by Niña Terol

(Originally published in the October 2009 issue of Cosmopolitan Philippines)

In many ways, my relationship with my country is like my relationship with my family. There are days when I’m extremely proud to be Pinoy. Then, there are other days–just like those moments of extreme parental angst or sibling animosity–when I just want to fly away, cut all my ties, and never look back.

Nonetheless, there are some things that will forever bind me to this country. Like blood, the soil we were born on will always be thicker than water.

Tongue Ties

Like our family names, our accents are undeniable. While at a world music festival at Malaysia last year, I tried to go for as long as I could without anyone knowing that I am Filipino since my name is Spanish, I am Eurasian, and my first language is English. The moment I spoke up at a press conference, however, heads turned and I heard people say, “She’s Filipina!” Later on, another journalist came up to me and said, “I love Filipino accents–the way you roll your Rs, it’s so sexy!” Apparently, just like many other nationalities, we have very distinct accents that no amount of English twang will be able to hide. The best way to deal? To interact with others in ways that bring bride to our country.

This is “The Life”

Life here is never boring. Evening gigs, holiday fiestas, beach outings, food sprees, walking tours, cultural performances, scandals to watch over YouTube–we have them all. Simply take your pick!

And, in as much as things can get exciting, then can get extremely cozy as well. There are days when I simply crave for chicken tinola, sinigang na baboy, pork adobo, or chicken inasal. On Saturday mornings when it’s chilly, I’m reminded of childhood days of watching cartoons, my taste buds craving for champorado.

Citizen Pinoy

We may hate our government or the people around us, but we can’t hate the values our nation was founded on. Yes, the government bureaucracy is corrupt, systems are crooked (if any exist at all), and people can sometimes be downright stupid, greedy, or evil. I hate the large potholes that the city government has left on my street, and I can’t stand to see children begging on the sidewalk while the Powers that Be spend millions to fund their lavish lifestyles. No matter how low things seem to be, however, we can’t deny the fact that our forefathers fought valiantly against oppression, that it was we Filipinos who introduced People Power to the world, and that our nation was founded on ideals of truth, freedom, dignity, patriotism, brotherhood, faith, and love of family.

Home and Heartstrings

This is where I was born and raised; where I spent my wonderful childhood days; where I stumbled, fell, made mistakes, and learned about life. Here, too, is where I met the man I’m spending the rest of my life with. Wherever else I may go in the future, it is here where my heart was formed. However I look at my life, it has the Philippines etched all over it–and that’s not always a bad thing.

* * *

Source URL: http://theartofchangemaking.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/pilipinas-kong-mahal-in-cosmos-on-my-mind-october-issue/

By Nina Terol. Photos by Walter Villa

from Entrepreneur Philippines Magazine, March 2008

If someone were to tell you that they had just come from Payatas with an upscale fashion find, you would likely think you had heard it all wrong. The word “Payatas,” after all, connotes images of destitute surroundings– a squalid area where impoverished families live atop mountains of garbage. It is hardly the environment you would expect for creativity and innovation, yet this is what Rags 2 Riches (R2R), a social development enterprise, found when it dug deeper into the Payatas situation.

Bro. Javy Alpasa, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic who ministers to the community around the Payatas dumpsite, relates that although he had seen clear evidence of pastoral growth among the Payatas folk, their economic circumstances had not been improving alongside with it. He then pondered the situation with a group of young professionals who wanted to do something to help.

Their assessment: Although Payatas had become well-known as the “rag capital of the Philippines,” the nanays [literally "mothers," but here it means "women"] producing the rags were making only a measly P1 for each rag sold. In contrast, the retailers were making in huge profits of as much as P15 to P20 per rag.

They then suggested this solution: eliminate the middlemen and add value to the merchandise so the nanays can make more money from their efforts.

But most everybody agreed that the solution being offered was much easier said than done. Until one day when, during Bro. Javy’s theology class at the Ateneo de Manila University, a “heckler” whom he did not think much of as a student started the ball rolling by giving a surprise donation of P10,000. The student simply said that he had received the money as a graduation gift and he wanted to put it to really good use.

That donation was followed by another one of the same amount from another of Bro. Javy’s theology students. With
P20,000 now in his hands, he mustered enough confidence to meet again with the same group of concerned young professionals, this time to suggest a formal structure for putting their ideas into action. Thus was Rags 2 Riches born.

The original idea of the young professionals was to create “designer rags” that could be sold to the market at a premium. They came up with so many ideas and took so many steps to make this happen, but to no avail. Eventually, however, through a series of serendipitous events, they ended up at the doorsteps of Rajo Laurel, one of Asia’s top fashion designers.

As the group tells it, when they presented Laurel with a sample of the well made rags done by the Payatas women, he casually held it up with a twinkle in his eye, joined two ends, added three buttons, and said: “Now it’s a wine-holder.”

Angeline Benavidez, R2R’s vice president for sales and a long-time friend of the acclaimed designer, recalls that moment: “Rajo was so excited when he saw the product. After that, he asked us to leave the rags with him so he could make a prototype. The very next morning, he himself called us to say that the prototypes were ready.”

The end result of that meeting was an initial line of 11 well-designed accessory products made from rags–bags, totes, purses, and other personal items–under the “RIIR by Rajo” brand. They were to become an instant hit among the upscale, socially aware fashionista crowd.

Benavidez says that Laurel got himself “very involved” in the entire production process–from developing the prototypes to teaching the nanays how to carefully weave the products and assure quality control, and from determining the pricing and branding of bags to their retail distribution.

Laurel himself pushed the product “because he strongly believed in it,” Benavidez recalls. “In fact, during a fitting at the House of Laurel [his fashion shop], he personally brought in his clients so he could explain the project and show
the products to them. His clients started making orders on the spot.”

According to Mary Ann Lim, the president of R2R and concurrently its vice president for product development, one of their first big challenges was to get the nanays to accept the new standards and methods that had to be put into place to assure first-rate product quality. It was not easy at the start, but when the newly designed products were released to the market and the women saw for themselves how much the buyers appreciated their handiwork, they began to be truly quality-conscious and extra careful in making the products.

