OPINION BY YEN MAKABENTA: A STRATEGIC VIEW OF THE NEW DECADE
MANILA, JANUARY 4, 2011 (MANILA TIMES) By Yen Makabenta - At the crack of midnight on December 31, we entered not only the new year of 2011, but a new decade—the decade of the tens (2011 to 2020).
For reasons more than just marking time, the advent of this new decade is for the Philippines a time of challenge and opportunity. What historians call "an open moment." 10 years hence, on March 16, 2021, the world will be marking the quincentenary (quincentennial) of Ferdinand Magellan's epic crossing of the Pacific Ocean and his discovery of our archipelago in 1521. Simultaneously, we and all Christendom will celebrate the quincentenary of the Christianization of the Philippines, which led to our becoming the only Christian nation in the Far East.
In the annals of world history, Magellan's voyage is celebrated as the greatest feat in the Age of Exploration and Discovery during the Renaissance, greater than Columbus's voyage to America. His discovery of the Strait of Magellan in South America and crossing of the Pacific are unrivalled achievements. And his discovery of our archipelago completed the map of the world. Until he touched land in Homonhon island in Samar, the full contours of the world (the longitudes and latitudes) were still unknown and incomplete.
1521 marked our entry into world history, Henceforth, our land was to be known to the world as the Philippine islands. And so it has been for nearly 500 years now.
This forthcoming milestone adds a critical dimension to our national life and history in this new decade. For the nation as a whole—for government, the private sector and all sectors of society—this should be a time for planning strategically. It should be, at the very least, a time for setting a higher bar for the nation to accomplish, for setting higher goals for us to achieve collectively. Our resolutions must be set not just for one year, but for an entire decade. They cannot be just the usual resolves we consecrate ourselves to at the start of a new year. This time, they must reflect the nation we aspire to be in 2021.
Resolutions for the decade Jose Rizal, at the turn of the 19th century, defined the national vision in his prescient essay, "The Philippines A Century Hence." We in our own day must define our own strategic vision of the nation we want to be at this quincentenary.
That vision must flow from the purpose of government, the social sectors, and above all from the millions who constitute the nation today. Each and all of us have our own pet hopes and aspirations for the national future.
From my own little corner, these, at the minimum, are my hopes for our country and our people.
I hope, first of all, for peace and security to finally reign over our land. I hope that by 2021 we will see at last the end of the 42-year-old communist insurgency and the protracted secessionist rebellion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the South. I hope that all rebel and disaffected groups—including the Abu Sayyaf—will find their way to forging a separate peace with our government and the rest of the nation. From now until the quincentenary, we should strive to become a truly national community in which all members, regardless of creed, race and station in life, are truly brothers and sisters to one another.
Second, I hope that during this decade our country will finally begin to fulfill its economic potential as the 12th most populous nation in the world, one blessed with abundant natural resources and a gifted and talented people. With judicious and farsighted planning, our fast emerging economy should begin to register sustained high growth and lift the great majority of our millions out of poverty.
Third, I hope to see our county stand as a respected member of the family of nations, respected for its important contribution to world advancement and progress. I hope our nation will be regarded as a leader in its own right. I envision our republic to be respected and valued for its friendship and cooperation
Fourth, I hope to see our country and our people to finally attain its abiding aspiration to be a truly free, democratic and progressive society. Here where parliamentary democracy was first established in Asia, and where People Power first found a voice and victory, the world will yet find more experiences and ideas to share in.
Fifth and finally, I hope to see in 2021 our country evolve into a model of religious tolerance, where the great majority of citizens are people of faith who respect and honor one another. When we mark 500 years of Christianity in our land, let us hope that we will also see the flowering of true ecumenism among the different religions—of Islam, Christianity—in our country. Faith has always had a strong place in our national life, and so I hope it should ever be.
A signal opportunity for leadership This dawning milestone vests in President Aquino and his administration a signal opportunity to make a great difference in the panorama of national history, if it can use the balance of its term as a time of truly great reform and building of the ramparts of a dynamic and progressive society.
By happenstance, President Aquino's remaining years in office from 2011 to 2016 will coincide with the first half of the new decade. If it can create a compelling roadmap which the entire nation can follow, and which a friendly world and international community can support, there is no telling how much it can contribute to national strengthening. This task of leadership is not for the President alone to discharge. It falls just as surely on the two other branches of government, and all the members of his administration.
It is striking, to say the least that two work ethics prevail in the administration today. There are some Cabinet members, who like Justice Secretary Leila de Lime are always in the spotlight and have something to say on everything. And there are those who, like Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who have made themselves virtually invisible. The other day, I heard someone ask whether the Philippine republic has a defense secretary or minister, by way of commenting on all the extravagant statements from the CPP-NPA in the South, which suggested that they have their own republic there.
In reply to this blatant display, the best that the government could muster were some lame statements from the press office and the chief negotiator in the coming peace talks. The look of cluelessness shows our country in the worst way before the world. The more we allow the CPP-NPA, the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf to strut and do their thing, the more the world is reminded that we are one of a few countries in the world still hostage to communist insurgency and rebellion.
And yet, a great part of the national budget is expended yearly on fighting the challenge of insurgency and rebellion. Forty-two years since they started dancing, the two sides are still locked in the same dance.
The sense of undertakings never coming to closure is surely one of the indelible marks of the recent history of the republic. To this day, we are still debating the same old issues—the menace of jueteng, artificial contraception and national demographics, the recovery of Marcos wealth, the prosecution of grafters in government, the need to bring the 1987 Constitution up go date with the needs of the nation today.
This challenging new decade should make us sit up and focus better on what really has to be done.
In five years, the presidency of President Aquino, unequalled perhaps in mandate and opportunity in recent history, will be over. The opportunities of today could be gone.
Before we know it, we will be in the throes again of another presidential election, whose victor will preside over the final five years leading to the quincentenary.
And then before we can fully count to 10, 2021 will be upon us. 500 years of history will be washing upon the face of our nation. The world's attention will be riveted on us once again—as surely as when the news of Magellan's discovery was first known in Europe, or when the United States chose to carve her empire on our shores, and when People Power first struck its blow in EDSA. "History," William Faulkner memorably wrote, "is not was, it's is."
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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