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[Music]
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because it's also that the desire to
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improve
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or to accelerate economic growth has
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always been associated with
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uplifting the lives of people now if
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there's this basic assumption that if
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the economy grows
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if your gdp shows a positive growth no
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everyone is
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i know everyone benefits now but as you
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were talking about development
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industrialization or
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de-industrialization then i also was
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reflecting on agriculture now
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is there like an environmental cost
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that we are now paying for especially
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the porn
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the marginalized are they is there a
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cause in terms of
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the enviro of the environmental
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conditions
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no um in terms of climate change for
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example is this
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an issue that is related as well to
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economics
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um again let's be very a bit more
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specific to make it more
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manageable rice farmers rice farmers now
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are being squeezed on three fronts
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they're being squeezed on one front by
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climate change
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increasing temperatures actually affects
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crop growth it
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lower it tends to lower productivity so
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that's one pressure point
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lowering farmers tending to lower
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farmers incomes because it
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it's like a force of gravity dragging
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crop productivity down
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they also squeeze on a second front by
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expensive inputs
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because over the decades of going
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towards high yielding varieties
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you've had the soil bombarded with
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chemicals um
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you know fertilizers herbicides
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genetically
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they've been sort of bombarded with
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chemicals again affecting
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their nutrient capacity so that's why
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fertilizer is so important right now
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because the soil has been killed over
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decades
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you need more fertilizers to produce the
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same amount of
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um of of crops yield
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so you have two fronts now um increase
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in temperatures affecting productivity
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you have decreasing soil fertility um
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need to be compensated by expensive farm
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inputs
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so on the productivity side rice farmers
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are being squeezed
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on the third front they're now being
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squeezed by cheap prices for their
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products because of cheap competition
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from abroad
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so how are farmers affected right now
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because of
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a long-term lack of government attention
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to climate change
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because of an immediate problem of the
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government
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relying on chemical intensive farming
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driving their farmers expenses up and
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then
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the rice stabilization law driving
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farmers incomes down
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rice farmers on the losing end of all of
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that in the end they
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are bottom line they're earning less
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money now than they were before
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and again they're being driven off the
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land and they're not producing anymore
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with the two
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bad effects mentioned earlier as rice
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farmers as individuals at those
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filipinos
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they're going to go bankrupt and in
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terms of the philippine economy
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rice production is going to be much
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lower now we're going to be much more
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dependent on imported rice
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in the coming decades than we have been
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in the past decades
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that's an interesting point because you
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were mentioning on how
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climate change has contributed towards
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increasing poverty in the philippines
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lowering opportunities now and also i
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guess the more important question there
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is
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what is the government doing because you
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mentioned government
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neglect has been systematized now it's
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actually it's
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part of the institution itself but
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are there actual measures being
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undertaken because you mentioned the
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agricultural sector definitely
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um i'm guessing there's also an impact
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to the
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fisherfo to those in aquacultures
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aqua cultural production and i'm also
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guessing there is there an impact on the
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urban poor no
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so given all these things now is there
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government is there an
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an effort from the government because
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you're saying it impacts economy
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it impacts growth climate change
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is there are there any efforts by the
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government not to mitigate and perhaps
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hopefully
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a long-term plan towards addressing
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issues on climate change and the economy
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well of course the most obvious response
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to the hazards of climate change is when
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disasters can happen no calamities
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happen so i think
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improving people's capacity to respond
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to a natural disaster
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that's something where the government
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has had quite a lot of difficulty um
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i'm dealing with so again i think your
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land is quite fresh in our minds um
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the problematic response long-term
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response to yolanda with a lot of
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affected families still not having
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enough livelihoods right now still being
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not having not be able to return to
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their homes especially in the coastal
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areas
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i think that's that's a whole
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cluster of issues but i said i want to
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step back because from a long-term
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development perspective
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that notion that there is a problem with
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climate change
