Jose Alejandrino When Carmen Pedrosa founded Bayanko at the end of July 2014 to change our rotten political system and posted it online, I was still in Spain living a comfortable life. I was struck by her courage and strong sense of patriotism. I wrote her to say I was returning home to help her realize her dream. As soon as I returned home last September, I called to invite her for lunch at the Cafe Romulo in Alabang to see how I could be of help. I liked her idea of crowdsourcing through the social media but felt Bayanko had to go beyond that in order to get the numbers that would make people, particularly the politicians, notice. Bayanko had to partner with large groups like workers, farmers, fisherfolk, women, youth, urban poor, in other words, the marginalized sectors of our society who had been shut out of the current political system by the established order made up of the oligarchy, corrupt businessmen, and political dynasties. It also had to engage the church and the retired members of the military and civil service. In Cebu, when invited to speak before the NTC, I talked of a power vacuum created by an inept national leadership and said the church should step in to fill this vacuum beginning with the renewal of the nations spiritual values. What was needed was an overhaul of the political system because it was the system that forced politicians to become corrupt to recover what they had spent in costly campaigns. What was needed was a new form of government to allow a new set of leaders, God-fearing, upright men and women, coming from the marginalized sectors of society. The rich never cared for the poor. They have no social conscience. They only cared to line their pockets. If they made money it was always at the expense of the poor. That is why there were so many billionaires in the Philippines. I was gratified to find Carmen Pedrosa and I were on the same wave length. We agreed that unless something was done, the social volcano would erupt affecting the whole nation. Addressing poverty and arresting the decline of the middle class was the best hope to preserve our democratic system. Constitutional change was our last chance to make a peaceful and orderly transition. Now you know why I have a great admiration and affection for this exceptional woman.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 13:14:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015