Laurel himself recounts how they were able to change the attitude of the nanays towards their enterprise: “My idea was really to change their views–to create a paradigm shift. I patiently explained to them that if they can give value to the work and give even more added value by designing it well and giving it an aesthetic touch, they can make the product command a good price.”

All these attitude-changing efforts paid off handsomely. The fashion designer rags the women made sold very well, drawing such high-profile customers and fans as Kris Aquino, Celine Lopez, Lucy Torres- Gomez, and many more celebrities. The R2R management has become so confident of the quality of the designer rags that they are hoping they would one day get to Hollywood and be sported by the likes of Angelina Jolie.

The R2R management believes that what makes their designer rag products click is not only the brand or the name behind it but, even more important, also the heartwarming success story behind the enterprise.

“We didn’t want to approach the merchandise as a ‘pity buy‘,” says Mark Ruiz, an Ateneo de Manila University management professor and R2R’s vice president for marketing. “Instead, we approached it as a product that people would really want to buy and use because it was worth their money. On top of that, of course, there’s the really powerful human story of the caring and passion that went into the product’s making.”

Aside from Rajo Laurel, several other first-rate professionals volunteered their services to make the R2R product launch possible. Among them were Jake Versoza for photography, Krista Ranillo for endorsements, Maylin Vergara of the beauty salon Propaganda for makeup and styling, popular events director Robbie Carmona, and the models from the Philippines’ Next Top Model search who graced the R2R launching event.

With such star-studded support, R2R was able to parley its initial capital P20,000 in the designer rag products into sales revenues reaching P200,000 during the first three months alone. The market demand for the products has been growing since then, so R2R has been steadily expanding production.

Bam Aquino, a media personality and well-known social entrepreneur who is one of R2R’s board members, is convinced that they did something right by establishing a social enterprise instead of a nonprofit organization.

Part of R2R’s long-range plans is to also venture into men’s accessories and home accessories for both the domestic and export markets.

Bro. Javy makes this observation about R2R’s social enterprise model: “It’s a win-win formula. The Payatas women earn more, and the investors hopefully would earn more over time, certainly more than what they could make from time deposits or from putting up other enterprises. The adage ‘A high tide raises all boats’ rings true here.”

Indeed, the experience of R2R has shown that in social development, encouraging productive social partnerships between and across sectors is much better than espousing one-way philanthropy and charitable dole outs to the poor. This is because such productive social partnerships teach people to experiment, to innovate, and to compete well with other businesses to survive and thrive.

R2R merchandise is currently available at:
HOUSE OF LAUREL
6013 J. Villena cor. Manalac Street, Poblacion, Makati City
Telephone: (02) 426-6101 locals 3440 and 3441
Mobile: 0905-32739999
E-mail: r2rcorp@gmail.com
Website: http://slb.ph/r2r/riir/riirhome.html

At the Homeless World Cup, people of all colors, shapes, and sizes converge under different flags that represent different languages, political systems, ideologies, and religions. There are teams from 48 countries in six continents, some belonging to global superpowers whose flags have instant recall and recognition, others to little-known states that are still seeking recognition.

Despite these differences, everyone here knows three languages that have made the Homeless World Cup a symbol of one huge global village converging toward one goal: the language of sports, the language of music, and above all, the language of respect.

The transformative and uniting power of sports is the main reason why the Homeless World Cup was established. Its founder, globally acclaimed social entrepreneur Mel Young, recognized that sports—football, in particular—has the power to uplift spirits, rebuild broken lives, and create new paths for a better future. According to Homeless World Cup research, more than 94 percent of participants have said that being part of the Homeless World Cup has had a positive impact on their lives. Seventy-seven percent have made significant changes as a direct result of the program, coming off drugs and alcohol; moving in homes, jobs, and education; becoming coaches and players; repairing relationships; and becoming social entrepreneurs.

Even those who are not playing football and simply cheering on the stands are feeling the energy of unity and positivity permeating through the Arena Civica in Milan, Italy, where this year’s games are held. Through the power of music, people can cheer, sing, dance, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company without having to struggle with words and syntax.

Leading the global cheering squad is Paul Zialcita, a percussionist and performance artist from the Philippines. Using five-gallon water bottles (called “aquadrums”) and a large recycled trash can, he has been drumming not only for Team Philippines but for other teams as well, and teaching the players themselves how to use these drums so that teams can have their own built-in cheering section. Through this approach, footballers gamely take the bottles on and drum and cheer for other countries—even for those who will be or have been their opponents through the course of the games.

During the opening parade in the streets of Milan (Photo: Debbi Shaw)

John Marshall is a player for Team Scotland, and even while Scotland and the Philippines have already slugged it out on the pitch, John and his team were seen rooting for Team Philippines during the latter’s game with Australia. Alejandro Miranda, meanwhile, is a volunteer pitch manager who hails from Chile and lives in the United States. He was seen cheering for the Spanish football team, whom he regards as “the best team. They’re very kind, very respectful.”

Sports and music have been building bridges in a world where lines are drawn too strongly and too often. In an interview with football star Dariusz Dsziekanowski, formerly a player for Polish teams, he talked about the importance of bringing back respect at a time when life moves too fast for people to pay attention to one another.

“Respect—this word brings a huge message to the people,” he said. “Life moves very fast. Sometimes you miss the train and find yourself standing in the station wondering where all the time has gone, and nobody will care about you. It’s important that we bring back the simple things, like saying ‘Hello, how are you?’ ‘I respect you’, ‘I don’t judge you’, ‘I respect what you’re doing.’”

When it’s difficult to verbalize our feelings and expressions, especially in a setting such as this where the arena has become a melting pot of peoples and cultures, Darius recommends one very simple thing:

“Just respect and smile at each other.”

© FOTO UP AGENCY

“No other American president in modern memory has faced a learning curve as steep as the one Barack Obama has encountered,” Zakaria begins. “When he began his quest for Democratic nomination three years ago, the Dow Jones industrial average was 14.000, and the world was in the midst of a great economic boom. By the time he took office, America’s financial industry was in chaos, credit markets were frozen, housing values were plummeting and the economy was in its worst contraction since the Great Depression. Add to that Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, and you get an extraordinary set of challenges.”