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has to be at the heart a lot of a lot of
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our decision making
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um to again to be very specific if we
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take to heart that climate change is
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happening
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if we take the heart that government
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decisions about
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policies affecting the power sector or
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the traffic
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situation matter to climate change then
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some
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difficult decisions will have to be made
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in terms of power for instance
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if you accept the climate change the
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problem if you accept fossil fuels worse
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than climate change
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the government should stop relying on
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coal plants
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but i think 70 to 75 percent of um
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new power coming online in the next five
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to ten years
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is still coming from coal plants so
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that's a problem there because
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they're not taking too hard climate
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change is a problem
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because they're actually going to be
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contributing to the problem they're
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still being overreliant on
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on fossil fuel power traffic
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it's so obvious if there's one major
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source of pollution
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in fernando's metro manila it's private
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vehicles
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what's the solution to that two things
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you improve the public transport
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system but also you lessen the private
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vehicles on the road
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not the buses a car that has like one or
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two
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people riding in it but what this is an
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oil guzzling suv
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an suv but the government is not
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addressing
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the individualized private mass
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privatized
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um private mass transport problem so
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if you look at those two just those two
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examples the fossil fuel dependent power
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and the trafficiation metro manila the
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government has made the policy choice
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it is scared to aggravate the welfare of
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the rich
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why cheap coal is very profitable
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for the energy firms energy firms
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want cheap coal the companies buying
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energy from coal plants want the cheap
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power
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the government has refused to step in
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and subsidize
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renewable energy because it's too
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expensive for them and it's not
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profitable
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either for the um private firm producing
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the coal
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we're going to make a quick buck in the
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next five years or for the
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downstream energy consumers will benefit
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the cheap
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the cheap power so the government there
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has taken the side of
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power producers and the power consumers
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industrial power consumers
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to say okay forget about the fossil
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fuel impact on climate change keep your
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profits
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let's do the the fossil fuel dependent
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power um power path
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in terms of mass transport it's so
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straightforward
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limit the number of private cars on the
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road but the government is so they're
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pussyfooting around
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all these wealthy suv owners that
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they're not actually doing anything
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to limit the number of private cars on
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the road because they didn't want to
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antagonize again
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the wealthy owners of the cars of course
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they're going to be middle classes
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but that's not their main interest and
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again
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that's a good i think for me a good
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example of how if you are going to be
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posted footing around the interests and
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profits of a few
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you will not be able to make the long
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term difficult choices that will benefit
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the many
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so i think that's you know two little
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sort of
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pocket examples of a wrong
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policy attitude to development policy in
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the country but are
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those because you're mentioning about
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you were talking about
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the government addressing these issues
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no aren't
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isn't the national budget a reflection
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of the government trying to address
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these issues for example
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i think um there's there has been an
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increase in the budget for
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education i think for a lot of the
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government agencies handling education
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there was an increase in their
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budget allocation isn't that a
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reflection of the government
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trying to address all these issues about
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poverty unemployment
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the environmental costs of development
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or
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exploiting natural resources isn't the
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isn't the government budget showing that
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um it's i think one-sided to just look
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at the
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size of the education budget as an
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indicator of the priority being given
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what's more important
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the size of the budget vis-a-vis the
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needs
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so yes it's true if you look at well
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actually debt servicing
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but if you look at the sectoral data of
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the budget education does
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take the biggest amount but that's
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we shouldn't celebrate the government
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doing what it's supposed to be doing
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and we shouldn't measure the priority
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given to education just in terms of how
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much of the budget is going there
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we should measure is the education
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budget enough
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for the needs of the student population
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um
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to take the budget for example there's
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about a hundred thousand backlog of
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schools right now
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um in public schools in the country the
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government budget for 2020
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i think only provides for 8 000 schools
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so you have a deficit of 98 92 000.
