem to be nearsighted, unaware of these challenges, or unconcerned.

I recall a quotation in Bahasa Indonesian which I read at the office of the rebel leader who was the newly elected governor of Aceh. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a translation from J.D. Salinger: “It is not power that corrupts. It is the fear of losing power that corrupts.”

Both administration and opposition contenders can benefit from reading the boxed section on page 4 of the book – The Five Factors that will define the Extreme Future:

Speed. The rate of change will be blinding, comprehensive in scope, and will touch every aspect of your life.

Complexity. A quantum leap in the number of seemingly unrelated forces that will have a direct bearing on everything from lifestyles to work to personal and national security.

Risk. New risks, higher risks, and more threats from terror to crime to global economic upheaval will alter every aspect of your life.

Change. Drastic adjustments in your work, community, and relationships will force you to adapt quickly to radical changes.

Surprise. Sometimes good, sometimes difficult to imagine, surprise will become a daily feature of your life, often challenging sensibility and logic.

Categories: Uncategorized

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Emotional banking

October 19, 2007

Finally made it to Toledo City and the People’s Development Agency where Fr. Paking Silva is running a second “survival session” for the electric cooperatives. I thought I would be meeting again with the general managers who took part in the first survival session in September. It turned out that the GMs had been asked to send prospective action officers for this course.

Roughly one half of the participants were meeting me for the first time. After the video conference with the board members at NEA, I was asked to tell again the story of how I got to know and appreciate the rural electrification movement. I ended with the usual challenge for them to communicate well the first part of the electric coops’ story and pursue their mandate and mission of electrifying the remaining 1738 rural barangays, and connecting the hundreds of thousand of households beyond the current 7.6 million.

But the second challenge is the bigger one, and the reason why they were gathered for a “survival session.” How will the electric coops who have been organized primarily for service gear themselves to survive in the new competitive environment ushered in by EPIRA?

Afterwards, I whispered to Eric Bucoy, the general secretary of NAGMEC, that we should design a special training program for GMs of electric coops, borrowing a phrase from Alan Greenspan’s book: Managing in turbulent times.

The PDA seminars are anchored by Fr. Silva, and they are usually a mix of powerpoint presentations, survey results from past batches, videos of EC activities, exchange of experiences and ideas among the participants, and commentaries, stories, and exhortations from Fr. Silva. The daily schedule is demanding; the day starts at 7:30 am and ends at 10 pm or later. Graduates from previous courses tease one another about having survived Paking’s “concentration camp.”

What is unique about the PDA, which I wish I could have for a future folk high school, is that it is located within the compound of an electric coop, Cebeco III. Every morning and especially during “solidarity evenings” the coop personnel serenade us with their songs, and show us in different ways the “culture” that Fr. Paking cites as one of the key factors for sustaining team spirit and quality service. Participants learn a lot from observing the facilities and daily activities of an award-winning coop, and from informal conversations with the meter readers, linesmen, finance staff, section chiefs and department heads.

Even in normal times, managing an electric coop is quite a challenge; it has become even more challenging with the turbulent transition ushered in by EPIRA. Fr. Paking admits that he has no formal training in management, and prefers to call himself a philosopher and leader. But he has used this to advantage, and his unorthodox style and approaches have drawn grudging admiration even from those who are not satisfied with how he articulates it.

Happiness bank

In the previous survival session, he expounded on the idea that we should develop “happy warriors.” At this morning’s session, he asked the Cebeco staff to carry what I thought was a learning prop into the hall. It turned out to be a big deposit box, painted to look like a bank office. The sign read Bangko Cebeco ng Kalipay, Cebeco Bank of Happiness.

He explained that the project is the result of a series of brainstorming. Every day, every person in Cebeco III is asked to think: How do I make someone happy? The next day, they write what they have done and deposit it in the “bank of happiness.” Later they added a second question: Who has made me happy?

In the daily RQIM interactive broadcast, samples of these deposits are read out. Although it is barely a month old, the experiment seems to be working. One Cebeco department head told me that it may be a small thing, but since everyone starts the day thinking of how to make someone else happy, it sets a positive tone for the whole day.

