There’s a side of me that can’t help but be amused at the sprouting of various movements and campaigns for change. We all heard about the Ako Mismo campaign, which stirred some controversy because of alleged phishing activities. I’m sure we can expect more groups with similar initiatives to come out in the next 12 months.
I’m a little cynical of such movements and campaigns. They strike me as mere marketing experiments that were launched because “uso na naman ang pagasa.” They are also too idealistic in their approach. This is clearly the case with Ako Mismo. Its only goal is to inspire others to start change from within themselves, which in itself is a useless motherhood idea.
As I’ve been saying all along in this blog, even if all ordinary Filipinos change and start paying correct taxes or refrain from offering bribes, government corruption will continue to be a problem. It’s common sense. Why expect government corruption to stop when the flaws in the system that allow for corruption to persist are not addressed directly? It’s idiotic to assume that calls for change will even make an impression on the corrupt men and women of government. I even doubt it if such generalized overly idealistic calls would truly spur action from the citizenry. I can bet you though that many a Starbucks-drinking-social-climbing-fashionista will sign up with Ako Mismo just so they could get their hands on those sleek dog tags. Credit goes to the power of fashion.
My amusement aside, I recognize that there is some good in this surge of change initiatives. At the very least, it creates enough noise to call the general public’s attention to the fact that elections are forthcoming and the need for everyone to be more aware of all the relevant political issues.
I just hope other groups planning to come out with change initiatives in the future would at least be more creative and not take the generalized, motherhood approach like what Ako Mismo did.
One group that appears to be on the right track is the ChangePolitics Movement of which former social welfare secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman is a mover. There are a few things about this group that I like. First, I like that it is focusing on putting a stop to vote-buying. Second, I like that it it intends to do real work. The movement reportedly plans to deploy people to the various communities where vote-buying is a real problem to educate concerned residents.
But the biggest thing about ChangePolitics Movement that I like is its focus on the grassroots, the masa. By targeting this demographic, ChangePolitics will be able to bring about real change in the electoral system. This is quite obvious considering the fact that majority of voters in the Philippines belong to the masa. (more on demographics and elections later)
I only hope the people behind ChangePolitics will not turn out to be opportunists out to use the movement for their own gain.
Did you read about Ako Mismo being a trojan horse of some sort? There is an e-mail going around and I’ve received it. It basically alleges that Ako Mismo is a sneaky way of getting voter information to the point where they can text and send mail to the people who sign up.
I’ll forward you the e-mail but I think it has already made its way to the newspapers.
Anyway, as for Dinky Soliman, I just don’t trust her.
Besids that, think about the task they’ve set up for themselves. There are over 80,000 voters precincts or over 40,000 barangays nationwide, do they even have the numbers and the money to mount such an intensive education campaign. Another thing is, granting that they could, how effective would it be?
I can just imagine Dinky or one of their people going up to Manong Basurero (the guy who gets our garbage) and telling him not to sell his vote. Manong Basurero is the type who’d do anything for a couple bottles of ESQ or Gin and to him, the prospect that someone would actually pay him for his vote (something he really doesn’t care about).
Then again, out of the 10 they’d talk “educate”, perhaps 1 or 2 would actually be converted to their way of thinking.
[Reply]
lpgd Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 9:35 am
i understand your pain. i, too, don’t trust soliman. come to think of it, i don’t trust any politician or political personality.
i just find their idea for changepolitics movement way way better than ako mismo. at least, their idea covers a specific goal and is not just another motherhood, feel-good, marketing gimmick.
[Reply]
this is a nice move by ms. soliman and the rest of the prime-movers of changepolitcs, however i see a slight defect on the strategies used by them. the campaign seemed to focus only the metropolitan area and other highly urbanized zones; the way i look at it, people from these places are already “hardcore” voters and in someway “civilized” already in the vote-buying system…they can no longer be “victims” of the system. i am from mindanao and like other vulnerable regions and provinces, the campaign should take root on these grasslands because people in these places can easily be wooed by money. incredibly, i can see that the system is still effective despite media campaign e.g televisions and radios against vote buying because the message didn’t effectively soaked into the recipient. i beg the peoplee behind the changepolitics movement to go down deeper and reach out the grassroots, they too are world-changing factors, please don’t count them out…please…
[Reply]
lpgd Reply:
May 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
thanks for visiting. the movement should really expand its coverage to include even those in the remotest barangays.
[Reply]