CDM MANILA: LEADING US IN NATION BUILDING

A Speech delivered to the Officers of the Organized Districts in Manila
Tajikii Restaurant, Makati City, Philippines
August 11, 2011, 6:00PM to 10:00PM
 

Last week our nation had a bolt from the blue in the Senate not from the maddening inquiries on corruption of the previous administration but on the surprised resignation of Senator Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon. Instead of continuing the contests in the tribunal, he made a sacrifice in uncovering the truth behind the 2004 National Elections especially that the principal of all these messes is no longer in power and the emergence of witnesses to that fraud like Ampatuan and Bedol.
 
Within this week there is a possibility that bar topnotch Atty. Koko Pimentel of Cagayan de Oro City will be proclaimed as Senator of this Republic.  
 
Both gentlemen are coming from Mindanao, I voted for both of them. Whatever these two gentlemen may gain from this spectacle, there is a fact that we have to reflect being CDM District Leaders in Manila, first: on the massive electoral frauds in Mindanao and second: on Mindanao’s underrepresentation in the Senate. Presently, we only have Senator Guingona coming from Mindanao.
 
Since the time of the inauguration of our Republic in 1946, Mindanao is the venue of electoral frauds instigated by the oligarchs who are financing their candidates and their elections in whatever means. The dead, the ghosts, the birds and the bees are allowed to vote, and we may have elected fake leaders, then and now, both in national and in local arenas.
 
Rebellion in Mindanao is a twin of our history. From the time Miguel Lopez de Legazpi established Manila and until today, the Moro rebellion and the displacement of the indigenous peoples have been with us ever since. The rebellion today is modified with kidnap for ransom, patronage among the warlords and the business of counter insurgency of the government. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, soldiers and rebels were killed, displaced and victimized by this seemingly endless Mindanao armed conflict.
 
In all of the regions in the country, we from Mindanao are the poorest in terms of the basic social services like the nutrition of our children, health of our people, education and others since the time the Spaniards imposed its policy of militarization in Mindanao, sadly, until today. Government funds for Mindanao are in the form of counter insurgency, rewarding local warlords or funds fuelled in to buy peace at a high price. At the end of the day, it is always us, the innocent civilians who are victims.
 
I am sharing you these thoughts about the resignation of Senator Zubiri and the proclamation of Atty. Pimentel and about Mindanao for this is a simple case on the deficit of our democracy and the deficit of predictability in our country.
 
Nothing’s really new in Philippine political landscape. Our highly centralized governance has been with us since the Spanish times. The oligarchs are ruling and manipulating our political and economic system, electoral frauds like that infamous Tejeros Convention by dislodging a proletariat leader named Andres Bonifacio, the massive corruption, the Mindanao rebellion, etc. all of these are not new to us, you know this well and these are with us since the time of the Spaniards and they are still our news today.  
 
Our political and economic issues are repeating and recurring. When will this stop? When are we going to learn from these? Are we expecting an Arab- Spring like revolution in our country?
 
This is not only because of our system of governance but also because of collective failure to build a nation.
 
Though our colonizers have long been gone, we remained to be colonized by our own captive consciousness and captives of the oligarchs who are dominating our government especially in the formulation of distorted policies in order to continuously control our economy. Their resources make them well capable of financing their candidates and committed electoral frauds and cheating and the proclaimed winners are beholden to them. These expensive, distorted policies are reasons why we have a very corrupt bureaucracy, for our government services and laws are favorable only for the few who can afford, and hence low investments and monopoly in our economy. In our government we have corruption, patronage, a weak state and poor governance. To the Filipinos, we have low income, poor education, poor health and the low respect for law and order. At the end of the day, the oligarchs are still controlling this country.
 
This vicious cycle has destroyed basically the human dignity of every Filipino and this persisted until today because of our failure to build a Filipino nation.
 
Organizing political movements are not new like the La Liga Filipina of Dr. Jose Rizal in 1892, it was established to identify a Filipino nation. If Rizal is alive today, his genius may still struggle more than a century later for the same Filipino nationhood.
 
We failed to build a Filipino nation. A nation with its own identity and of  people who know the purposes why we are born here in the Philippines, a nation not only of the capital city of Manila but in solidarity with all its peoples irrespective of its faith and cultural backgrounds, and lastly a nation faithful in protecting the human dignity of every Filipino.
 
What makes us different from the other movements is our passion towards nation building, that spirit of nationalism, the value of loving this country and our countrymen after God.
 
I raise this matter to all of you, our District leaders in Manila. I know that you are all aware of this vicious cycle that destroys the dignity of the Filipino.
 
Every time I am asked why I joined this movement, I say that this is a very rare opportunity for me to be  given a chance to build this nation anchored on the core value on human dignity. I may have the chance to join with traditional political parties or movements but their genetic identity and their political programs are not aligned with the protection of human dignity. Likewise, I may also have the chance to join with insurgents being belonging to a deprived Christianized indigenous people in Mindanao, but the arm struggle is not in anyway, respecting the dignity of every man.
 
I hope that in your decision to become members of CDM and your acceptance to this leadership, your passion to build a Filipino nation is anchored on our centrist core value on human dignity.
 
I am thankful to your Regional Chairperson, the very active Dr. Nenita Manongsong for inviting me here and this is my first time to speak before our leaders in CDM Manila since my election last November 2010. It is my desire to meet you not because I want to convince you on the purposes why we are all here.
 
I am here to stress to you that CDM Federation of the Philippines will never be successful if CDM Manila will not take a lead in changing the political landscape of this country, in our advocacy for human dignity, the empowerment of the Regions and the solidarity of all of us, as one Filipino nation.
 
As your Interim National President and the Regional Chairperson of Northern Mindanao and as true blooded Mindanaoan, I extend my hands of brotherhood to all of you that our success in organizing CDM in Mindanao is a function of the success and the leadership of CDM Manila in terms of organizing your own districts here, in expanding your membership and in making us politically significant and relevant from this metropolis to the entire country.
 
With the true friendship shown by Doc Nits to all of us in Mindanao, let us continue our spirit of solidarity, that we are one in building the backbone of this movement. We may have experienced birth pains as we build this movement, have differences and conflicts within, to me they are natural, but our position in the movement does not matter. What matters most is our passion to build this nation anchored on human dignity spiced up with friendship and lots of fellowships.
 
I am thankful to our conveners, Peter and Sir Lito. I am grateful to them always for their inspiring efforts in guiding us. But I don’t want to tell the generations that will come after me, that it took a Peter’s patience and Sir Lito’s inspiration for us to be awakened. From today, all of us must be proud of the way we are working in the districts, meeting with the grassroots, educating the masses and organizing in the Barangays, that we have done something for the country and we are primarily responsible in building a Filipino nation.
 
I am looking forward that in this first meeting of ours and your first also to meet together as District Leaders in Manila, you will finally decide your vision on how to make your Region politically powerful here in Manila under the  leadership of Dr. Manongsong. We have done great things in my own region but at the end of the day, it is always CDM Manila’s plans, your actions and the results we are looking after as our model.
 
I welcome you all, let us be brothers, sisters and friends in solidarity in building the backbone of our movement, all for God and country. Magandang Gabi Po sa inyong lahat!