Fr. Paking further explained that the project combines ideas from different sources, and that one source was a topic I talked about in 2003. Turning to me, he said, “Tell them about emotional banking.”

Although I have gotten used to his style of suddenly calling on any one in the room to comment on his talk, I still get surprised.

Anyway, I told the participants that I first read the idea of “emotional banking” from Stephen Covey. He wrote that every day, without our being aware of it, we engage in many emotional transactions e.g. we smile and greet our partner in the morning – that is a deposit. We ignore her at breakfast while poring over the papers – that is a withdrawal, and so on through the days, and weeks, and months.

I experienced a “moment of zen” when I first read this passage from Covey. I thought it explained why sometimes, when I had to leave home for an unscheduled meeting or a trip, my partner would send me off with a smile, but other times she would raise quite a fuss that I felt was out of proportion.

In both cases, leaving without advance notice amounts to a similar form of “withdrawal.” I could understand her different reactions based on whether I still had a lot of “deposits” in my emotional account when I made the withdrawal, or whether I had very little left; much worse, if I was overdrawn.

Most men in the audience usually react with a smile of recognition. Some told me they have applied the lesson to good use. When they anticipate a major withdrawal in the near future, they take pains to build up their deposit. They tell me it works.

But I remind them that it works only if we realize that it is our partner, not us, who will judge whether what we are doing is an emotional deposit, or not. They laugh knowingly when I observe that wives tend to suspect husbands who unexpectedly give them special gifts.: “They think you have done something wrong, feel guilty, and are making amends.”

If we had time, we could have pursued the emotional banking metaphor and distinguish between short-term checking and savings account, and long-term time deposits.

After the session, a young participant from Batangas came up to me and shook my hands: “Thank you for the lessons on emotional banking,” he said. “I can apply it to many parts of my life.” I smiled back, but wondered what he meant.

Probably similar to what a much older participant told me later. “What you said about having an overdrawn account is so true,” he confessed. “That’s what happened to my previous relationships. But I have consciously applied the lessons to my present partner, and we’re OK.”

Categories: Power and energy

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100 voices against poverty

October 17, 2007

I ran to the PAL check-in counter 40 minutes before flight time. Too late, I was told. The counter closed at 45 minutes before; the flight is overbooked. Some conference is happening in Cebu. The next two flights were also fully booked.

What about the wait list? I was told I could take a chance as number 61 on the list.

I called NEA which had booked the PAL flight and asked them to rebook me for tomorrow. They got back to me; all flights tomorrow are fully booked. Luckily, a Cebu Pacific flight has space; I should make it to Toledo City and catch the meeting of the general managers of electric coops.

I had miscalculated the travel time from the ELF office to the Centennial airport. We had an animated staff discussion on projecting our partnership with the Aytas on the web, and organizing a youth leadership camp hosted by the Aytas for lowlanders, and even friends from abroad.

I left the office just before 2 pm, thinking an hour would be enough to reach the airport at 3 pm, one hour before flight time: Take the LRT to Cubao, transfer to the MRT, and get a taxi from the Ayala station. Would have worked, but the lines to the MRT ticket windows were very long, and very slow.

Stand up. Speak Out.

Rushed back by taxi to Quezon City. Perhaps there was time to catch what I thought I would miss because of my commitment to go to Cebu – the annual campaign of the GCAP (Global Call to Action against Poverty) at the QC Circle: Stand Up. Speak Out. Against Poverty. I was glad that they added a positive target: For the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs.

What I wanted to hear was the Poverty Requiem that would also be sung today in 30 plus places all over the world. The lyrics were written by Sylvia Borren who heads Novib; I met her in Nairobi at the World Social Forum, and she is one of the “trinity” who coordinate GCAP.

I arrived around 5 pm, two hours before the scheduled performance of the Requiem. Walked around the booths and exhibits. Bought two bars of papaya soap from Sarah of AKTIB; she sighed that many of their urban poor members have been victims of forced demolitions. Had quick updates with Freedom from Debt Coalition staff about their initiative to form EmPOWER, an alliance of electric power consumers. Spotted PSLink banners, and reconfirmed the meeting we set for next week to brainstorm on forming an alliance of public school teachers.

