Drawn-out battle

One may think that this would be a historic golden moment for voter education. That all these revelations linking both elected and appointed government officials to anomalous deals would be enough to convince voters about the need to choose according to national — and less personal — interests come elections.

I mean, how often does one see such widespread rage at corruption? A survey which Octa Research conducted on Sept. 25-30 showed 60% of respondents expressing anger and 30% fear and anxiety at the extent of corruption being revealed in flood control projects1.

Yup: all these revelations should lead to better choices of officials… well, perhaps in a perfect world.

Better temper that hope, says a veteran of one election watchdog who has conducted voter education for decades. The reason, he said, is simple: it is difficult for one to think of the good of the community for the next three to six years, if his/her kids have nothing to eat today. Give such a person P1,000-P5,000 (or even just promise a bigger amount), and you have their deepest thanks — and, chances are, their vote as well — compared to someone who proclaims lofty ideals and has even backed conviction with a solid track record… but has not connected with voters at such a personal level.

That logic is made more graphic when one remembers that socioeconomic classes D and E account for 78% and 16%, respectively, of the country’s registered voters, while ABC folks make up just 6%.2 The latest available Social Weather Station (SWS) survey, conducted on June 25-29, found nearly half (49%) of Filipino families — estimated at around 13.7 million — rating themselves mahirap or poor3, and 16.1% saying that they had nothing to eat “at least once in the past three months” (involuntary hunger was highest in Metro Manila and in the Visayas, both at 21.7%)4.

INSUFFICIENT
The focus of change, then, shifts to politicians and bureaucrats, who ought to know better. To paraphrase the Good Book: from those to whom much has been given, much will be demanded.

It may be far too extreme to think that corrupt lawmakers and other officials have conspired to keep many of our countrymen poor in order to profit from their poverty, but there is no question that their crimes ride on this longstanding social ill.

Which is why, Mr. Voter Educator says, much depends on practically whipping officials into line by installing systems and procedures that force them to reform. “Values education,” he observed, “on its own is not enough.” Something is needed to bolt such values securely into place.

His view jibes with the observation of former Finance chief Jesus P. Estanislao, who had set up the Institute for Solidarity in Asia in 2001 to prod governance reform in the public sector, that many state officials who initially embraced good governance slid back to old ways in the face of bureaucratic resistance and inertia.

Hence, the need to press on with electoral and other political reforms with greater urgency, including those making campaign finance (contributions and expenses) more transparent; party system reforms such as those ensuring that parties are based on unique platforms, and overhauling the badly coopted party-list system; the passing of an anti-dynasty enabling law; the lifting of bank account secrecy; freedom of information; strengthening civil society engagement with government in order to make sure that officials do their jobs properly; further tightening procurement processes; as well as strengthening institutions like the Commission on Elections and the Commission on Audit, etc.

“If you design a system that would compel officials to account for their decisions and actions because there are consequences should they fail to do so, then they will act accordingly,” Mr. Voter Educator said.

Reformers should also find ways to bypass Congress for these reforms whenever necessary.

For example, it has been nearly four decades since the first attempts to legislate an enabling law for the 1987 Constitution’s anti-dynasty provision. None of these attempts succeeded. How could they, with dynasties capturing an increasing chunk of congressional and local government seats.5 Solution: launch a people’s initiative for such a law — an option mulled for several years now and resurrected recently by the 1Sambayan group founded by former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio T. Carpio.6

There have been some studies examining the relationship of political dynasties and poverty in these families’ areas of jurisdiction/influence, with each cited as the cause of the other — but what is clear is that they are linked. Hence, there is no sufficient anti-poverty strategy without dismantling political dynasties.

STEEPER CLIMB
This is not to say that voter education takes a back seat, even if it will take “generations” to yield the desired results, Mr. Voter Educator says.

But much clearly depends on helping the disadvantaged get on their feet in order to eventually escape their political and economic capture by a corrupt elite. And that, in turn, would mean a better government for us all. The fight against poverty, then, is clearly a fight for each one of us.

With top Finance and Bangko Sentral officials admitting that corruption can be expected to chip away at economic growth prospects and may have even held off a much-desired sovereign credit rating upgrade from S&P Global Ratings7, it has become clear that poverty alleviation now faces a more grueling uphill battle.

