QUESTION: Sir John, I am homeschooling. Ask ulit ako for my assignment. Ano po yang tinatawag na "People Empowerment"? Yan ba yung Democracy na malaya lahat pwede magsalita?
ANSWER: Partly yes. There is a fake democracy and genuine democracy. You would know the difference by looking at the manifestations. In democracy, people are not only given the freedom to voice what they want, but people are given the opportunities to achieve what they want. The highest form of democracy and people empowerment is one wherein peoples' PURCHASING POWER is empowered, wherein people can make brave choices on what to buy, who to vote for, who to live with, where to go.
Philippine democracy is fake because there is no democracy who wants to be impoverished. The democracy is demanding fairness of opportunities and survival from poverty, but democracy is not getting it.
Allowing people to voice their sentiments just for the sake of allowing them to ventilate the pressure, without actually accepting their sentiment, is a form of suppression, it is not democracy.
Look at the manifestations. There is no democracy when people are generally dissatisfied with the integrity of the government. There is no democracy when people are suffering and dying everyday from poverty. There is no democracy when the military and police are threats to society because they are trained/initiated in an inhumane ways of maltreatment, hazing, and torture. There is no democracy when people are afraid of losing their jobs if they report irregularies done by their superiors. There is no democracy when government keeps opponent ideologists as political prisoners. Applying this, I can say that in Philippines, there is no democracy yet. Philippines has always been an Oligarchy and Plutocracy, never been a democracy.
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WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S DOWN?
1. POVERTY UP. Some 20.5 percent of Filipinos or about 4.1 million families are going hungry while 51 percent, or some 10.4 million families, consider themselves "mahirap" or poor , according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations. See
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/217239/nation/sws-survey-hunger-up-to-205-poverty-rises-to-51
2. INVESTMENT DOWN. Philippines is second least attractive investment site in ASEAN. The Manila Times Online. March 2011. URL: http://www.manilatimes.net/opinion/2nd-least-attractive-investment-site-in-asean/
3. CORRUPTION UP. Daily Tribune report about the PERC Survey that says Philippines is most corrupt nation in Asia. March 2011. URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110331hed1.html
4. WARNINGS UP. Corruption Warning About Philippine Real Estate Buying and Investing. Google Blog Nov 2010. URL: http://petalcorin.blogspot.com/2010/11/global-warning-on-philippine-real.html
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I dedicate this blog to my Facebook friends who celebrate their birthdays today. Angie Mendoza, April Shane Venus, Charllene Marcellana Batungbacal, Jovelyn Cequiña Petalcorin, Maris T. Lasco, Rio Bertillo Mata