Just before 7 pm, met some PETA people; they had also come for the Requiem. PETA’s executive director, Beng, is the partner of Noel Cabangon who is in charge of the Philippine Requiem project. It must have taken a bit of work – getting over 100 singers together from different walks of life. Some were church choirs, others school-based chorales; there were even children’s groups from the communities.

Their performance did not disappoint. The 100 voices moved the audience with their songs, especially the children’s voices which floated poignantly to end the Requiem. I did not catch all the lyrics, though they were flashed from time to time on the screen together with pictures of poverty and protest. Once or twice, GMA’s picture jolted the mood of the audience. One of the emcees had earlier lambasted her claim during the launch of the MDG mid-decade report that the Philippines is “on track” to reach the MDGs by 2015.

Actually, I was told by someone present at the launch that the NEDA report admitted that the targets on education and the environment are not likely to be met. That surprised me. I asked, “You mean the government claims it can meet the target of reducing poverty by half, but not achieve Education for All?”

Anyway, even if the government does reduce poverty by half, GCAP’s Sylvia Borren writes: “We don’t want to halve poverty. Eradicate it!”

Linking global and local

The GCAP Stand Up Against Poverty Campaign is globally coordinated, and GCAP Philippines has regularly taken part in it. The other globally coordinated campaign that has regular Philippine participation is the April Global Week of Action focused on EFA – Education for All. E-net Philippines leads the organized activities.

Both campaigns generate good energies among those of us who take part. But as I walked around the booths and saw the children from the communities painting on the banners, I asked myself: “What do our actions really accomplish?” I felt a certain sadness watching the young people from the communities fold their banners, knowing they were going home as poor as when they left for today’s activities.

Noel Cabangon had an inspired decision to sing Tumindig Ka right after the Requiem, while most of the choir members were still on stage. His words took on greater resonance: Daang taon na ang lumipas/Ilang pangulo na ang nagdaan/Wala pa ring asenso si Juan/ Lubog pa rin sa kahirapan.

A hundred years have gone by/So many presidents have come and gone/Ordinary people still have not improved their lives/Still mired in poverty.

Of course, I tell myself, we cannot expect any immediate impact on the lives of the poor from our advocacy and activities to raise public awareness and concern. And what we do in the Philippines does contribute to what GCAP can project globally – that 25 million or more have again stood up against poverty on October 17, and call on politicians especially of the G-8 to make good on their promises about debt, trade and aid.

But here in the Philippines, will any political leader pay attention to what we did today? For that to happen, we need to do more than play our part well in a globally coordinated campaign. In addition to getting media coverage, we need to find relevant national and local pressure points.

Walking back home from the QC Circle, I cross the circle road beneath the traffic, using the newly opened underpass. I grasp for some comfort from Margaret Mead’s advice not to underestimate the power of small committed groups, and Robert Kennedy’s rhetoric about how one person standing up for justice sends out ripples that will combine with other ripples of change.

I even recall the example cited for “chaos theory” of a butterfly fluttering its wings in California eventually causing a storm in China, or vice versa. Who knows what energies we release or how they will combine?

But then I think of the recent global outrage and campaign in solidarity with the protests in Burma, and the seeming silence.

Is this a sign of getting weary, yielding to the “Seen that, done that” syndrome? No, I reassure myself. I just don’t want to settle for cheap hope, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who didn’t settle for cheap grace.

Categories: Global Solidarity, Renewing our spirit

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Distant lives

October 16, 2007

Saturday, before taking the bus to Batangas, I joined a discussion group convened by Archbishop Tony Ledesma. We were invited to exchange what we know about the social teachings of the Catholic church and how they apply to the situation in the Philippines.

It’s part of the preparations for the NRC II – the second National Rural Congress, schedules for May 2008.

When I arrived at the meeting room in the Loyola House of Studies, the participants were in the middle of introducing themselves. I came too late for the brief “life stories” of Sister Vida of the St. Joseph sisters, Fr. Archie of the Xavierians, and Charles Avila from FFF days, but on time to hear the stories of our Jesuit hosts – Frs. Archie Intengan, John Carrol, and Jose Maria Francisco.