“And yet, by most measures, President Obama’s first 100 days have been successful…So far, any president would be envious of Obama’s accomplishments.”

Zakaria rightly points out that all these policy changes and acts of reaching out are merely overtures, whose effects and endings have yet to be determined. Still, America, who has lost and suffered much since September 11, 2001, is feeling hopeful again. In spite of the continuing spate of bankruptcies and job cuts, Americans are talking about “green shoots”—bright spots that denote recovery in the US economy. Thanks to President Obama, Cuban Americans can now visit the land of their roots. There is optimism in the air, because of a calm and collected leader who knows how to steer a panicked crew through tumultuous waters.

We can’t say the same for the Philippines. In contrast to the United States, we have not encountered major upheavals similar to 9/11 and the 2008 financial crash since the 1997 Asian financial crisis—two presidents ago. We are not engaged in any external war that threatens the lives of millions of our citizens—and the insurgency in the South has been going on for decades. (It’s hardly a crisis; sadly, it’s already practically a state of being for that region.) Our biggest problems now are the same problems we’ve been facing since 30 years ago.

Sen. Kiko Pangilinan pointed out in a news release just yesterday that the Philippine economy hasn’t moved in decades, and he’s right. Except for a couple of sunshine industries, the poor 30 years ago are still poor now—if not poorer.

We are the laughingstock of Asia, people. Wake up.

So unlike the 50 or so congressmen who have Pacquiao on their minds this weekend, I am wondering about the state of things and whether or not they will ever change. I am wondering about whether or not our presidentiables really have a clear program of action to steer our country out of the mess we’re in. I am bombarded with political ads every time I tune in to the local channels, and I wonder if their soundbites and their advertising messages will really be backed up by clear policy measures.

More specifically, here are some questions I’d like to ask the presidentiables:

1. How will you create more quality jobs in the Philippines? (And this means not hiring thousands of street sweepers that wear shirts with your name, and say that you’ve just created thousands of jobs.) What industries will you support? How will you ensure global competitiveness among our students and workers? What is your take on serial contractualization?

2. How will you protect overseas Filipinos and the families from the rising social costs of migration? Will you introduce more safety nets for the families left behind? Will you eventually curb overseas deployment in favor of job creation and investment in the Philippines?

3. How will you make the economy less reliant on overseas remittances?

4. HOW WILL YOU ELIMINATE CORRUPTION?

5. Will you elevate graft and corruption to heinous crimes? (After all, when you rob your citizens of millions or billions of pesos that should be going to basic services and it results in more people starving, I think that’s heinous enough.)

6. How will you ensure that big-time, high-profile tax evaders (some of whom might be your funders) are caught and punished?

7. Will you be willing to declare the full extent of your campaign fund sources and expenditures?

8. How will you stop smuggling, drug trafficking, people trafficking and prostitution?

9. What is your take on nuclear energy, and what are we to do about the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant?

10. What is your take on the reproductive health bill?

11. What is your plan to move the Philippines towards eco- and energy-sustainability by 2020?

12. How will you balance food security and self-sufficiency while promoting the production of biofuels?

13. How will you lower our power rates to be at par with those of our Asian neighbours?

14. What is your stand on legalizing marijuana, to be in the same classification as tobacco and alcohol?

15. What is your stand on divorce? (And I don’t mean, “Let’s follow Church doctrine.” Even Italy has divorce laws.)

16. What is your stand on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension and Reforms?

17. What will be your plan to boost tourism to overtake Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia?

18. Will you go after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband, their cronies, and all those who ought to be punished post-2010 (e.g., Virgilio Garcillano, Benjamin Abalos, Romulo Neri, etc.)?

19. Who will your cabinet members be?

20. What role will you give your Vice President?

21. How will you trim down the government bureaucracy to make it more streamlined and efficient?

22. How will you ensure sufficient healthcare services especially for indigents?

23. What is your plan for upgrading our state colleges and universities? How will you ensure global competitiveness among our students?

24. How would you amend the Constitution, if you were to do so? (This is not a “yes” or “no” answer.)

25. What is your stand on the VFA? On the Spratlys? What will be the bases of your foreign policy?

26. How will you end extra-judicial killings and ensure the end of human rights violations in government?

And here are some questions for specific presidentiables:

For Chiz Escudero: Aside from producing great soundbites, what have you really DONE throughout your entire political career? Why should we trust you?

For Loren Legarda: You wept when the second envelope was not opened in 2001, and then you joined the opposition’s camp in 2004? Why should we trust you?

For Jejomar Binay (“Dito sa Makati…”): How do you plan to produce “the Makati effect” in provinces and regions that have a very low revenue base? How will you encourage investment and tourism and enable tax collection in fifth- and sixth-class provinces? How will you ensure equitable distribution of resources across the country? And you are going around the country with a former president who was a womanizer, a gambler, and a plunderer. Why should we trust you?

For Mar Roxas (“Padyak”): If you weren’t seeking higher office in 2010, would you be proposing to Korina Sanchez at all?

Pardon the Saturday-morning operation of this brain, but I think these questions will be more than enough to keep some people busy for the next couple of months.

What are YOUR questions?

Niña Terol, 29, is a key mover of the groups Movement for Good Governance and YouthVotePhilippines. She is a political communicator by day but believes that being Filipino is a full-time undertaking that knows no time or geographical limits. To follow her or subscribe to her blogs, click follow her here: http://outoftheuniverse.wordpress.com/subscribe-find-nina-online/

I dedicate this most especially to the women who have enabled some of my own dreams to be realized: my Surreality sisters: Carissa Villacorta, JV Wong, and Tricia Tensuan.

Yesterday, March 7, was the culmination of a dream held dearly by four women who had met just a few months earlier. For Carissa, JV (Joy), Tricia, and I, our meeting on August 22, 2008–Carissa’s 29th birthday–was no accident. It would be only the beginning of changing each others’ lives, and we had hoped that our story would touch other lives as well.