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so they'll give it a big number this is
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how much was
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in education okay so you're prioritizing
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it
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time out how much are needed we need a
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hundred thousand schools
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how much are you funding for just eight
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thousand
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that's the better measure of the
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priority being given to education
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if you're not filling up the backlogs
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it's a chronic
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school backlog classroom backlog teacher
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backlog
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teaching materials backlog that is your
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sign of how much parity the government
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is giving to education and i think if
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you unpack
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not just education budget even the
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health budget the housing budget
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you will see that beyond these seemingly
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impressive big numbers
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it is still grossly insufficient for the
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needs of the population
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and again it's a chicken and egg they'll
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say yeah but we don't have enough money
00:11:00
and we would argue you know why you
00:11:01
don't have enough money
00:11:03
because you're cutting taxes on the rich
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you're cutting taxes on wealthy families
00:11:07
who are paying less personal income tax
00:11:08
less estate tax less donors tax
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now you want to cut the taxes paid by
00:11:14
large corporations 75
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of corporate income taxes paid with
00:11:17
large corporations you want to cut that
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it doesn't make sense the government
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can't complain that it doesn't have
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resources
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if it's making the policy choice to
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liberate the rich
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and big corporations from paying higher
00:11:29
taxes and if anything
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under the guise of competitiveness
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lowering those taxes
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so you know there actually is a bizarre
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logic
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operating here the government is unduly
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bias towards
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um the wealthiest sectors of society
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and just sort of in a way being a bit
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deceitful to the needs
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um to meeting the needs of the majority
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that's an excellent point because now
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you're saying that
00:11:55
there's a crisis ongoing because of that
00:11:57
particular political choice
00:11:59
to favor the rich over the poor are
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there like tangible
00:12:03
visible consequences of this notion that
00:12:06
the rich should have should be entitled
00:12:08
to more and the poor should have less
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now
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because at the at present if we're
00:12:12
following this train of logic
00:12:14
that you know uh that the rich get
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richer the poor get poorer you know
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aren't there consequences in terms of uh
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you know like um
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crime rates drug abuse no isn't there a
00:12:26
correlation between poverty and those
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um factors that are impacting society
