Lead Philippines Video

Blood in our Hands

Our mother is suffering.
She is dying.
She is tortured and raped
By hands who are without guilt.
Burnt and wounded,
There is no end in sight.
Her anguish can be heard,
But no one listens.
Her pain seethes through the heart,
But which hadn't moved a soul.

Our country is our mother.
She gave us life.
She is the air we breathe,
Our reason for being.
Her bosom is our rest.
Worthy sons and daughters
Have come and gone.
Left are vultures
Pounding on her flesh.

She suffered once the torture of a despot.
Mercifully resurrected by the death of a hero.
The power of the people has triumphed.
It not only can but it should, again.
Twice the power was seen
And twice it prevailed.

Yet our country is still down on its knees.
We are perceived to be one of the most corrupt in Asia.
Our people feel hungrier than most of the world.
Many live in desperate conditions,
Yet they remain unseen,
Under the bridge,
Below plain sight.
People die in hospitals,
Poverty is their only disease.
Babies cry for help.
Yet vultures pounces on.
It's politics as usual.

But the most important question is,
The one that would haunt us the rest of our lives...
The question we must ask ourselves is...
Where are we in all of this?

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph
is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke

By doing nothing,
We not only have not done anything.
We allow injustice to prevail,
Inequities to happen.
Not only is it our responsibility
but our moral duty to God and country
To fight against tyranny,
The tyranny of poverty.
If we do nothing,
We are unredeemed.
We have blood in our hands.

But everything is not lost.
We have what it takes.
We have triumphed in the past,
Not once, but twice.
We can do it again, albeit differently.
We can do something.
The possibilities are endless.
Doing nothing is not an option.
Busyness is no excuse.

Let us do what we can.
Read. Learn. Listen.
Get involved.
Talk. Shout. Demand.
Choose. Move. Change.
Join. Unite.
Follow.
Lead.

-- Lead Philippines

Expanded Initiative

I am suggesting to expand the target activities of Lead Philippines to include the following...

1. Produce radio programs (Public Affairs and News Programs, like BBC's "Hard Talk, Fox's "Oreilly Factor", and NBC's "Meet the Press", but on radio) that will provide equal and fair venue for all potential leaders of all political colors wherein they can voice their views and opinion.
2. Produce a series of advertisements in the tri-media and other venues that will stir the people to positive and patriotic action.
3. Publish a newspaper that chronicles the country's search for its leaders
4. Produce a pop and rock concert and produce a corressponding music CD which main theme is nationalism and call to action.
5. Produce and popularize a televised song-writing competition with positive nationalistic themes that would touch the heart of the people and stir them to positive action
6. Produce a multi-artist recording of a song with nationalistic theme (similar to what is done in "Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo" recorded right after the 1986 People Power revolution.
7. Produce and popularize a televised search for national leaders, much like the American or Philippines Idol, but for leaders rather than singers, wherein the people can participate via SMS.
8. Produce and popularize a series of televised/radio debates and leadership forums in universities and other venues nationwide.

Of course, not all of the above can be done, but there is no harm in trying. Earlier, the only activity targeted is the 7th activity suggested above which is to be patterned after the Lead India movement. However, the country needs more than one event each of which could set the stage for the other. In a war, and we are in a war against our culture of corruption, there should always be mass media component. This is what happened in 1986, when the ongoing People Power activities in EDSA and elsewhere was in part galvanized by the voice of June Keithley, first at the Radio Veritas and then at the so called Radio Bandido station. At this time, there are many different movements but none really target the mass media.

Indeed, to get this going, we will need all the help we can get.

Another Lead India Video

Last month, I attended a meeting by the Convergence_Team who is hoping to produce video clips to increase the awareness of the people on national concerns. In the meeting, they showed this short video which is one of those produced by the Lead India initiative...

Although the video is in Indian language (it seems), the story behind it is easily discernible. In the video, there is a tree fallen on the middle of the road. Everyone starts to fret about it without doing anything. Then a child started lifting the tree in spite of the rain. One by one, the on lookers started to help until everyone helped and the obstructing tree is successfully removed....

At the time everyone is helping, the rain stopped and the sun started to show itself. Surely, no task is big enough if everyone do their share.

In a nutshell, that is what I am trying to do here. I have not done anything before in my life that helped the country... As far as "helping" is concerned, I am still a child. The tree that lay on the road are the problems that faces us... Corruption and Poor governance among them... I have started pushing the tree by myself. I know I cannot do it alone. But still, so few are helping... the tree is not budging. The rain has started and it is getting stronger... I wonder, when will the sun shine on me?

First Question on Credibility

The success of Lead Philippines depends on its proponent's credibility. We have seen too much of politicking and various political gimmickry that we do not want to fall victim to another movement who in the end will only use us. The question is: What makes a person credible?

The question though can be answered only by the people themselves. It is a judgement that would be made later on, but which judgement will result in the success or failure of this initiative. At this point, we can only guess what makes a person credible.

A person is credible if he/she does not have any conflicting interest. For an initiative such as Lead Philippines, politics is THE conflict of interest. For example, if I am running for a national position, or if I am pushing for a candidate in 2010, I may may not be a bad person but there is definitely a question on my motives. Is it important therefore that proponents should be disinterested in running or pushing for anyone in 2010?

What if the proponent is running for a local position, say as a town councilor? Is there conflict of interest in that situation? Some will say there is. We do not want anyone using this initiative to make a name for himself for use in future elections.