The Surreality workshop was an idea that we had thought of because we were all brought together in very surreal, synchronistic ways, and because it was the title of Carissa’s widely acclaimed book relating her experiences as a wide-eyed, twenty-something Filipina in New York City. The workshop took months of discernment and preparation to put together, and we were met by fears that–come Surreality Day, nobody would show up. Would people really be willing to pay for a workshop on “Making the jump from dreaming the life to living the dream”–and facilitated by non-celebrities at that?

Our doubts turned into amazement, however, when people and organizations started offering their support to make this workshop a reality. Enderun Colleges, Powerbooks, and Design Muscle came in to partner with Joy’s firm, People Ignite, in providing logistical and marketing support. People from everywhere in Facebook started sending us messages of encouragement. Newspapers gave us free space to share our story and promote our activity to their readers. We knew that we were onto something special, but nothing had prepared us for the magic that was about to unfold.

Our workshop’s mantra was “Believe. Begin. Become” and we also used it as a framework for our activities. We began the morning with a centering and visioning exercise, which I had framed and facilitated, and we walked our participants through some creative unleashing grounded by a healthy belief in self. Within an hour, our participants’ buried dreams were excavated, denied passions were confronted, and hazy visions were crystallized. I was moved by everyone’s willingness to let themselves go and come face to face with their inner selves.

Carissa’s session, which came after mine, was a generous showering of tips, to-dos, and realizations based on her experiences in fulfilling her dreams in New York and beyond.

For Carissa, Surreality the book was the culmination of a long series of serendipitous moments, but it was only the beginning of the influence that she was about to wield among thousands of readers from all around the world. For her awe-inspiring work, Carissa was awarded as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the United States at age 28. And in her session, Carissa pushed each participant to begin walking the path to their dreams and to complete the sentence: “Nothing can stop me from being a ______.”

Joy’s testimonial came in the afternoon, and she shared her very powerful and moving story of clarity amid chaos; of triumph amid trials and tribulations; of faith in the invisible and faith in the impossible. In the span of five years, Joy had transformed herself from corporate workhorse to emerging entrepreneur, from cancer-afflicted to cancer survivor, from childless woman to mother. She shared with us how each of us is a warrior that finds the answers in the voice of silence and finds courage in the darkest of times. Joy’s story is, indeed, a story of “becoming.”

Until now, it is unclear to me how strangers become good friends, how acquaintances become kindred souls and how seatmates become accomplices in the fulfillment of each other’s respective missions. That day, however, as each session unfolded and as the facilitators and the participants fed off each other’s energies and together took steps toward self-actualization, I saw the cosmic forces at work once again. In sharing our stories and the birth of our participants’ buried dreams, Carissa, Joy, and I were fulfilling our own dreams of helping others rediscover and spread their wings. In joining us that day and patiently working through the exercises, our Surrealist friends were rediscovering their own paths and embarking on brand-new adventures of their own. I cannot even begin to describe in words how powerful the energy in the room felt that day.

What struck me most late that afternoon, during the sharing of “vision boards” and “roadmaps”, was how open and generous everyone was with praise, encouragement, and support. Just as we had hoped, once-disconnected people were now offering to help someone else in coming closer to his or her vision. People who had other concerns of their own were offering time, expertise, or connections in support of someone else’s mission. During her session, Carissa encouraged everyone to be someone else’s “fairy godmother” so that we could all have a chance to be Cinderellas. Our friends seemed to take her advice to heart.

And as we wrapped up and the day came to a close, it was evident that we were all exhausted–exhausted from exhuming the past, and exhausted with the knowledge that we had higher mountains to climb. Our bodies were evidently tired, but our spirits were alive and wide awake, and we all felt that another chapter in our lives had just begun.

As for me, I was—and still am—enveloped by a powerful feeling of peace. There is so much chaos and uncertainty out there right now, but when you are given the chance to share yourself and be part of someone’s life in the most fulfilling of ways, you just feel so much JOY and SERENITY in the knowledge that the world WILL become a better place—somehow.

When times are darkest and the tempest is strongest, leave it to women to bring a little bit of sunshine in. *Wink*

Niña Terol, 29, fuses her passion for people, causes, and ideas in her work. A Communicator, Enabler, and Organizer, she uses the power of vision, words, and connections to inspire, empower, and motivate others around her. A creative soul at heart, Niña established herself as a writer, having co-authored various publications for a long list of clients. She is also a budding poetess and performs her poetry with the women’s advocacy group, Romancing Venus. She is also an ardent advocate of progressive reforms in the Philippines, being a key mover of several advocacy groups. She handles political communications for a reform-oriented senator by day, but she believes that her being Filipino is a full-time undertaking that knows no limits.

“I am not being apathetic, but my priority now is to establish myself and provide for myself and my family.”

“My role in society is to run my business well, provide opportunities for growth for my employees, and make sure that everyone is paid well and on time so that they, in turn, can provide for their families.”

“I work hard, obey the law, and pay taxes. I think I’m doing my fair share already.”

“I care about what happens to this country, but I simply don’t know what to do.”

“I’m busy enough as it is. I want to make sure that whatever I do for the country will produce concrete results.”

I hear you. And I understand.

* * *

In my work as a volunteer of several organizations I have met many talented, brilliant, and passionate individuals who make their own significant contributions within their own lines of interest and their own skill sets. There is Frankie Varona, immediate past president of the Ateneo Alumni Association (AAA), who worked tirelessly to inspire the AAA and the Ateneo community to work on programs for Gawad Kalinga. There is Niel Lim, Team RP’s Communications Head [and now Chairman of the National Youth Parliament], who uses his own passion for journalism and political communications to ensure that Team RP’s message cuts through the media clutter (and all this while working on his master’s thesis!). There is Czarina Medina, editor of Starfish Magazine, who contributes valuable time, expertise, connections, and passion to feed the minds and souls of young leaders from around the country. There is Anna Rojas, my “soul sister” from our Globe Telecom days, who went way out of her way to mobilize resources to build a library in Sta. Teresa, Guimaras. There are many people who seem to do extraordinary things simply by giving off a few hours each week to work on something they really believe in.