00:12:30
today
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you know i think there are huge
00:12:32
implications um
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if we sort of want to profile philippine
00:12:37
society right now
00:12:38
it's hugely unequal um looking beyond
00:12:41
these
00:12:42
super low poverty lines that the
00:12:44
government is setting if the government
00:12:45
have 70 pesos a day you're no longer
00:12:47
poor that's that's too low
00:12:50
if you look at income levels half the
00:12:53
filipino families about 11 to 12 million
00:12:55
filipino families
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they're trying to survive on 15 000
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pesos
00:13:00
or much less the poorest families have
00:13:02
nothing to three thousand pairs a month
00:13:04
so half the philippine population
00:13:08
is struggling on family income of 15 000
00:13:11
pesos earliest
00:13:12
on the other hand you have maybe the
00:13:14
richest two two and a half
00:13:16
percent of the population with incomes
00:13:18
reaching
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15 16 17 million pesos a month so it's a
00:13:22
huge inequality
00:13:24
huge concentration of wealth on the top
00:13:26
huge gaps in terms of incomes on the
00:13:28
bottom
00:13:29
what does that create in terms of our
00:13:31
society well
00:13:33
if people are desperate they will be
00:13:35
driven to find
00:13:36
their own means to to to become
00:13:38
wealthier so i think a lot of the petty
00:13:40
crime
00:13:41
comes from people at the bottom not
00:13:43
having enough i mean i think
00:13:44
i think this article of faith people
00:13:46
would not be criminals
00:13:48
if they didn't have to i mean you can do
00:13:50
it on a bell curve
00:13:51
there may be some residues who really
00:13:53
want the adrenaline rush but i think
00:13:55
as a whole i'm i'm a believer that most
00:13:58
people especially predict criminals
00:13:59
they're delivered to that out of
00:14:01
desperation or perhaps you can assume
00:14:02
that impoverished people
00:14:04
if they commit crimes it's crime so
00:14:06
they're crimes of necessity rather than
00:14:08
yeah
00:14:08
so they're compelled by family
00:14:10
circumstances you know
00:14:11
not having enough table any food on the
00:14:14
table a sick family member i i'm
00:14:16
kind of sure that a lot of the petty
00:14:18
crimes at the lowest level are driven by
00:14:21
executive but driven by necessity so how
00:14:23
do you solve that
00:14:24
of course over the long term i think a
00:14:26
more stable society with more jobs
00:14:29
more decent incomes proper social
00:14:31
services
00:14:32
they'll take away that compulsion that
00:14:35
social
00:14:36
necessity to be driven to crime
00:14:39
because you know because people are
00:14:41
better off saying there's a direct
00:14:43
there's a debt correlation i believe
00:14:44
between the over level of economic
00:14:46
development
00:14:47
and the crime rate especially at the
00:14:49
betty and the petty crime level
00:14:51
second problem that concentration of
00:14:53
wealth actually also creates the
00:14:55
conditions
00:14:55
for criminality at those levels
00:14:59
why because i think there's a tendency
00:15:01
towards abuse of power
00:15:03
we have untransparent governance if we
00:15:05
have
00:15:06
too much discretion being given to a few
00:15:08
people
00:15:09
in in key government um positions
00:15:13
i think the tendency is you will be
00:15:14
unleashing this
00:15:16
unfortunate profit-driven motive or
00:15:18
wealth seeking motive of a few
00:15:20
and if there are no institutional checks
00:15:22
on that corruption
00:15:24
either transparency and accountability
00:15:25
of of government officials
00:15:28
regulation of profit seeking of
00:15:29
corporations i think that
00:15:31
sort of desire by a few who are in power
00:15:34
to enrich themselves even more
00:15:36
will be given much greater play so again
00:15:39
i i also believe that
00:15:40
we have to sort out for a more stable
00:15:42
economy not just the inequality
00:15:45
lift people up so there's no compulsion
00:15:48
for crimes of necessity
00:15:49
but also part of development have
00:15:52
institutions
00:15:53
political institutions and economic
00:15:55
regulatory mechanisms
00:15:57
to reign in which i think is a big
00:16:00
problem
00:16:00
training high-level corruption in
00:16:03
high-level corporate crime which is
00:16:04
happening
00:16:05
i think right now i think you know
00:16:06
there's so many stories about
00:16:09
the biggest land grabbers in the country
00:16:11
it's not the poor land grabbers
00:16:12
it's the rich foreign grabbers why did
00:16:15
they get away with it
00:16:16
because there's an accommodating
00:16:17
government official
00:16:19
giving legitimacy to their land so i
00:16:22
think
00:16:22
we have to address that high level
00:16:24
criminality as well because i was
00:16:26
thinking about the military spending and
00:16:27
military budget
00:16:28
and i was also reflecting on because
00:16:31
there's this assumption or there's this
00:16:33
claim by the government that crime has
00:16:34
