Why Is Our Freedom Declining? – AKADEMYANG FILIPINO

Opinion – Edgardo J. Angara
February 25, 2017

The inaugural conference of Academia Filipina on Friday, February 24th, could not have come at a more appropriate time. It’s on the eve of EDSA. Analysts have noted that Filipino liberties are once again in jeopardy some 31 years after People Power overthrew a dictatorship.

Freedom House recently said that freedom in the Philippines is declining, citing the thousands of bodies turning up since the drug war began. Amnesty International exposed a murderous racket involving policemen and funeral homes earning thousands for every drug pusher or addict killed during anti-drug operations. The gruesome murder of Korean national Jee Ick-Joo inside Camp Crame illustrated the utter disregard for the rule of law and the brazen violation of human rights of no less than by law enforcers themselves.

More troubling is how today’s lawlessness and violence have sparked very little outcry. The institutions that should have served as the bulwark of freedom and liberty are strangely quiet. Men and women of intelligence and passion for country stand silent and remain passive. Only a few gather enough courage to point out that, “The emperor has no clothes!”

Why is this happening? Are we descending into what Fareed Zakaria described as “illiberal democracy?” While we have the trappings of a liberal democracy, ours is merely a façade that rings hollow.

There’s so much public disaffection with politicians and the existing establishment. There is rising populism and a growing tendency towards demagoguery — similar to what we’re witnessing in the US, France, Hungary and Turkey.

Some have already sounded the alarm. History does have a few examples — Italy and Germany in the early 30s — of populist movements taking over democracies and transforming them into fascist, even totalitarian regimes.

But populism need not end in fascism. As Dr. Franciso Panizza, a London School of Economics professor, once wrote: “By raising awkward questions about modern forms of democracy, and often representing the ugly face of the people, populism is neither the highest form of democracy nor its enemy, but a mirror in which democracy can contemplate itself, warts and all, and find out what it is about and what it is lacking.”

What then is lacking in our democracy? The biggest lack as I see it is a truly functioning political party system. Political parties in a representative government like ours are necessary because they are the primary vehicle for voters’ participation in the political process. In the Philippines however, they have become simply vehicles for ambitious individuals to achieve their personal aspirations. Instead of espousing reform and change, they dispense money and patronage, making the system rife with opportunism and political turncoatism. Party affiliation becomes a self-interest matter of who will best foot the campaign bill rather than belief in shared ideals and principles.

The upshot is political disenfranchisement. The constituency is deprived of a credible voice and public services suffer. The tendency for change and reform is sporadic rather than persistent.

That explains why Philippine democracy is largely a façade, unable to deliver on the promise that hard work, ability and ambition will assure one of upward social and economic progress.

Our democracy’s hollowness is further exposed by the yawning gap between the few who are very rich and the millions of Filipinos who struggle daily to survive. In 2010, only 0.1 percent or 19,738 Filipino families belonged to the high-income group with an average monthly income of P194,965. In contrast, there were 80.8 percent or 14.07 million low-income families with an average monthly income of P7,513. This gap has remained unchanged. The 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) shows the income of the richest 10 percent of the population is nine (9) times more than the income of the poorest 10 percent.

On top of this mountainous poverty sits a largely disconnected — if not entirely indifferent — elite, comprised of both the wealthy and powerful. The charities of the Filipino rich and powerful pursue and spend on are duplicative and scatter-shot — over-concentrating their funds on a handful of scholarships and school houses, while hardly paying attention to the frightening public health hazard of child malnutrition. The stunting of our children results to the loss of over P350 billion a year to the economy in terms of work productivity and education.

Similar to France’s French Academy or Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, Academia Filipina aims to promote, preserve and protect Filipino culture as the bedrock of the Filipino nation. The association will provide a forum for dialogues, debate, and discussions among the country’s intellectual and thought leaders towards building a just and prosperous Philippines. Its organization was initiated F. Sionil Jose, assisted by yours truly.

Notable figures present at the conference were former Philippine Prime Minister Cesar Virata, former Foreign Secretary Delia Albert, civic leader Doris Ho, former Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., former National Security Adviser Jose T. Almonte, incumbent Senators Sonny Angara, Richard Gordon and Loren Legarda, NCCA Chairman Virgilio Almario, National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera, GMA Network Chairman and CEO Atty. Felipe Gozon, Gawad Kalinga Tony Meloto, Fukuoka Prize Winner and historian Ambeth Ocampo, lawyer-activist Mike Mastura, writer Jose Dalisay Jr., heritage scholars Fernando Zialcita and Augusto Villalon, educators Lydia Echauz and E.J. de Jesus, among others.

That’s why Academia Filipina can help find solutions to the country’s biggest challenges. Our key institutions could be strengthened and supported. It may provide an intellectual climate conducive to reform and change. And ultimately, the decline of our democracy and freedom could be arrested.