Becoming the President of the Philippines

“Kung ikaw ang Presidente ng Pilipinas, ano ang gagawin mo?” Ang unang pabirong sagot na naisip ko eh, “Kung ako ang magiging Presidente ng Pilipinas, ang pinakaunang trabaho ko ay ang supilin ang mga suliraning kinahaharap natin at yan ay mabibigyan ng katuparan kung buburahin ang lahat at magsisimula tayong muli.”

This is just ridiculous and impossible. We can’t start from scratch. We have to start with what we have now – with the kind of system that is going on, with the set of people who resides in this country, and with all the problems that are left for us to deal with. We have to study and know the facts in order for us not to jump into hasty conclusions. We have to make feasible decisions and not those that are too ideal. We cannot guarantee that these ideal solutions would be effective and will give us real answers especially if they were planned out in such a way that not every aspect was considered and that there were biases present. We have to see that every angle in the problem no matter how small it may be and all the characters involved.

I will start with the allocation of the national budget. In the 2012 National Budget Allocation, the bulk went to the social services with P575.8 billion or 31.7% of which the Department of Education got an appropriation of P238.8 billion or 15.2% higher than the previous year’s budget. Economic services got P438.9 billion or 24.2%.

The Department of Public Works and Highways git P125.5 billion, followed by the Department of National Defense with P107.9 billion, the Department of Interior and Local Government witj P101.4 billion, and the Department of Agriculture with P54.1 billion.

Some 356.1 billion was allocated for debt servicing which was 3% lower compared to 2011. Aquino's project that dealt with poverty alleviation included the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino or Conditional Cash Transfer Program amounting to P39.5 billion, P1.2 billion for the social pension of indigent senior citizens, and P2.9 billion for the feeding program of Children (ABS-CBNnews.com)

Vencer Crisostomo, national chairman of Anakbayan, said that the 2012 budget is "anti-people and far from being a 'reform budget'" because the budget still favored debt servicing, profits, dole-outs, and the military over social services despite wodespread protests (Umil).

As president of the country, my top priority for the allocation of the national budget would go to the basic social services which include education, health services, housing, and agrarian reforms. Even if the bulk of the 2012 national budget was allotted for the social services, it is still not enough. It gave the Filipinos P1.25 for health and P6.55 for education per day says Kabataan Party List Representative Raymond “Mong” Platino (Salamat). The 31.7% allocation should be raised because these are the basic services that we need as human beings to attain good life. After raising the allocation, I will give education and health services the biggest distribution.

As time passes by, education in the Philippines is becoming poorer. The Philippines ranked 99th out of the 138 economies in primary education, 69th in educational system, 112th in Science and Math, and 76th on Internet access. These were the results presented during the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum.

In Southeast Asia, Cambodia was the only country that we fared better and we fell behind Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam in the fields of education, science and technology, and innovation, Guillermo M. Luz, co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), said de Leon. 

Higher education has a regressive subsidy. The better the quality of life you have, the more the government subsidy you will receive. Take for example a lax high school student, one from Poveda (a private school) and one from Ramon Magsaysay High School (a public school). Between these two students, who do you think has the potential to pass the UPCAT and go to college? The answer is obvious. It would be the high school student from Poveda because of the school facilities, the quality of education that person received, and the ability to spend for college.

Right to education should not be limited to elementary and high school students only. Tertiary education must also be treated as a person’s right. We all have the right to pursue higher education and specialize in the field that we want to. Education is important to each one of us. It should not be marginalized. Out-of-school youth and ethno linguistic groups should also be provided with good education. We cannot deny the fact that an educated person lives a better life than those who are not. Education is also a tool that enables a person to know his full potential, to know his rights as a human being, and to acquire social justice.

Educational facilities should be developed. During my high school years, coming from a public science high school, we had our Chemistry and Physics laboratories. We conducted our lessons there but did not really do intensive experiments and scientific studies. We had good facilities, but we lacked chemicals and electronic apparatus. We also had problems with our teachers. We lacked good teachers. This was a big shame for us because we came from a science high school and yet did not excel in this field. The laboratories were built for the students, but it was not enjoyed by the students fully. The money was therefore wasted.

Publishing houses should be required to publish low-priced edition text books with constant revisions in order for the students to receive up-to-date and correct information which all boils down to a proper research and development team. They are the ones who will check the reliability and validity of these textbooks.