been increasing which is i think
00:16:35
contradictory because they're saying
00:16:37
there's development then there should be
00:16:38
lower crime
00:16:40
i was thinking about why why is the
00:16:42
government spending highly on military
00:16:45
on its military budget because i think
00:16:47
recently there has been an increase in
00:16:48
the surveillance budget of the various
00:16:50
institutions now and then you also have
00:16:53
it's a very
00:16:54
i think a very convoluted way of looking
00:16:55
at it you have an increase in the
00:16:57
military budget
00:16:58
then you have the anti um
00:17:01
the anti-drugs campaign which has
00:17:04
targeted i think mostly the poor
00:17:06
and then you have the crackdown on the
00:17:08
leftists
00:17:09
on the people on dissent specifically
00:17:12
although the more common poster child
00:17:14
for this would be the left now
00:17:15
i was thinking how is this all related
00:17:17
to what you're saying about inequitable
00:17:19
distribution of wealth
00:17:20
and the government refusing to address
00:17:22
these issues because
00:17:24
you're also you were also mentioning the
00:17:25
government doesn't have budget no
00:17:27
why wouldn't it be wouldn't it be
00:17:28
prudent to transfer some of the
00:17:30
govern of the funding from ensuring
00:17:33
peace and order and transferring it to
00:17:35
development or human development um
00:17:39
well for me you know it's so easy to get
00:17:41
sucked into the awfulness of the
00:17:43
situation
00:17:44
i mean that is so depressing um so for
00:17:46
me it might be defense mechanism
00:17:48
i'd like to step back from what's
00:17:51
specifically happening under
00:17:52
the administration look at it in a
00:17:54
longer continuum of social development
00:17:58
the way i get sanity out of that is
00:18:00
unfortunately what's happening right now
00:18:01
is
00:18:02
we have an economy and a society and a
00:18:04
polity
00:18:05
that for decades has become more and
00:18:07
more unequal
00:18:08
it's created deep poverty it's
00:18:11
aggravated and worsened inequality
00:18:13
in the economy including also capture of
00:18:16
political institutions
00:18:18
so i think that's been happening over
00:18:19
the last four decades right now
00:18:21
ironically since the return of democracy
00:18:23
um post-marcos the post-market
00:18:25
dictatorship
00:18:26
i think that worsening trend towards
00:18:28
economic and democracy
00:18:30
and political and democracy it's created
00:18:32
conditions for people to complain
00:18:34
and that's why i again as i work in the
00:18:37
nonprofit sector
00:18:38
we welcome and in all forms of
00:18:40
resistance to
00:18:42
poverty inequality or development
00:18:44
because if
00:18:45
the grassroots sectors if people's
00:18:47
organizations from the basic sectors
00:18:48
aren't making noise
00:18:50
it won't fix itself it's not as
00:18:52
self-regulation means self-regulation
00:18:53
for the wealthy for the powerful so for
00:18:55
us
00:18:56
the four decades of increasing poverty
00:18:58
inequality and development
00:19:00
has gained the conditions for
00:19:01
strengthening movements outside of
00:19:03
government
00:19:04
to shatter that elite hold over over
00:19:07
society
00:19:08
so that gives me sanity to see what's
00:19:10
happening now because
00:19:11
it seems that what's happening with the
00:19:13
administration this upsurge of
00:19:15
opposition to that
00:19:17
unjust inequitable system the system is
00:19:19
fighting back
00:19:21
specifically the elite dominated system
00:19:23
is fighting back
00:19:24
because the gov the third administration
00:19:26
is implementing even worse free market
00:19:28
policies it even wants to change
00:19:30
the philippine constitution to
00:19:32
completely
00:19:33
shift to um a new liberal um economic
00:19:36
policy regime
00:19:38
so i think it's oppositional um because
00:19:41
there's such an upsurge of protest
00:19:43
against injustice inequity
00:19:46
the system wants to become even more
00:19:49
unjust inequitable the way to do that
00:19:52
you put down the forces for
00:19:53
for change and i think increasing budget
00:19:56
for the military increasing budget for
00:19:57
the police
00:19:58
that's in a way it's a fascist trend to
00:20:01
suppress
00:20:02
those opposed change in the system of
00:20:04
course it's a packaged as
00:20:06
anti-crime is in order but the question
00:20:08
is
00:20:09
piece for whom order for whom i think in
00:20:11
the long-term perspective what we're
00:20:13
seeing right now is
00:20:14
we're seeing a system creating a more
00:20:16
peaceful and orderly
00:20:18
society to preserve the wealth
00:20:20
privileges
00:20:21
of the rich which is a long-term problem
00:20:24
because that means preserving or even
00:20:26
worsening injustice inequity
00:20:28
in philippine society so for us it's
00:20:29
such a huge challenge right now
00:20:32
i think we have to look at the sort of
00:20:34
long-term trajectory because
00:20:36
it won't change overnight um and if
00:20:38
people expect that
00:20:39
you will oppose it now the changes
00:20:40
overnight it's a recipe for
00:20:43
um demoralization and despair i think
00:20:45
it's happening over the long term our