But then, not all of us can be volunteers. Not all of us have the luxury of time, or flexibility, or liquidity, or emotional support, to be able to give off ourselves without the benefit of a paycheck or a positive performance appraisal or an additional client. Not all of us can take off from work in the middle of the day to attend yet another committee meeting, or build a GK home, or plan a socio-civic event. Most of us barely even have time to really spend time with our loved ones or read a good book or take a walk. How can we be expected to participate in volunteer efforts or—God forbid—engage government in long-term reforms that might even not be implemented?

The answer, to put it quite simply, is this: Man your own post.

Yes, it is true that not all of us can be volunteers—and not all of us can volunteer for the same thing. We each have different beliefs, different value systems, different principles, different socio-cultural backgrounds, and so on, but one thing is certain: we are all good at something. Many of us use this “something”—whatever it may be—for work, while some of us keep “bread-and-butter” jobs and save our true passions for the weekend. But we all have skills, we all have talents, and we all have friends. Each of us can maximize these three elements to make positive change happen in society.

* * *

Use your skills. As a “Communicator, Enabler, and Organization-builder”, I use my skills to maintain a freelance practice. Fortunately, this has allowed me to allocate a substantial amount of time for volunteer efforts. In my work with my advocacy groups, I try to use my communications and organizational skills to get things organized, to move things along, and so on. I chose reform-oriented groups that seek to engage media, government, and key stakeholders in the pursuit of truth, accountability, integrity, and reform because I enjoy policy work. I enjoyed serving a legislative role in the student council when I was in college, and I enjoy being able to work on changes from a political/legislative standpoint. This kind of work might not appeal to others at all, but it does to me, and so I do it.

You might be an account executive, or an entrepreneur, or an analyst. It’s perfectly okay if you don’t volunteer for any socio-civic projects, but maybe you could convince your clients or colleagues to adopt a social dimension to your organizational efforts. Maybe you could adopt a community and tie it in with your brand’s strategic objectives. Or you might sponsor a video to convince first-time voters to register while it’s still early. You could find ways to help us policy-oriented folk by directing the private sector’s attention to our efforts. Or you could help us craft our messages. Or you could share with us some information you got while researching for a presentation. In your hands (or brains, or PCs) is something that somebody else needs. Maybe the best thing you could do for your country is share a little bit of that. (Or convince your clients and colleagues to do so.)

Use your talents. Because I truly enjoy writing, I usually get tapped by my advocacy groups to take on editorial tasks. I also maintain blogs and help develop websites—all for the love of it. Once in a while, I get tapped to do hosting gigs. I also read poetry with the group Romancing Venus. I’d do these things—write and host/talk onstage—even if I weren’t paid for it. So I might as well do it to help others.

Meanwhile, my fiancé, Paul Zialcita, is a performance artist who gets paid to perform his Kali Drum and his water bottles at gigs and events. But every so often he does pro bono workshops to empower barangay children, or performs for free in fund-raising concerts or concerts for a cause because he believes that his music has relevance. Whatever your talent is, whatever you’re most passionate about, you could help bring about concrete change by mixing the two well, even just once in a while.

Use your friends. In this age of social networking—of egroups and social networking sites and blogs—everyone has friends. Everyone has a fan base. We can make the most of whatever influence we have by being part of the all-important social exchange. Let’s share information—about issues, about volunteer opportunities, about causes, about petitions—and let’s engage our friends in the causes we’re most passionate about. Let’s engage in what the folks at YPS (Young Public Servants) call “social conversations.” Once in a while, over a meal or a snack, let’s ask our friends and family members what they think about important issues. Should we go on a “family diet” in view of the looming rice crisis? Should we cut back on our Starbucks coffee session and use the money to donate to a charity? What does your brother think about the necessary qualities for a leader of the Philippines? Talking might not lead to concrete solutions yet—but they help clarify issues, crystallize ideas, and connect people. We sure need a lot of that in an age of snap judgements, shallow thought, and divisiveness.

* * *

There’s a saying that goes “bloom where you’re planted.” Each of us is a different plant (or flower), with different characteristics, and we’re all planted somewhere. Our society is facing so many challenges that it won’t take a single, homogenous group of people to find or create solutions. We need all kinds of people to do different things so that different issues and concerns are addressed. We need people everywhere to work on a specific area so that positive change snowballs and happens sooner rather than later.

So it’s okay if you don’t join my cause, or if you don’t support this particular project. But maybe there is a cause or a project to which you can contribute, either voluntarily or as part of your job. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that people everywhere recognize that change needs to happen, and that they have the power to do something. When we thought of the name for Team RP, one of my other advocacy groups, we wanted to imbibe the “team philosophy” that permeates sports teams. Wherever you are in the world, whatever it is that you’re doing, if you’re Filipino then you belong to one team—THIS team. And we each have a post to man. It’s just a matter of knowing where that is and stepping up to the plate.

(Niña Terol, 28, is a key mover of the advocacy groups YouthVotePhilippines and Movement for Good Governance and is the outgoing Vice Chairperson for Internal Affairs of Team RP. She is also a political communicator, a lifestyle journalist, and a freelance writer. When she is not thinking about politics, Niña digs into contemporary art, pop culture, the indie scene, and fashion. You may view her blog: Out of the Universe.)

In these times of social unrest, when media focus hops from one controversy and “crisis” to another, Filipinos everywhere are saying, “I don’t want to condone these actions, but I don’t know how I can help.” They resign themselves to the fact that corruption exists everywhere, that their well-intentioned actions may not amount to anything, and that it’s perhaps best to leave political action to the politicians. After all, they would reason out, politics is dirty business.

But it wasn’t meant to be that way. In his 350 B.C. work, Politics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote: “Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good; for mankind always act in order to obtain that which they think good. But, if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good [italics mine].”

Maybe politics has become the dirty, bastardized creation that it is today precisely because we, the citizens, have let go of it. We left it up to the crooks, the unscrupulous, the malicious, and the ethically ignorant to take hold of it—thereby strangling us and taking the power away from the real state: the people. In a supposedly democratic government such as ours, we should be part of the political process—and this doesn’t end during elections.

We have the power to save the Philippines. And we can do it even while sitting down.