And it doesnt stop there. Should the proponents be banned from running even beyond 2010? Are we not eliminating a lot of good people if we ban any present or would-be politicans from joining a worthy movement such as Lead Philippines?

Even defining who the proponents are and who should be subject to elimination of conflict of interests is a tricky subject. Lead Philippines may be registered as a non-profit organization and we therefore need at least 15 trustees. Definitely those 15 trustees must be as credible as can be. However, there would be people who would work for Lead Philippines. There will be officers who should have the same credibility. There will be a secretariat which employees should be subjected to the same standards. Or should they?

Lead Philippines will also be hiring talents. Lead Philippines will also accept donations and sponsorships. Should those talents be subjected to the same standards? Should donors and sponsors, including corporate sponsors, be asked to abstain from running or endorsing a candidate? Should donors/sponsors be asked even not to nominate anyone from their ranks to join in the Lead Philippines leadership search itself? What if the Rotarians, or the Lions, or the Jaycees support this initiative and they donate money, should we ban them from nominating a candidate for Lead Philippines?

To answer all of these, I have the following suggestions:

1. All members of the board of trustees and all the officers and direct hired employees of, and those who volunteer to work with Lead Philippines should be asked to sign a written statement that they are not running or endorsing or helping any candidate, local or national, in 2010. If in case they run or endorse someone in 2010, Lead Philippines as a group should openly discredit those persons.

2. Lead Philippines may accept donations and corporate sponsorships but such donors and sponsors should be asked to sign a waiver that they will not try to influence the search process. Corporate sponsors should not be able to nominate anyone to Lead Philippines. Non-profit organizations may nominate their leaders, but their donations if any should not be used in anyway to make sure their nominees are accepted or selected. Lead Philippines should make it a point for everyone to know that it has nothing to do with donors and sponsors who endorses future candidates.

3. Lead Philippines should hire talents known for their independence and credibility. If in case those talents will later run or endorse candidates, again Lead Philippines should have nothing to do with them.

It may be ironic that Lead Philippines is asking people to do what they can to help the country, to join in the political fray even, and then to dissuade people within itself from politics. But I believe that Lead Philippines is too good an idea to pass up and I think it is worth a bit of a sacrifice if you can call it that. I believe that there are many good and able Filipinos and plucking a few them away from politics is worth it. Some of those good Filipinos should lead the country in politics. Some of them are destined to be on the sidelines.

Some might think these conditions are too harsh. Is there a better way to do this? Are there any other suggestions?

Survey Results: The 3 Most Respectable Filipinos

After almost a month of gathering responses on this small survey, I came to a realization that indeed answering the simple question is quite a task. Among the friends that I surveyed through SMS, many complained to me how hard to answer the question. Some promised to get back to me but hasn't up to now. Some even asked me back: "Are there any?" as if I am dumb or something, or "Why?" and "What for?" as if I am making life hard for them.

Also, some responded with jokes. One respondent include "Kris Aquino and James Yap". One even includes "Hope Centeno". One responded with "Marcos, MacArthur and Rizal". A lot answered their own names. Some include their mothers.

There is one person who said that the most respectable are the soldiers, the OFWs and the teachers. Of course, I cannot include them as I am only asking for the 3 most respectable individuals. But if we think about it, especially the soldiers, those people could indeed be the most respectable groups yet least appreciated.

And among those who answered seriously, many answered only 1 or 2 names. In terms of counting and naming respectability, 3, it seems, is a hard number to reach. Many of the answers also are unique (about a third). Of course it would have been different had this been a bigger survey. Surely though, it shows how different we see respectability is and who among Pinoys deserved to be included.

There are also basically two groups of people I surveyed: Those who are politically involved and those who has nothing to do with politics. Among those who are involved in politics, the leading answers they gave include Padaca and Panlilio - both surprise winners in the previous elections and non-traditional politicians. Meanwhile, for those not involved in politics, the people often mentioned are Former President Cory Aquino, Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Former Senator Jovito Salonga, and Cardinals Rosales and Vidal. Among the politically inclined however, many also included Aquino, Salonga and Puno in their responses that is why those three are the leading names. I wonder what the results would be had I asked the poor, who forms the majority of our population, the same question.

In any case, based on the few responses so far (more than 40 respondents), the 3 most respectable Filipinos alive today are as follows:

1. Former President Corazon Aquino (18%)
2. Senate President Jovito Salonga (8%)
3. Chief Justice Reynato Puno (6%)

(Note: If I receive more responses to the survey question, I will post the corresponding set of results. However, we should keep in mind that those new responses could be affected by this initial result. Of course, we have to keep in mind too that this is not a scientific survey and the results therefore are easily arguable. However, regardless of the results, I think this survey has succeeded in getting everyone thinking within ourselves who the leaders of our country at present are and what qualities do we all look for in our leaders.)

SURVEY: The 3 Most Respectable Filipinos

Lead Philippines is now conducting a small but serious survey... Lead Philippines asks:


It is amazing how hard it became to answer this question. In the few samples surveyed so far through SMS and e-mail, the results are:

• 50% did not answer at all

Meanwhile, of those who answered:

• more than 50% said they "do not have an answer"
• 20% gave 1 or 2 names each only
• 15% answered themselves or their family members
• Only 15% mentioned 3 names each...

The survey has become more of a challenge... Can you suggest the names of 3 of the most respectable Filipinos alive today?