Prioritizing quality over quantity is also a must. We need to limit the colleges and universities we have and focus on improving the quality of education. The educational system must be rebuilt to ensure that the students did not just push through to college to say that they have graduated and yet their potential and ideas were not completely exhausted, and that they really don’t cater to the country’s needs and even to their personal needs to improve in their chosen fields therefore not being of good contribution.

I will invest in research and development. Research and development is not given utmost priority in our government today. Though it involves high risk and it is costly, it will ensure the country with high profit and high reward. Results might not instantly be obvious, but it will be beneficial for the majority in the long run. Inventors and researchers should be given proper attention and financing. Creativity, innovation, resourcefulness, and the talents of the people would be harnessed if given the proper drive, support, and motivation.

In order to give research and development proper attention, universities and colleges should direct their students to a kind of education which is towards this goal and not towards being profit-seeking and career-oriented individuals. It’s not enough to let the students publish their theses. They must be converted into something tangible or something real so that it won’t be put into waste. The Commission on Higher Education or the Department of Education should endorse these studies to institutions that would then create industries for those products they find useful and relevant.

Brazil implemented the Conditional Cash Transfer Program which the Aquino Administration is starting to adapt. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Brazil under the Lula Administration started as a pro-poor campaign under the banner Fome Zero or “Zero Hunger” that was later relabelled Bolsa Familia or “Family Grant.” The Conditional Transfer Program together with the implementation of pro-poor policies and programs became a huge success in alleviating poverty in Brazil (Seidman).

Many Filipinos still oppose Aquino’s Conditional Cash Transfer because they think that this would only serve as a band aid solution for poverty. Our job here is to help the people learn to stand on their own, be independent, live a better life, and not to provide or give them comfort for a short while then leave them poor again. What we need are real policies to go with this.

Cash payments that include subsidies for food and gas cylinders for cooking stoves are made conditional on proof of attendance of grade-school children, vaccinations, regular clinic visits, attending nutritional and vocational training, and other activities. The programs were described as efforts to give the country’s poorest families small amounts of money for their basic needs like education, health, gasoline, and food (Seidman).

Anthony Hall pointed out that the strategy was used to “attack long-term poverty” by making conditional payments that translated into the joint responsibility of the government in the betterment of social services and families in attending relevant trainings and going to school (Seidman).

The Philippines should also strengthen its livelihood programs, pensions, vocational courses offered by TESDA, opening jobs, raising incomes, etc. so that the conditional cash programs would be a success in poverty alleviation. We should target these very poor people and help them improve their lives. In this manner, they can start to earn good money on their own and raise their quality of life.

Development is oftentimes defined as the improvement of human welfare, quality of life and social being. The population’s needs and wants are both satisfied. Some defined it as growing since it is measured by certain socio-economic indicators like the Gross National Product, Gross Domestic Product, etc. Contrary to my Sociology 10 class, development is not directly reflected by a growing economy. “Development is growth plus pro-poor, pro-job, pro-nature, pro-woman,” as said by Professor Winnie Monsod.

I propose a new form of development which is the sustainable development. The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was attended by 152 leaders, including the Philippines, which recommended that a plan of action or a national strategy be created to attain sustainable development. This kind of development, as defined by the Brundtland Commission 1987, is geared towards meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs. It has a social, an economic, and an environmental component with it (Shah).

To show its commitment to the program, the Philippines created the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) during the administration of Ramos. The local government units continue to use the policies of the Philippine Agenda 21 (PA 21), but it’s not that fully effective and not given enough emphasis because of the way it is being implemented ("Center for Alternative Development Initiatives").

The newly-elected presidents have their instinctive tendency to create new programs for the country and abandon those programs created by the previous administrations even if those programs are for the common good. It might be because of their desire to let the people know that they have created their own unique programs. Self-interest. How about those programs that can benefit the majority? As president of the Philippines, it is my job to evaluate the past programs and support and continue those that I think is beneficial for the majority.

This PA 21 started by Ramos is a good foundation to start with together with the intensive research and development project. Sustainable development encourages simple lifestyle which is not necessarily backwards. It just means that the people would give more emphasis on their needs rather than on their wants. Because of globalization, different kinds of industries are being created. Our society depends on the consumption of goods that are sometimes not beneficial, not needed, and generally causes major destruction in the environment.

Let us take for example the production of tobacco that entails the use of land, raw materials, and resources in its production. It causes health problems among the consumer which then requires the use of raw materials for the health sectors to attend to the needs of the patient.