1. Be informed. The first step to conquering anything is to know what it is. Wherever you are in the world, stay in touch with the Philippines through online news sources. You can check out good, positive news about the Philippines through www.goodnewspilipinas.com, or www.inquirer.net for comprehensive news articles, podcasts, and blog entries. If you want meatier stuff, check out www.newsbreak.com.ph. This hard-hitting publication may have ended its print run, but its online presence shows that nothing will stop Marites Vitug and her staff from getting to the bottom of the news. If you want something with a dose of TV on it, log on to www.abs-cbnnews.com or www.gmanews.tv.There are also some great non-news sites that offer bite-sized, thought-provoking content. My favorites include www.ted.com, our very own WhyNot? Forum (www.whynotforum.com), ChangeThis (www.changethis.com), and even SlideShare (www.slideshare.com). Who ever thought Powerpoint presentations could be THAT interesting!
2. Share your thoughts and ideas over the Web. Now is probably the best time in human history to be expressive and outspoken. The Internet has given us tremendous power, and we can harness it by broadcasting our thoughts and ideas over the Web—which is the most democratic space we have seen so far. If you want to develop your own “fan base” and position yourself as a thought leader, start a blog. (Just be a tad more productive than Brian Gorrell, please.) If you think blogging is too tiresome, post your comments to news article, features, blog entries, etc. People do pay attention to comments, so go ahead and make them.
3. Read other people’s blogs. Tit for that: if you want people to listen to—er, read—what you have to say, return the favor. Technorati’s Top 100 Filipino blogs include:
   • Jessica Zafra’s (http://jessicarulestheuniverse.com/)
   • Manolo Quezon’s The Daily Dose (http://www.quezon.ph/)
   • Inside PCIJ (http://www.pcij.org/blog)
   • Jim Paredes’s Writing on Air (http://haringliwanag.pansitan.net)
   • Butch Dalisay’s Pinoy Penman (http://homepage.mac.com/jdalisay/blog/MyBlog.html)
   • Newsstand (http://www.newsstand.blogs.com)

   Some other blogs that haven’t quite made it to Technorati’s list, but which I love anyway (aside from them being my friends’ blogs) are Reese Fernandez’s The Passionista (http://thepassionista.wordpress.com), Mark Ruiz’s Gamechanger (http://markruiz.typepad.com), and Benjie dela Peña’s Hundred Years Hence http://hundredyearshence.blogspot.com/.

4. Participate in online discussions. Back to Aristotle: “Now, that man is more of a political animal than bees or any other gregarious animals is evident. Nature, as we often say, makes nothing in vain, and man is the only animal whom she has endowed with the gift of speech… the power of speech is intended to set forth the expedient and inexpedient, and therefore likewise the just and the unjust. And it is a characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the like, and the association of living beings who have this sense makes a family and a state.”Let’s face it—whether you openly admit to it or not, you have political opinions, and would love to share them with others who would care enough to listen. Online discussions allow for a democratic sharing of ideas, encourage critical discernment on issues, and allow for an emergence of various viewpoints which are essential to critical decision-making. As a people, we need to listen to each other and consider each other’s perspectives if we are to arrive at intelligent decisions and actions.Now that 2010 is just around the corner, perhaps we should start discussing among ourselves what qualities we think are important for a true leader, and which of the public figures around us really doexhibit and live out these qualities.
5. Sign online petitions and campaigns. Online petitions and campaigns have the potential to wield great power over political and social action because they help educate people about issues and gauge public opinion. A successful signature campaign trains media’s lenses on particular issues and forces public figures to make important decisions or stands on concerns that would otherwise be left in the back burner. It encourages discourse and debate, legislative action, and policy reforms. You can play an active role in strengthening Philippine policies by signing such petitions and campaigns. It won’t even take you two minutes.
6. Share information with your friends and online buddies. Don’t you hate it when friends forward useless chain letters? (”If you don’t pass this on to 5 people within 5 minutes, something bad will happen to you.”) I do—I really do, and I find it amazing that people actually believe that stuff like this works. I would rather forward information that people will find useful and relevant, such as news about new rules and policies that will affect their industries or their daily lives, information on breakthrough ideas or movements that will benefit a great number of people, new causes and organizations that people can support, or even trivia and tips that will make people think and, perhaps, help them make small but useful changes in their daily routine. Information is power, and it is something that we cannot take for granted. When you’ve got useful information, pass it on and spread the love.
7. Use the power of the Net to recruit members and solicit donations to worthy causes.There are so many great and worthy causes out there that need all kinds of support—from volunteer time, to material donations and in-kind support, to donations and financial support. Likewise, there are many of us who are looking for “something to do” or something to which we can contribute, but we just don’t know where to look. We can do both cause-oriented groups and do-gooders a favor by patching them up online. It won’t take much time or effort: simply forward messages about causes and movements to friends, family members, and online buddies, then let them build their “relationship” on their own. Who knows? Something great might come out of it someday—and they’d have YOU to thank for it.

It really doesn’t have to take so much of your time, energy, and resources to help save the Philippines. Each of us can realistically do only what is accessible and interesting to us, so take advantage of online resources to do as much good as you can with the least amount of effort. You’d be surprised at how the daily act of contributing and sharing information can make a big difference in a country that is still enveloped in ignorance and intellectual poverty. And you won’t even have to get up from your chair.

(Revised from an blog entry originally titled 7 Ways to Help the Philippines While Sitting Down)

thumbs and article image gotten from – here

“In spite of the activism then, we still didn’t do enough for the Philippines,” he lamented. “Most of us gave up on the country and focused instead on making a living. That in itself is not wrong, but we just didn’t try hard enough.”

He wasn’t blaming government for the chronic ills that have paralyzed the country. He wasn’t blaming the youth for being apathetic. He wasn’t blaming globalization for pushing developed countries forward and leaving the rest of the world behind. He wasn’t mouthing off a litany of complaints. Instead, he was facing a reality that many in his generation still could not see: that the failures of this country are aggregated results of THEIR own failures.