00:20:48
change time frame should also be over
00:20:51
the long term
00:20:52
we should invest now i think for that
00:20:54
because that's a very interesting point
00:20:55
because you were talking about how
00:20:57
this is actually part of this it's not
00:21:01
surprising no it's not um it's not
00:21:03
surprising that
00:21:04
conditions have uh been on a downtrend
00:21:06
because that's how the system was
00:21:08
designed in the first place now
00:21:09
but the underlying question there is if
00:21:12
there is extreme poverty
00:21:13
if there is joblessness if there is if
00:21:16
we're in a crisis so to speak an
00:21:17
economic crisis
00:21:18
that has led to the impoverishment and
00:21:20
even death of
00:21:22
of countless philippines no how come
00:21:24
duterte is very
00:21:25
popular among the poor and the
00:21:27
marginalized because
00:21:28
what the government is saying recent
00:21:30
surveys have actually shown that there
00:21:31
is complete and utter faith no
00:21:33
in duterte's policy in the deterrent
00:21:35
economics framework no
00:21:36
in the duterte policies of ensuring um
00:21:40
not just social order but also um
00:21:42
industrial growth
00:21:44
um i i think that the equate popularity
00:21:47
with correctness is
00:21:49
a bit of a problem um popularity is a
00:21:51
subjective notion
00:21:52
um so i think just because first i'm not
00:21:55
buying into the service entirely but
00:21:57
again for the sake of argument
00:21:59
if you believe the surveys 80 i think 75
00:22:02
80 percent
00:22:02
support duterte um that does not
00:22:06
at all show that duterte is doing
00:22:09
something correct that is not at all
00:22:11
established the government economic
00:22:12
policies correct
00:22:14
at most it will show 75 to 80 percent of
00:22:16
people
00:22:17
believe what the government is doing is
00:22:19
correct but i think
00:22:20
that that's where the challenge is for
00:22:22
us um what do we use as a framework for
00:22:24
assessing administration
00:22:26
do we go the ultra-democratic way it's
00:22:27
about a popular it's a popularity
00:22:29
contest
00:22:30
what's popular is therefore correct
00:22:33
we disagree for us what is correct is an
00:22:36
economy
00:22:37
creating enough jobs creating enough
00:22:39
incomes for the majority
00:22:41
an economy where the poor don't have to
00:22:43
worry about their health care their
00:22:45
schooling
00:22:46
up at the tertiary level or their
00:22:48
housing an economy where there is
00:22:50
genuine peace or in the community not a
00:22:52
piece of the grave
00:22:53
but because their solidarity is a
00:22:55
harmonious community because
00:22:57
people respect each other and for us on
00:22:59
those three parameters of
00:23:00
what we feel are our important
00:23:02
development metrics
00:23:04
the credit administration is
00:23:06
unfortunately continuing the trend of
00:23:07
past administrations
00:23:09
joblessness is getting worse even if
00:23:11
it's disguised incomes are actually
00:23:13
getting
00:23:13
um even more unequal despite glorifying
00:23:16
so many billionaires landing in the
00:23:18
forbes list
00:23:19
that's even a sign of further inequality
00:23:21
actually that's
00:23:22
that's a bit of take on that that's not
00:23:24
a good thing that shows how
00:23:26
where is that wealth coming from why
00:23:27
this is not why did it not go to the
00:23:30
majority instead and again we have to
00:23:33
unpack
00:23:33
the the free tuition that covers that's
00:23:36
a good step
00:23:37
but it only covers half the tertiary
00:23:39
amsterdam population
00:23:40
universal healthcare it seems like it's
00:23:43
good but it's buying into a privatized
00:23:45
expensive private sector driven health
00:23:48
framework
00:23:49
and of course peace and order we
00:23:50
completely disagree we have to believe
00:23:52
in
00:23:53
the importance of um people's
00:23:55
mobilizations of democratic institutions
00:23:58
beyond what the government says is
00:23:59
correct the government wants sort of
00:24:01
people to be like mind this lemmings
00:24:03
following authority
00:24:05
i think that's not a decent conception
00:24:06
of democracy and even if
00:24:08
75 to 80 percent of people survey say
00:24:11
believe that
00:24:12
that might be because the government has
00:24:14
such control over the
00:24:16
public propaganda system it is such a
00:24:19
good spokesperson by duterte who seems
00:24:21
authentic who comes across as you know
00:24:24
my heart is for the poor despite um
00:24:26
clear evidence of the contrary i think
00:24:28
if anything
00:24:29
if that's 75 to 80 it's true it's more
00:24:32
to the credit of the government's
00:24:34
propaganda
00:24:36
disinformation machinery more than
00:24:38
really reflecting the government is on
00:24:40
the right path
00:24:42
that's a good point because now you're
00:24:43
talking about an alternative framework
00:24:45
not
00:24:46
an alternative perspective towards
00:24:47
development what needs to be done
00:24:49
but if the government seems to have
00:24:51
deficiencies in terms of
00:24:53
addressing those frameworks the natural
00:24:55
burden of course the burden would now
00:24:57
shift to
00:24:58