When my turn came, I said I was happy to join the group because it is a chance “to pick up the conversations” that have been interrupted. Many in the group were my theological and political contemporaries. We shared the “social reform” energies unleashed by Vatican II in the Catholic church.

But as the situation polarized in the late 60s and early 70s, we made different choices. I was among the radicalized Christians who entered into an alliance with the Marxist-led revolutionary movement. Most of them formed political movements that disagreed and competed with the left.

NRC I and II

But in 1967, when the Catholic church convened the first National Rural Congress, NRC I, we had more unities than disagreements. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Rome had a keen interest in the results of that congress; the Vatican asked for 100 copies of the results, and distributed them to other countries.

Will the results of NRC II have comparable impact on the Vatican? Probably not, but then again, who knows what may come out.

Someone mentioned that next year is also the 40th anniversary of Populorum Progressio, the Papal encyclical that addressed the issue of justice at the global scale.

Charlie mentioned that the key concern of NRC I in 1967 was how to make the church “relevant,” particularly to the rural communities. Hence the theme: The Church Goes to the Barrios. I added that the church was also addressing the threat of revolution, and wanted a reform alternative.

That was then. What would constitute “relevance” for NRC II in 2008?

I said that while there is still armed struggle going on in the rural areas, I am more worried about the danger that the sense of national community is unraveling. There are many reasons for this – the impact of globalization, migration, the deepening social divisions, the kind of elite leadership we have, etc.

Thinking back to 1986 and EDSA “people power,” the Philippines had a national project we could present with pride to the world. But now, when friends from other countries look at us, they find little to inspire them.

The NRC II cannot be a mere anniversary event. We should use it as an opportunity to interpret the social teachings in ways that contribute to the task of “re-imagining and re-thinking” our national community.

Distant stories

The two-hour meeting was stimulating. I reflected on the many ideas while on the bus to Batangas, and on the fast craft to Mindoro.

Later, in the evening, I had a chance to exchange stories with some of my mother’s neighbors, including a couple from the fishing village where I was born, across the river. Listening to them, I felt the distance between their daily lives and the grand historical themes we were discussing that morning.

The fishermen complained that they often catch only one kilo of fish, which sells for 70 pesos; but they spend 120 pesos for motor fuel. They remember the times when the seas yielded 100 kilos of catch.

“What happened?” I asked. “Why is there so little fish left?”

One said that the fish got scarce around the time the large Shell ship laid the gas pipelines along the coast of Mindoro. Perhaps the pipes destroyed the corals? Some tell them that the sound of the gas traveling through undersea pipes drives the fish away. Another fisherman thinks that the problem is caused by the commercial trawlers that poach on municipal waters.

It’s kalamansi season in Naujan, and the local market price is only one or two pesos per kilo. Some owners encourage anyone to pick fruits for free, since they would lose money paying for pickers, and if the mature fruits are not picked, the kalamansi trees will be affected.

The evening ended with a thought and a prayer, that our village will be spared the strong typhoons that hit us last year in December.

Categories: Mindoro

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Friday forum

October 13, 2007

This afternoon, Girlie dropped me off at the MRT station on her way to meet with her fellow volunteers at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani. I took the MRT to the Taft Avenue station, then transferred to the LRT; got off at the Pedro Gil station, and walked to ASI, the Asian Social Institute.

I was late for the Rural Poverty Forum, and caught only the tail end of the presentation by the Department of Agrarian Reform. As I slipped into the room, I bumped into Director Alice of the Department of Agriculture’s biotech unit. “Did you read today’s piece in the Inquirer on the malunggay?” I asked her. It was from her I first learned that compared to the development of GMOs, the Philippines has greater advantage in pursuing biotech for the “natural ingredients” industry.

She hadn’t, but said that she is keenly following up the natural ingredients program, not just with malunggay, but with papaya, achuete and other Philippine plants. I told her that one of my blog posts that seems to get the most hits is the one on malunggay.

“So, are you doing the presentation for the DA?” I asked. “No, my secretary is here to do that,” she replied. I thought she was referring to her staff. When I looked at the head table, it turned out to be Arthur Yap, the DA secretary.

