My Dear Fellow Countrymen:
Our country today has a number of leaders who are serious in their tasks of nation building. Whether they come from the administration or the opposition, they can all be deemed to be sincerely concerned with the present state of affairs of the Philippines, and the future of the Filipino people. They dream and they hope for the best as they do the best they could to deliver what is expected of them. Of course, after everything has been said and done, they deserve to be recognized and credited for whatever they have done and accomplished, for all of us, and for our country. This is logical, reasonable and human.
On another point, we are of course aware of the political bickering, mudslinging and endless criticisms hurled by politicians against each other. These are obviously political intramurals that will separate the boys from men, the weak from the strong, and the wicked from the good. The body politic is certainly intelligent enough to ascertain what is right and what is wrong, and who the men are, the strong and the good may be. In the end, people vote based on what they perceived to be what is good for them or for our country.
During the last elections in 2010, people got tired of graft and corruption. They wanted change, and they are longing for something different and better. The present dispensation is founded on this collective people’s aspirations. If it fails in this respect, then the people will be very disappointed and may opt for other group of leaders. For now, our only option is to rally behind history’s most powerful and most influential leader which this country may have ever had. He has Congress’ support, and soon, he will be appointing the next Chief Justice of the Philippines who is expected to share the same vision of change, transparency and good governance.
The bottomline now is how do we, as citizens, respond to these challenges in the course of our country’s history? Most of those among us have seen history unfold before our very eyes – to name a few – First Quarter Storm of 1970, Plaza Miranda Bombing of 1971, Proclamation No. 889 otherwise known as the Suspension of the Privileges of the Writ of Habeas Corpuz on August 23, 1971, Proclamation No. 1081 or Proclaiming a State of Martial Law in the Philippines on September 21, 1972, The 1973 Oil Crisis, Assassination and Murder of Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. on August 21, 1983, People Power of 1986, Mendiola Massacre of 1987, Coup Attempt of December 1989, People Power of 2001, Maguindanao Massacre of 2009, Typhoon Ondoy of 2009, Hong Tai Hostage Incident of 2010, Tsunami of 2011, Resignation of the Ombudsman, and the Impeachment of the Chief Justice in 2012. All these events have had an impact on the Philippines and the Filipinos. We have weathered them all, and we have miraculously survived what other say to be catastrophic enough to destroy a nation.
Now, from the macro point of view, we are faced with security and economic threats, locally and globally, arising from the Scarborough Shoal controversy, potential collapse of the Euro, and climate change. We are also and still beset with local concerns on hunger, unemployment, health, poverty, corruption, environmental destruction, drugs abuse, illegal gambling, summary killings, and the rising cost of living.
How do we respond to these?
People, we hear of good governance (“mabuting pamamahala”)– a move to weed out graft and corruption in the bureaucracy and instead, promote competence and transparency in government; change (“pagbabago”) – a vision of national transformation that emanates from every empowered citizen to realize for the Philippines, as a self-reliant, self-sufficient and progressive nation; and sovereign aspirations (“mamamayan ang amo”) of peace, happiness and prosperity.
Our political leaders, our government, cannot do it alone addressing the concerns laid down in this message. Let us do our part and give our share then.
I invite you to be imbued with the Quezonian Conscience – that of adhering to ethical and moral principles of good citizenship guided and blessed by the Divine Providence. It is the objective of this blogsite to focus on empowering good citizens to make a difference in the Philippine society by enabling each one to fulfill his or her duties as Filipino citizens. We can expect some kind of patriotic renewal or resurgence of nationalism. We seek to promote poverty alleviation, good governance, self-sufficiency and self-reliance as well as national solidarity and a progressive Philippines.
We find it still relevant today, what on October 17, 1937, His Excellency President Manuel Luis Quezon has said in his State of the National Address, to wit:
“Gentlemen of the National Assembly, before closing, allow me to emphasize the need to of giving the common man in the Philippines the benefits that the citizenry of every progressive democracy is entitled to receive. I am sure that every one of you will give to this noble task the best that is in him. An opportunity has been offered us that no past or coming generation has had or will ever have –that of creating a nation where there will be no privileged class, where poverty will be unknown, where every citizen will be duly equipped with the knowledge that will enable him to perform his duties and to exercise his rights properly and conscientiously, and where every man, woman, and child his fireside will be thankful to God for living in this beautiful and blessed land.”
Can we just move on please, my dear fellow countrymen!