Writing this now, I am reminded of that poetic moment when Australians lit their candles and said “We’re sorry” to the victims of state-sponsored injustices against the indigenous peoples of Australia. It was a strong, symbolic gesture that united a country and enabled them to move forward from a divided past. I am reminded, too, of how Japan and South Korea rose from the ashes of war and brought dignity and pride to their people through political will, hard work, and sheer discipline. Of course, Barack Obama’s victory as the 44th President of the United States comes to mind, too, because one generation ago even his candidacy would have been utterly impossible. I am even reminded of Brazil, Vietnam, and the Czech Republic come to mind because of their marked improvement on the economic and “global PR” fronts.

It didn’t take these countries a hundred years to turn around; it took political will and the willingness of their people to make the sacrifices that usually precede success.

* * *
Now that the challenge of true, sustainable reform and better governance falls on the shoulders of MY generation, I’d just like to ask our elders to make one meaningful resolution for the New Year:

BACK US UP. Back us up by acknowledging your mistakes and showing us what you could have done better. Let’s face it: every decision, every action, could be done in a better way. Tell us what went wrong, what factors contributed to our current state, what decisions you would have reversed, what you would not have done at all — and so on. It is only through your collective foresight and hard-earned wisdom that will we know what paths will waste our time at best, or which ones will sabotage our efforts at worst. We CANNOT afford to make the same mistakes you made because we’re running out of time.

Back us up by supporting our efforts. Yes, “the youth is the hope of the country”—we’ve heard that at least a million times. We know that it is our time to put in the hours, our turn to step up to the plate of nation-building; it’s our turn to lead. But we cannot work in a vacuum, and we cannot move forward without the proper resources. We will need you to steer us toward the right direction, to introduce us to the right people, and to mobilize the necessary resources to get things done. Enable us, and we will help in empowering the whole country — it sounds like a good deal to me.

Back us up by giving us space to create, experiment, innovate. We need your advice and your help, but we also need some room to develop new and “out of the universe” solutions to old and chronic problems. Share the volumes of wisdom culled from your experience, but do not dictate every step that we ought to take. Trust that, as young as we are, we, too, have the capability to think things through and get the job done. Steer us, but do not stifle us. True synergy can only happen when both parties (in this case, your generation and ours) regard each other as equals.

* * *
Statistics say that between 50 and 56 percent of the entire voting population in 2010 (depending on which figures you look at) will come from the youth. That’s a huge number, and if properly steered it can “claim the vote” for reform and good governance. But let us not forget the 44 to 50 percent of adults who are equally crucial to changing the game for the future. There are many adults in the Philippines who still have never voted in their lives; many adults who have yet to register; many adults who still do not know how to choose the right leaders for their children… many, many adults — especially those outside of the country — who have given up on the Philippines because “walang ganyan sa States.”

Youth may have already escaped you, but your time is still not up. As long as you’re around, we’re going to need your help.

Niña Terol, 28, is a key mover of Movement for Good Governance and is a writer and political communicator. If she could ask former presidents and cabinet members one question, she would ask this: “Name one key decision you had made during your term that you would have done better, and how and why. Answering ‘none’ is not an option.”

But I digress. This latest scandal to rock the Philippine shores — er, fields — paints yet another ugly caricature of this present administration and its cohorts and once again makes the Filipino nation look like a bunch of idiots. How can anyone justify distributing funds for agricultural inputs that are of the wrong kind, given at the wrong time, for the wrong districts? (And, oh yes, they were grossly overpriced, too.) I felt a brief moment of admiration for Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago when she admitted that, although she is an administration ally, Joc-Joc Bolante was simply “defending the indefensible.”

Former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Joc-Joc Bolante at todays Senate hearing. (Inquirer.net)

There is simply no way of getting around this. And we cannot let these corrupt, unscrupulous officials get away with it. If I were a guy, I’d say that “nakakalalaki na ‘tong gobyernong ito (this government is challenging my manhood–or something to that effect).”

This whole episode reminds me of Dr. René Azurin’s book, aptly titled Power Without Virtue. In his introduction, he exhorts us to exact accountability from government, saying that “their powers should be strictly limited, constantly monitored, and held always in check.” Allow me to share some excerpts from his book’s introductory essay:

“… Tremendous discretionary power over public funds, public resources, and public policies is vested in those who capture control of government, and that power has been consolidated, increased, refined, guarded and avariciously used over the years by the nation’s politicos for their own private and personal gain. Irrespective of any labels or party names that presidents, senators, congressmen and local government officials have attached to themselves over the more than hundred years since [Mabini’s time], all have been joined… by the notion that the positions they occupy are opportunities ‘to grasp’ and not ‘to serve.’

“By its very nature, of course, it is inescapable that power is vested in government and, by extension, in government officials. Because, however, it is not reasonable to expect that our public officials will be as moral or as ethical as the ‘sublime’ Mabini [whom Dr. Azurin refers to early on in his essay], their powers should be strictly limited, constantly monitored and held always in check. Discretionary allocations in the national budget — like the huge presidential discretionary funds and legislative pork barrel — should be eliminated altogether. The decisions to award public projects should always be minutely scrutinized, publicly justified and never cloaked in ‘executive privilege.’”

Joc-Joc Bolante has yet to invoke “executive privilege,” but he has asked that his right against self-incrimination be upheld, even if this is a right extended only to the accused and not to witnesses. He insists that he never knew who recommended him as Undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, even if he later on admits that the only one he knows from the upper echelons of Malacañang is First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, a “good friend” of his. He apologizes for having made the Senate wait for three years for him to surface and offer his testimony, even if he has had plenty of opportunities to surface before his incarceration in the United States. Moreover, he is adamant that the President had nothing to do with this scandal, although incumbent officials acknowledge that Mrs. Arroyo is a micro-manager who dips her fingers (or those of her husband) in practically every matter in this government. Nobody believes that P728 million could be disbursed to over a hundred districts in the country without this president’s knowledge.

Clearly, what we have in front of us is a joker who cannot be trusted or given the benefit of the doubt. He is one of those avaricious men whose primary motivation for joining government is to enjoy its many under-the-table perks. Now that he has surfaced, we will have to bear with days– possibly even weeks — of a live telenovela that makes the Filipino people look tanga (idiotic) in the worst possible way. How much more of this will we take? Aren’t we tired of scandal after scandal, and of government officials who think that we’re stupid, apathetic and callous, even?