For both the national and local governments, this means that it cannot be business as usual for this campaign, especially since our economic growth will in no way achieve the sustained minimum 8% cited by many economists as needed to hit the official 8-9% poverty incidence target by the time this administration ends in 2028, from an estimated 12-13% this year. This is where out-of-the-box thinking will come in handy, such as that social media post about an unidentified (therefore, unverified) local government that hired the homeless to keep streets clean.

The government can also be more proactive and creative in attending to the needs of communities and sectors displaced by changing policies and circumstances, e.g.:

• convince rice farmers (who cannot compete with Indian, Thai and Vietnamese counterparts and reel from the impact of rampant smuggling besides) to shift to high-value crops and give them all the incentives and means to do so (note that agriculture has the biggest concentration of the poor);

• give the families of fishermen who have been prevented by China from fishing in their traditional grounds viable alternatives;

• make sure that those who will be displaced by government action are first given sufficient means and time to adjust to alternatives (think those who found themselves suddenly jobless when Boracay was suddenly closed on environmental grounds in 2018, public jeepney operators now struggling to meet payments on loans incurred for new units, and families relocated from project sites who find their new accommodations without electricity, potable water and plumbing, and far from any potential source of income.)

The “community pantries” that blossomed during the pandemic demonstrated the ingenuity, generosity, and commitment which ordinary folks find in themselves, especially when the going gets tough.

‘ONE OF US’
Those seeking ideas on how they can best help the poor may gain insights and inspiration from first apostolic exhortation of Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi Te (“I have loved you” from Rev 3:9) that was published just last Oct. 4.8

Among others, Dilexi Te said that;

• “… [T]he old forms of poverty that we have become aware of and are trying to combat are being joined by new ones, sometimes more subtle and dangerous…”

• “ In fact, there are many forms of poverty: the poverty of those who lack material means of subsistence, the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and lack the means to give voice to their dignity and abilities, moral and spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, the poverty of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility, the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.”

• “… [T]he illusion of happiness derived from a comfortable life pushes many people towards a vision of life centered on the accumulation of wealth and social success at all costs, even at the expense of others and by taking advantage of unjust social ideals and political economic systems that favor the strongest. Thus, in a world where the poor are increasingly numerous, we paradoxically see the growth of a wealthy elite, living in a bubble of comfort and luxury, almost in another world compared to ordinary people.”

• “Looking beyond the data — which is sometimes ‘interpreted’ to convince us that the situation of the poor is not so serious — the overall reality is quite evident: ‘Some economic rules have proved effective for growth, but not for integral human development. Wealth has increased, but together with inequality, with the result that ‘new forms of poverty are emerging.’ The claim that the modern world has reduced poverty is made by measuring poverty with criteria from the past that do not correspond to present-day realities… Poverty must always be understood and gauged in the context of the actual opportunities available in each concrete historical period.”

• “We need to be increasingly committed to resolving the structural causes of poverty… One structural issue that… needs to be addressed as quickly as possible has to do with the locations, neighborhoods, homes and cities where the poor live and spend their time.”

• “All… have a duty to make their voices heard, albeit in different ways, in order to point out and denounce such structural issues, even at the cost of appearing foolish or naïve. Unjust structures need to be recognized and eradicated by the force of good, by changing mindsets but also, with the help of science and technology, by developing effective policies for societal change.”

• “Let me state once again that the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job, so that they can lead a more dignified life by developing their abilities and contributing their fair share.”

• “The poor are not there by chance or by blind and cruel fate. Nor, for most of them, is poverty a choice.”

• “No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our ‘family.’ They are ‘one of us’.”

That’s just a taste of what this excellent treatise contains.

As with any papal document, those interested can derive unique personal applications only if they were to read it on their own, and not just rely on news reports, which almost always miss the most important points.

1 https://tinyurl.com/2a6x2e6h

2 https://tinyurl.com/2aekpqf9

3 https://tinyurl.com/25evel5t

4 https://tinyurl.com/yp92dod2

5 https://tinyurl.com/28mhfpxx

https://tinyurl.com/2qgblbsl

6 https://tinyurl.com/26qlepah

7 https://tinyurl.com/2xk8sluc

8 https://tinyurl.com/239rwn7z

Wilfredo G. Reyes was editor-in-chief of BusinessWorld from 2020 through 2023.