The environmental cost is not included in the computation of the GNP and GDP. The carbon dioxide that airplanes emit into the atmosphere and the cost of cleaning of waterways due to the chemical wastes produced by factories are not taken into account. If the environmental cost is to be paid, companies will then be conscious of the environmental impact they make. Prices will start to boost making their products expensive to the consumers. The consumers will lessen their consumption of such products, like beef which has a very high ecological footprint, and will demand ecologically sustainable alternatives at affordable prices (Shah).

Companies will start to think of ways on how they can lessen environmental degradation, making them more responsible, which will in turn lessen the prices of their products. One can argue that they can lessen the labor force instead thus creating more unemployment. If people are unemployed, they still won’t be able to buy the products that would result in a huge loss in the industry’s profit. The government will then encourage these companies to open jobs that would create ecologically sustainable alternatives at cheaper prices. These will create employment and benefit the consumers as well. Companies will be challenged to become more creative, more innovative, and more knowledgeable in such a way that they would initiate in creating a research and development team that would help them improve their production. They could also promise good rewards to those inventors.

Harnessing energy without harming the environment is also a big question. Research and development will make way in the exploration of new energy sources in our country. The energy return on energy invested (EROI) must be taken into consideration. It is the ratio of the energy we get over the energy we put into harnessing the energy we use. The ratio must not be 1:1 because it would be very useless. The obtained energy must always be higher (Wikipedia).

According to Bloomberg, the Philippines is becoming a tiger economy. Our numbers, in terms of the socio-economic indicators, might go up but the real question here is, “Do we feel it?” Only the rich people benefit from this. Having a steady economy is not bad as long as the lives of the poor are becoming better and they are being lifted to middle class. Raising the quality of life is way more important than raising our numbers to compete with the other countries without taking the action of improving the lives of the people. Only the economy is developing. The real development can be seen in the life of a Filipino family – if they have sufficient money to send their children to school, to eat thrice a day, to live in a decent house, to wear decent clothes, and to have proper health care.

A good mix of nationalism and boosting national interest is also a key to the country’s development. It is not enough to say that we love our country and that we are proud Filipinos and yet we don’t do anything to boost our national interest. It’s useless. It’s just blind nationalism. What we need is the awareness of what is happening in our country and our willingness to take part in being the solution to the problems. If everyone is aware, then everyone has the knowledge of their rights or the knowledge of what is true and what is not, therefore we have the power to demand and protect what is rightfully ours.

Boosting the national interest is more important. As president, I will promote national security and protection to local businesses. Educating the people on how to boost national interest should be taught in schools. Manufacturing and product development which are ecologically sustainable would be prioritized. We can also apply the product designated origin (PDO) to our cultural products. We must be confident enough in dealing with the countries we trade with. We must not belittle ourselves and bow down to these powerful countries. We also have our rights that we must uphold.

I cannot do these responsibilities on my own. The government officials must help me out in the implementation of these programs and policies. Everything is so good in paper, but it must not end there. We need to see these policies happening in our country. There would certainly be misunderstandings and debate, but through careful deliberation and critical analysis, hopefully better decisions could be made.

After doing this paper, I realized how hard it is to be the president of the country. There are tons of problems that must be realized and must be taken into consideration. It’s not as easy as you think. Thorough research of the systems and study of the behaviours of the people must be done. I was overwhelmed with the many problems our country is facing and at the same time, hopeful that we can still rise from all of these if only the government would make proper decisions for the betterment of its people and the people, in turn, would be good citizens, not just of the nation, but of the world.

Sources:

1. De Leon, Max. "Philippine education ranked 'poor'." ABS-CBNnews.com. ABS-CBN interactive, 15 06 2011. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

2. "Energy returned on energy invested." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 09 03 2012. Web. 11 Mar 2012

3. "House approves P1.816-T national budget for 2012."ABS-CBNnews.com. ABS-CBN interactive, 17 09 2011. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

4. Salamat, Marya. "Filipinos get P1.25 for health, P6.55 for education per day." bulatlat.com. Alipato Media Center Inc., 02 12 2011. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

5. Seidman, Gay. "Brazil's "Pro-Poor' Strategies: What South Africa Could Learn." Transformations. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010. Print.

6. Shah, Anup. "Sustainable Development Introduction." Global Issues. N.p., 18 11 2009. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

7. "Philippine Agenda 21." Center for Alternative Development Initiatives. N.p., 2001. Web. 14 Mar 2012.

8. Umil, Anne. "Approved 2012 budget skewed vs peoples’ needs." bulatlat.com. Alipato Media Center Inc., 02 12 2011. Web. 11 Mar 2012.

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