More importantly, what are we going to do about it? I once more refer to Tito Rene’s introduction to show an alternative I do not want to see:

“In theory, the extent of government power is specified by the role the people assign to it. In practice, that role is actually determined by the latitude the political class is given to arrogate powers unto themselves. Unfortunately, ‘the people’ — being a dispersed, diffuse mass — have no real ability to limit that latitude. It is therefore left to other organized institutions of society — such as civic groups, business groups, advocacy movements, professional associations, religious institutions, academic institutions and media — to try to circumscribe (if they are so inclined) the role of government and the powers of government officials, and then hold them to account.

“A community holds together, I believe, largely because there are reasonable expectations that a system exists for ensuring that each member of it will be treated fairly and justly by the community itself, if not necessarily by every other member of it. Without this conviction, I think that communities will inevitably break apart (unless held together by force, in which case a revolt will eventually become inevitable). If the privileged few who exercise power in the community use this power to plunder and exploit, and they vulgarly display themselves as exempt from the rules imposed on the ordinary many without power, there is no compelling incentive for the powerless and unprivileged to stay within the community or, if they do, to follow its rules.”

If we want to keep intact what is left of the Philippine community, we need to demand accountability from our public officials NOW. The jokers in government have already taken too much from us — what else are we going to allow them to grasp?

Niña Terol, 28, is an officer of Team RP and YouthVotePhilippines and a member of other reform-oriented groups. She hopes to make real, positive change happen in the Philippines within her lifetime.

Having watched the film twice, first on Imax and next on a regular theater, I can’t help but agree that The Joker is a better reference for the film than its real protagonist, Batman. Spawned right from the center of Limbo, with all the qualities we find loathsome, pitiful, and yet terrifying, The Joker is a reminder of everything we don’t want human beings to become. Quoting Corliss again, the late Heath Ledger’s Joker “observes no rules, pursues no grand scheme; he’s the terrorist as improv artist.”

But I’d take it a few notches further and say that The Joker is the film’s “inverted social conscience,” the dreaded, deadly disease that makes society work together to find a cure. It is he who asks the hard questions; he who challenges the taken-for-granted assumptions; he that pushes humanity to see how low they would really sink — or how far they could really rise. He is the ultimate “necessary evil” that forces us to see just what we’re really made of. A composite of everything that is wrong, perverse, and twisted in our society, it is he who nonetheless shows us our true potentials for greatness.

It just goes to show that, in the movies — as well as in politics and the rest of real life — there’s a lot we can learn from the bad guys. We cannot simply turn our eyes away from them, or pretend they’re not there, or believe that they will simply go away. They will not– for they are here to stay. But instead of ignoring them because they’re such “bad examples,” we should study them, dissect them — even if we don’t understand them — and see how we can stop the rest of the world from joining their ranks.

Crooks (trapos included) do have a purpose. They’re there to show us what can happen if we let ourselves slide too deeply.

Which brings us to Lesson # 2: Harvey Dent.

Gotham’s fearless, charismatic new district attorney is the ultimate tragedy of human potential. He starts out as everyone’s hero, Gotham’s “White Knight” who has come to save the day, except that when he collides with the dark forces we find that his foundation was too weak to stand against the very forces that ultimately subsumed him. This is what happens when we depend on one person to be our Messiah. People are people — even in this age of celebrities, icons, and “modern-day heroes” — and they will slip, or slide, or sink (sometimes very, very low). When we pin all our hopes on just one person — or one entity or one ideal — the results can be tragic. The solution is to empower everyone to be the source of the solution, which, ironically is what The Joker attempted to do in the hospital and ferry scenes — regardless of his twisted definition of the “solution”.

Lesson #3: When push comes to shove, trust people to do the right thing.

Speaking of the ferry scene, another point the movie made very well was that everyone, even the lowest scoundrels of society, has some emergency button of goodness within them that they can access and activate even at the most desperate times of their lives. Just give them a compelling reason and just enough time (but not too much) to think through their decision, and people will almost always gravitate toward the good. I’m no expert in human behavior and so I cannot vouch for this as truth, but I believe that when we put our faith in people — and they know how important their choices will be for everyone else on board — they will do their best to make the right decision. It won’t be easy, but it’s possible, even outside of Hollywood.

Lesson #4: Sometimes, the “right thing” (or person) is difficult to understand, or even recognize.

How will you know that you’ve done the right thing? How will you know that you’ve chosen the right person? You won’t — not at the onset, or not always. Because, sometimes, the person whom you thought was the answer will leave you disappointed and asking more painful questions. If Harvey Dent had lived and had been allowed to unleash the fullness of his newfound glory upon Gotham, what would have happened? We don’t know for sure, but we do know that we cannot allow something like that to happen here. We cannot allow ourselves to be bought by the winning smile, the boy-next-door look, or the Messianic pronouncements. Even when looking at one’s track record (as in Harvey Dent’s case), we have to go over every detail very, very carefully.

Conversely, we also cannot simply discount the “dark horse” as a nuisance entity or a subversive force that must be stopped. It’s possible for the totally misunderstood rebel to be exactly what we need. Sometimes, collective understanding arrives so slowly that we are not able to recognize a hero when we see one. So we cannot trust our gut or our intellect alone. When looking at people, we need to understand the context of their actions, and also the context of the decisions we need to make. In Gotham, as in real life, nothing is truly black or white.

Lesson #5: Sometimes, we need to live with lies in order to find our truth.

Nobody understood this better than Batman himself. He has had to perpetuate a lie in order to allow justice to prevail, even allowing Two-Face to be seen as the Knight in Shining Armor that everyone needed him to be. Sometimes, we need to live with a lie in order for truth, justice, and goodness to prevail — so that the delicate threads that weave our social fabric do not disintegrate and explode into chaos.

The challenge is discerning which lies we need and which ones we should never entertain.

(Niña Terol is Team RP’s vice chairperson for internal affairs. She sometimes imagines herself to be Rachel Dawes—without the tragic ending. She wrote this article originally for the Young Public Servants website).

Source URL: http://blogs.inquirer.net/philippineelections/2008/08/06/political-lessons-from-%E2%80%98the-dark-knight%E2%80%99/