There is no urgent need any more for me to alert people about the erratic and turbulent tendencies for life in 2025. I have been consistently pointing to it these last few years because the pattern had started earlier. In fact, the 2020 Covid 19 pandemic could not have been a louder warning about the disruption about to unfold.
Recent events in the last month that includes the sudden collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the political upsets in France and even Germany, the spread and relentlessness of Israel’s retaliation for their horrible October 27 experience, the shocking shooting of a civilian airline as it crossed Russian airspace, the fiery crash of another airline triggered by a bird strike in South Korea, the great earthquake in Tibet, and the raging fires that destroyed so much in Los Angeles and still not totally controlled, are glaring and graphic examples of a dark global pattern. I assume Filipinos are smart enough to intuit that these are not friendly times.
Yet, life goes on. It matters little if problems are solved or further deteriorate because life will go on. What should concern us is how to navigate an unfriendly environment and make things easier for ourselves instead of just going with a negative flow. The problems that plague the world, and the Philippines, are of a scale that is beyond our individual capacity to address – unless we focus on our own capacities and pick our battles. Because the great collective can be broken down into the little individualities – we just have to trust that many others will do their part.
Most of us will deal with survival problems, about 63% of Filipino families who have most recently rated themselves poor. Luckily, 26% regard themselves as not poor (though down from 28% previously). 11% look at themselves as borderline poor, which for me means they are most vulnerable to becoming poor. But if we add the 11% borderline poor to the 63% self-rated poor, that is a whopping 74%. How does a country formulate a progressive vision considering the deep contrast of 74% poor and 26% non-poor? Do we have a leadership that knows how to manage a society with great economic and educational gaps?
It is not prudent for us to wait for visionary leadership, let alone inspiring leadership. Our current situation is a result of years without such leadership. Fear has driven us, but true growth only comes from higher aspirations. We lack a collective cause to fight for, a national leadership to guide us.
Despite this, life goes on and we must continue moving forward. Merely riding the tide has led us to desolate shores. We cannot allow our future generations to suffer in a troubled country within an equally troubled world. We must gather as concerned Filipinos, prioritize our urgent survival needs, and find ways to increase productivity and decrease costs through collective efforts.
Food, shelter, utilities, and health are essential. Collaboration among farmers, fisherfolks, and local communities is crucial. Government support from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade would be beneficial, but cooperation with local government units (LGUs) is more immediate. Community agriculture and connecting with food enthusiasts, such as the slow food movement, are vital pathways to explore.
Addressing food and income economics is paramount, as is investing in education for both short- and long-term benefits. Learning poverty and the inadequacy of teaching must be confronted head-on. A national dialogue and debate on these issues is imperative. We cannot wait for leaders to take action; we must initiate change and invite them to join us.
While our leaders may have other pressing concerns, such as upcoming elections, family feuds, global dynamics, and climate change, we must prioritize addressing our nation’s fundamental challenges. Only through collective action and a sense of urgency can we hope to overcome poverty and build a brighter future for all Filipinos.
We stand at a pivotal juncture. Lacking are leaders endowed with vision, integrity, and the allure of charisma. Those at the helm are perceived as being driven predominantly by a thirst for power and the pursuit of personal wealth. The archetypes we once revered, steeped in tradition and culture, now seem absent. The prospect of reform or advancement seems bleak under the stewardship of those who have plunged us into this yearning for sincere and forward-thinking governance.
Therefore, we must look inward—toward ourselves—and to the fate that unfolds, hoping it might reveal the heralds of our time. While destiny will take its course, we cannot afford to sit idly by, waiting for deliverance, before we strive for our own survival and carve out whatever prosperity we can from life. This is a truth I will reiterate time and again: we are the foremost solution to our challenges, yet we must act collectively, with unity of purpose.
Currently, our solidarity can only be drawn from our shared convictions. We may not have a Pied Piper, a Joan of Arc, or a Jose Rizal to lead us, but we all yearn for their nobility, their integrity, their bravery. Our unity must be forged in the pursuit of what is right, in our shared welfare. There may simply be no other way.