Love our country

This is a plea, especially to our nation’s leaders, especially the politicians who wield power in both the political and economic realms. I know I’m far from being the only one who believes that if only most of you loved our country enough to put it ahead of furthering and perpetuating your personal power and wealth, our country and the bulk of our fellow Filipinos would be much better off today.

You would well know how the Philippines had progressively slid from the top to bottom position among its regional peers since the 1960s. We were the most dynamic economy in Southeast Asia and second richest in East Asia (next to Japan) in the 1960s but now rank the worst in most social and economic indicators that matter. A Korean friend once told me how on his first visit to Manila in the 1960s, he was awestruck with envy at our infrastructure and level of development that was well ahead of his own country then.

Neighbors from whom we now import rice and other farm products once sent their students to learn agricultural sciences in our country in my hometown of Los Baños, once the region’s knowledge center on the field. South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and India sent people to train at the Agricultural Credit and Cooperatives Institute in Los Baños, and have since demonstrated the power of farm cooperatives in uplifting their farms and farmers. Yet our own farm coops more often than not fail and collapse, leading many to believe that cooperativism simply will not work in the Philippines. We may have lost our cherished tradition of “bayanihan,” and have become too individualistic or “kanya-kanya” for sustained collective endeavors to prosper. Our concern for the common good now seems a casualty in the pursuit of selfish interest.

We need you, our leaders, to be always guided by the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number in the decisions you make and the actions you take. We need you to prove by your example that the common good and your personal welfare can actually come together. Many temptations come your way every day that pull you into decisions and actions that would increase your own wealth and power. Vested interests always surround you and strive to push you into actions that will lead to their gain, even if it means harm or loss to many, especially the powerless among us. But please think constantly of our country and how far behind it has fallen because people in power like you had chosen to set the common good aside, in favor of personal gain.

If you are a local chief executive, please do not be one whose first question to a potential investor is “What’s in it for me?”—then throw hurdles in their way if the answer is not to your liking. And please make it as easy as possible to start, register, and renew a business in your area, and recognize that these create jobs and incomes among your constituents, help uplift their lives, and ultimately strengthen your local economy.

If you are a member of either house of Congress, please take to heart your avowed mission of being a true representative of your constituents, whether they voted for you or not. Please also be mindful that the loudest voices and the strongest lobbies do not necessarily push in the right direction that will lead to the greatest good of the greatest number, which ought to be your yardstick. We implore you to be guided by evidence and sound analysis in the policy directions you take, which may not necessarily be what seems popular. And please focus on your role as lawmakers, as that is your only proper mandate from the Filipino public.

If you are a policymaker in the executive branch, please immerse yourself among the people you serve to be able to feel their problems firsthand and understand their true needs. If you are a member of the judiciary, please remember that you ultimately decide the fate of our people who count on the protection of the rule of law, which applies equally to everyone regardless of their social and economic stature. And if you are a public servant in whatever government department or office, please take on an enabling mindset rather than a restricting and regulating one to the point of inhibiting worthwhile private initiatives and enterprises.

Lastly, please be mindful that our country is in crisis on many fronts, the most fundamental of which is the very real threat to our future posed by our failure to care enough for our youngest children who are the very future of our nation. Too many of them are hungry and malnourished due to lack of income and unduly high food prices, and unable to obtain the right education due to numerous failures in our educational system. If we do not reverse these problems now, our very future as a nation is in great peril.

In the end, we pray that you show and practice genuine love for our country that would serve as a worthy example for all Filipinos to emulate.

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