society to address these particular
00:25:00
issues now bearing on
00:25:01
that's the problem now you have poverty
00:25:04
you have on the other you have on the
00:25:06
other hand on one aspect poverty
00:25:08
you have on the other um an increasing
00:25:11
control of the government over
00:25:13
media propaganda and then you also have
00:25:16
a crackdown on dissent now
00:25:18
what how would social movements in
00:25:20
particular how would the people risk
00:25:22
how could they adapt or address these
00:25:24
particular challenges
00:25:27
first i think it's important not to
00:25:29
treat the government homogenously
00:25:31
um our group even foundation works very
00:25:33
closely with a lot of levels of the
00:25:35
government bureaucracy
00:25:36
and if you say they're about maybe one
00:25:39
one and a half that most two million
00:25:41
government
00:25:43
employees and officials we don't need
00:25:45
them homogeneously
00:25:47
our problem is not the one and a half to
00:25:48
two million government machinery our
00:25:51
problem is maybe the few
00:25:53
tens of thousands of elite thinking
00:25:56
government officials so that's the
00:25:57
problem because they're
00:25:58
actually in power they're the ones who
00:25:59
want well of course
00:26:02
long discussion about how how should you
00:26:05
know um
00:26:05
of uh liberal notion of democratic
00:26:09
elections how should it operate and it's
00:26:10
a
00:26:10
that's not really it but a very messy
00:26:12
discussion yeah but first off
00:26:14
i want to sort of say outright we don't
00:26:16
believe the government as whole is the
00:26:17
problem
00:26:18
we believe the overwhelming majority of
00:26:20
government bureaucrats
00:26:22
employees are right thinking decent
00:26:25
filipinos
00:26:25
our problem is those setting policy
00:26:28
okay so we have to be clear on that and
00:26:31
that is actually what gives us
00:26:32
confidence that
00:26:34
within the government bureaucracy most i
00:26:36
think
00:26:37
will just follow what what the
00:26:40
institution tells them because you're an
00:26:42
employee
00:26:42
if you don't behave you're thrown out of
00:26:44
a job so you're kind of in a way
00:26:47
um caught held by the neck so i think
00:26:49
they're not the problem the problem is
00:26:50
the few
00:26:52
second second point we do believe in
00:26:54
democracy coming from the ground and
00:26:55
from the outside
00:26:57
if it comes from educating people more
00:26:59
about what's happening
00:27:01
we have to address government propaganda
00:27:03
the train law
00:27:04
huge propaganda 99 of filipino houses
00:27:07
benefiting that is wrong
00:27:08
but the government used their platforms
00:27:11
to
00:27:12
propagate that they bought media outfits
00:27:14
to propagate that
00:27:16
they were buying for public forum space
00:27:19
to propagate that so for us education is
00:27:21
so important
00:27:22
so we think out of the 110 million
00:27:25
filipino population right now
00:27:27
huge change for social movements combat
00:27:30
government propaganda
00:27:31
with facts and then get let people just
00:27:35
start thinking that yeah maybe things
00:27:37
aren't the way the government is saying
00:27:39
second step we have to make our voices
00:27:41
sorry we have to organize and
00:27:43
that that takes time and again going
00:27:45
back to the early discussion
00:27:46
in a way it's a backhanded compliment to
00:27:48
social movements that the government is
00:27:50
cracking down
00:27:51
because if you're not a threat they
00:27:53
won't do this you're not
00:27:55
sort of shaking things up or being a
00:27:57
sort of uh um
00:28:00
for change they just ignore you so for
00:28:03
us
00:28:03
i think it actually affirms we have
00:28:05
gotten somewhere
00:28:06
huge we're facing huge difficulties but
00:28:09
this affirmation if we reach out to
00:28:10
enough people
00:28:12
they will organize themselves they will
00:28:13
mobilize for what they believe in
00:28:16
we're being challenged right now by a
00:28:18
you know very authoritarian regime
00:28:19
let's just fight back let's just keep on
00:28:21
pushing based on facts
00:28:23
let's keep them pushing based on what we
00:28:24
believe is correct just keep on pushing
00:28:26
despite
00:28:27
being being attacked physically being
00:28:30
threatened
00:28:31
you know um and trying to be put down
00:28:34
and our
00:28:34
our faith is that beyond duterte
00:28:37
is going to go away authoritarian regime
00:28:39
another one might succeed duterte
00:28:41
but one thing that will never go away
00:28:43
people will want to improve their lives
00:28:45
and as long as people realize
00:28:47
an elite dominated economy in political
00:28:49
system will not improve your life
00:28:51
that's a fact as long as that's a fact
00:28:53
people will always rise up against that
00:28:55
system
00:28:56
thank you very much sunny so again it's
00:28:58
as if it's as if
00:29:00
the message really here is that it
00:29:03
one cannot really just rely on the
00:29:05
system and the government to address
00:29:07
these economic
00:29:08
the consequences of economics or the
00:29:11
economic
00:29:12
policy no there's also a substantial
00:29:14
shall we say