It was my first time to hear Sec. Yap, and I was curious, to say the least. He is considered a fair-haired boy of President GMA, having been her student at the Ateneo. He has also been the target of protests by friends in rural development NGOs and by farmers’ movements, because of a series of agreements he forged with Chinese businessmen, which friends fear may give the Chinese access to 2 million hectares of land, and jeopardize the gains of agrarian reform.

The Rural Poverty Forum is one of the preparatory activities toward the Second National Rural Congress (NRC II) being convened by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in May 2008. Archbishop Tony Ledesma, who is executive chair of NRC II, opened the forum. Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the vice chair, gave the closing remarks.

Addressing rural poverty

The three rural development agencies were invited to give their analysis of rural poverty and their programs that address it: DAR, DA, and DENR or the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The National Anti-Poverty Commission, or NAPC was also invited, though its lead convenor Sec. Panganiban left before I arrived.

To his credit, Sec. Yap was the only cabinet member who did the presentation, and stayed to field questions till the end of his session. He conceded that the China deal has become too controversial, and said that he has suspended it especially because of the recent scandal about the broadband deal with China. But he intends to conduct a series of consultations to address the concerns about the suspended program.

I picked up some interesting points from his presentation. In 2005 the government estimated that 33% of Filipinos are below the poverty line. But 42.4% of farmers were poor, and fisherfolk were worse off, with 43.6% poor.

The poverty line is set by government at a daily income of 204 pesos for a family of five. The daily income of small fisherfolk is 39 pesos, while that of coconut farmers is 43 pesos.

He referred to the earlier DAR presentation (which I missed) which posed the challenge of linking economic growth and social justice. Since the forum’s focus is on reducing rural poverty, and the government’s official commitment is to halve poverty by 2010, Sec. Yap said that unlike the past, the DA cannot concern itself only with increasing production. It must insure that the farmers increase their income.

The set of figures he gave about rural credit is disturbing: “The total annual lending of the banking system is 2.4 trillion pesos,” he said. “Of this only 5.6% goes to agri-fisheries – 5.23% to agriculture, and 0.37% to fisheries.

It was my first time to hear a DA Secretary’s presentation of the over-all program of the DA. I whispered to Fr. Archie who sitting beside me, “He seems to be saying all the right things.” But during the open forum he did acknowledge that not enough has been done by government, and not everything has been done right.

The three agencies also accepted that they should improve their coordination. But based on my limited stint in government, this is unlikely.

On my way home, I thought that if we accept the presentations at their face value, the forum showed some welcome indicators of government thinking through problems, beyond doing what they have been used to. DAR accepted that land transfer is only a first step; increasing production and incomes are integral to agrarian reform. In their jargon, LTI (land tenure improvement) plus ARB (agrarian beneficiary development).

It was my first time to hear the DA talk not only of increasing crop yields, but of increasing farmers’ incomes as the most important goal. Sec. Yap even claimed that he had given instructions to Usec. Serrano in Geneva to take a firm stand in the WTO negotiations and maintain the remaining protection of our farmers.

Malunggay and migration

The article on malunggay in the Inquirer reflected a similar step forward in thinking through. Although the case has been made that malunggay is “nutritious,” it argues that malunggay production will not take off unless we can make the case that it is also “delicious,” and of course “profitable” to the farmers.

When I got home, Girlie was lying on our sala bed, looking exhausted. She had just played mother hen to a flock of teen-agers, Ayen and her cousins, who attended the concert of Click at Trinoma.

“When their screams were too much for my eardrums,” she said, “I tuned out and turned observer.” The audience were all young, which was expected. What she realized was that unlike the shoppers at the Podium, they were not at all elite-looking, not mestizo-fair. Brown faces, wearing T-Shirts and jeans. “They must be children of migrant parents,” she thought, “with middle class disposable income.”

She thought back to the time when she was their age, and was slowly awakening to social issues. “This is the new element that we did not have then,” she reflected. “Now they have the option to look for work abroad, and even settle elsewhere.”

So, will they ever get agitated and concerned enough about poverty and injustice and corruption in the Philippines, as we were? Or will they focus their energies on seeking a better life elsewhere, instead of trying to make life better here?

Categories: Migration

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