G Spot

By May 2, 2016G Spot, Opinion

“Change is coming”

PASALO

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

IT is the 21st century and we are still behaving as a feudal society. The rich still has priority over lands, forests and marine resources that can be dispensed by the state while the common people are obliged to live on the land they till (not necessarily own) and give the landowners their labor, and a share of the produce. The situation has not changed, despite strategic measures towards inclusive growth and many other programs supposedly intended for the marginalized sectors of society. The digital revolution, although it has somehow allowed access to wider information, did not bridge social gaps that should come as a result of a freer atmosphere for counter-ideologies to prosper, and did not evolve effective ways for societies to behave. Power remains in the hands of a few.

We have not changed because social institutions behave in much the same way they behaved in the medieval times. The churches still pursue ideologies anchored on their medieval origin and practices. The schools continue to reflect the ideals and socio-cultural behavior of a feudal society from which they originated. The political institution is a caricature of the existing socio-economic order, and our behaviour towards it draws itself from this same milieu. The party list system, intended to provide representation to under-represented community sectors’ groups, such as labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities’, women, youth, and other sectors, has now evolved to be an alternative venue for the ruling elite to pursue their interest. Other representation mechanisms such as the Sangguniang Kabataan, continue to be dominated by political families, and not really a mechanism to train a new batch of leaders selected from across sectors and involving youth leaders from a cross-section of the Philippines economic strata. Many measures have been tried, and will change society in some form, but not its substance, as very little has been done to change the cultural fabric of our society. “The Philippines is more of an oligarchy disguised as democracy, with elections largely a clash of political families. Up to 70% of Filipino legislators hail from political dynasties, and the economic picture reveals a similar tendency. In 2011, for instance, the 40 richest families swallowed up to 76% of newly-created growth in recent years — the highest rate of growth-concentration in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The challenge for change is not overnight. Dynasties will not stop with legislation. The attitude towards rape and other acts of violence against women will not stop with an apology. Criminality and the drug problem will continue to invade our homes beyond six months, despite promises to eradicate it. Federalism will not change the dynamics of inequity. All these goals will not prosper without changing mindsets and without evolving a counter-culture, which is necessary in the overhaul of institutions that continue to impact our lives.

 

The famished road

a glimpse of your existence, that’s what is important now
even if tomorrow you are gone and return at my door
three years after, to pay me another visit
to buy my soul, again

now means a kilo of rice, a pack of noodles
and cans of sardines to live for another day
a big bargain for one decrepit old woman
and her cats who lost their skins fending off rabid dogs
on a famished road

I can be a patriot another day, another time
snatch your breath and your jewelry
and dip my forefinger in your blood
and write at your door, “Not guilty!”

Because truly you are not more guilty than I am
of the crime for which we suffer
our own decay.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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