00:29:15
resp or there's a sort of like a
00:29:18
responsibility among its citizenry
00:29:20
to actually address these issues thank
00:29:23
you for challenging
00:29:24
challenging challenging those very
00:29:25
individualistic notions of
00:29:27
no no we're part of the system so i
00:29:29
think
00:29:30
it's as simple as that it's not just an
00:29:32
enemy
00:29:34
there's a system that we're part of and
00:29:36
we can change that because we're part of
00:29:38
the system and i think
00:29:39
it's that sort of notion that we can do
00:29:41
something
00:29:42
we have to hold on to that we should not
00:29:44
believe that
00:29:45
the market is everything we have to
00:29:46
succumb to that we have to resist that
00:29:49
we cannot believe that what the
00:29:50
government says is correct he's in order
00:29:53
we have to resist that and i think once
00:29:54
we have the point of conversion that we
00:29:56
can do something because we're part of
00:29:58
the system
00:29:59
i think that sets in motion a process it
00:30:01
won't be overnight
00:30:02
but it sets in motion a process that
00:30:04
will have i think a happy ending
00:30:05
[Music]
00:30:07
from now sometimes yeah because there's
00:30:09
always this hope now that
00:30:10
you know um even through crisis as long
00:30:14
as people respond
00:30:15
and it's a long-term project obviously
00:30:17
you know even this rise of populism
00:30:19
it is a consequence of a historical
00:30:21
process now about
00:30:22
of of how people eventually became they
00:30:25
felt disempowered because of their lack
00:30:27
of political social uh political
00:30:29
economic power
00:30:29
and then they're suddenly resorting to
00:30:32
you know
00:30:32
they're grasping at straw so because out
00:30:35
of desperation
00:30:37
i think it's a populist moment um i
00:30:40
i completely believe people society as a
00:30:44
whole
00:30:44
knows what's best for them um i think
00:30:47
this particular populist moment was um
00:30:50
wrong thinking elite individuals
00:30:52
exploiting people's frustrations
00:30:54
but i think it's a moment because we
00:30:56
will learn
00:30:58
knowledge is cumulative knowledge is
00:31:00
never
00:31:01
going to go backward to the dark ages i
00:31:03
think as long as we
00:31:05
believe that knowledge is always
00:31:07
cumulative that we will always keep
00:31:08
learning
00:31:09
we will learn to go beyond these
00:31:11
populist moments authoritarian regimes
00:31:13
we will build a better society
00:31:14
and humanity will is learning
00:31:18
humanity will improve maybe not in your
00:31:20
lifetime maybe in my lifetime
00:31:23
so thank you very much very critical
00:31:25
points perhaps
00:31:26
we've already discussed it but just to
00:31:27
reiterate do you have any final words
00:31:29
regarding
00:31:30
you know the state of the country and of
00:31:32
course a call for perhaps for people to
00:31:34
participate in
00:31:35
activities maybe ebon's activities now
00:31:38
regarding these
00:31:39
issues i think right now ebon we're just
00:31:41
a small ngo
00:31:43
but we're very very fact-based so i
00:31:44
think i would exhort especially
00:31:46
people in the academe the youth let's
00:31:49
hold on to our facts um
00:31:50
unfortunately i don't want to say this
00:31:52
but i'm going to say it unfortunately
00:31:53
the government is telling us
00:31:55
willingly on truths they're lying so i
00:31:58
think
00:31:59
our main responsibility right now let's
00:32:01
interrogate everything the government
00:32:02
says
00:32:03
a lot of it is true it's not completely
00:32:05
untrue but some key points of analysis
00:32:08
and facts are actually untrue so i would
00:32:10
export people
00:32:11
keep asking don't take things for at
00:32:14
face value
00:32:15
ebon we have our website wwebin.org we
00:32:19
have frequent forums
00:32:21
engage us if we're wrong we'll correct
00:32:23
it because like i said
00:32:25
we believe knowledge is cumulative as
00:32:27
long as people know what's happening
00:32:28
they will act for them better so for us
00:32:31
it's just not right now
00:32:32
we're in a particular moment where it's
00:32:34
a government of untruth let's just keep
00:32:36
on challenging government on truths
00:32:38
believe the true things they say
00:32:40
question the untruths they say
00:32:42
thank you very much sarina so just to
00:32:44
conclude no um
00:32:45
there's this popular saying seek truth
00:32:47
from facts no
00:32:49
and inevitably you know we will always
00:32:51
be confronted with
00:32:53
information that needs to be unpacked
00:32:56
analyzed and then later on even after
00:32:58
this process
00:32:59
it needs to be further questioned
00:33:01
economic data and even perceptions on
00:33:04
poverty
00:33:04
they need to be challenged because
00:33:06
otherwise
00:33:08
society will be unable to move forward
00:33:10
if we keep accepting
00:33:12
manufactured and unchallenged
00:33:14
perceptions and information
00:33:16
so thank you very much for watching this
00:33:18
session of the public intellectual
00:33:19
lecture series i am leo for the
00:33:21
from the interdisciplinary studies
00:33:22
department good day
00:33:39
[Music]
00:33:45
[Music]
00:33:48
you
