TO GET THE PHILIPPINES OUT OF THE MESS IT IS IN THROUGH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DISCIPLINE, GOOD GOVERNANCE, EDUCATION, AND NATIONAL UNITY.
It is said that we do not need to produce any more laws — we have enough of them already. The problem is simply on the implementation. I beg to disagree. We are lacking so many crucial laws and policies because what we have right now are laws with no fangs, no balls. We have a death penalty law, but as soon as some death convicts are to be executed, the law was abolished. We were able to oust Estrada, and even able to charge and convict him criminally, but when the Department of Justice was about to execute the penalty (imprisonment), he was pardoned. What the–!!!
We cannot move on to becoming a developed country with these kinds of people, law, and institutions. We need some drastic changes in our system. I am humbly proposing a five-point agenda on how to make Philippines a great country.
The Core Problems and the Solutions
This essay summarizes the steps that need to be taken for the Philippine nation to get out of the mess it is in right now. This will also propel the next generation to staggering heights that no one has ever dreamed of. The agenda are focused on poverty, crime and punishment, public service and corruption, education, and peace and harmony.
Agenda 1 — Forced Slavery is the Solution to Poverty
You got it right — forced slavery! One of the measures of a country’s poverty is its GDP/GNP per capita. I cannot believe why our economists failed to realize that this is simple math: To increase this variable, you need either to increase the GDP/GNP, OR decrease the value of the denominator, per capita. How do we do that? Forced slavery. Everyone falling below the poverty index should not be considered as a Filipino citizen, but rather, as slaves; this will significantly decrease the number of legitimate population, and increase the labor force. Latest estimate is that we have 30% of our population living below poverty line. With a population of 90 million, this will make the Philippines the only Asian country (other than Brunei) with no people leaving under poverty line (because they are now slaves, NOT citizens), effectively increasing our labor force, FREE labor force, by a maximum of 27 million bodies. Wouldn’t you be happy if you live in a country with 0% population living below poverty line? Those would-be slaves should be stripped off of their basic human rights, save for their right to live — which, would be determined by the state of course.
These 27 million people will be distributed to economic magnates — Sy, Ayala, Tan, etc. — and they will be utilized to serve the legitimate Filipino citizens. They can also be assigned to become mine workers, fishermen, farmers, etc. for free. This suggestion will not only eradicate the poverty line people but will help in increasing our GNP, at no additional cost.
Agenda 2 — Jaywalkers Must Be Shot; Survivors Should be Shot Again
Many studies provided proof that most “big-time” criminals started with something small or petty crimes. Murderers, kidnappers, drug pushers, etc. started committing a lesser crime before that heinous crime/s. To instill how serious the state is in addressing crimes, violations of ANY law should be penalized with the death sentence. Drug pushing, economic sabotage, treason? Death penalty. Guilty of jaywalking? Death penalty. Shoplifting, swerving, color-coding violation? Death penalty. If the state would want to instill the greatest deterrence, that would be death penalty. If it will not be a deterrence, at least we know that no violator will ever commit any crime for the second time… at least in this world of ours.
In this case, what will the jail system be for? It will be used for two purposes: One, temporary holding while a case is still being tried. Remember, a conviction will result to death penalty, regardless of the crime committed. And two, prisons will also be used to house the slaves while their “work assignment” is still being decided by, say, Department of Slavery Planning and Deployment.
Agenda 3 — Robots Should Lead Our Nation
A specialized School of Government will be established. Every year, a certain percentage of new-born babies will be randomly selected and the state through the government will take control and separate them from their biological parents. (This is an unimplemented ancient proposal by a very wise philosopher.) These children will be indoctrinated and trained to become the best public servants with no other accountability but the state. They will not be taught with the idea of a sister, brother, or parents. As far as they know, they are children of the state and their duty is to protect and uphold the interests of the state and state alone. They will undergo the same program of education as the rest of the legitimate citizens, but in a secluded setting so as to ensure effective and complete indoctrination.
As soon as they have completed their education which includes the indoctrination, they will be deployed to different government offices — legislative, executive, judiciary, as well as in the police and military.
All constitutional bodies (Human Rights, Audit, etc.) will be restructured such that they will form part of the School of Government. All their missions and visions will be incorporated in the indoctrination proper of the students of the School.
It is only in this way that the state can be assured of a clean and incorruptible public servants and protectors.
Agenda 4 — Education Is not a Right; It Is a Privilege
Education should absolutely be free for all levels, but this should not be considered as a right. Education would be a privilege for deserving individuals. Statistics show that less than 5% of the educated people (let’s call them the Core Professionals) make use of their education, i.e., not all engineering graduates end up becoming engineers (a number of them become call center agents), not all education graduates end up teaching in the academe or become educators in their own way (most of them ending up working abroad having another career), not all economics majors end up becoming, well, economists, and so on. The point is, why waste your resources on their education if they would not be using them at all? So, why not give all the government’s efforts and resources to ensuring the above-mentioned Core professionals get the best of the best of education that they need?
The question is how to select this 5%. First off, slaves will not be allowed to be educated. They are slaves (previously, people living below the poverty line) because they are either lazy to work their ass off, or they simply are not capable to learn. Either way, why waste resources on them? Exceptional slaves will surely be noticed by their masters, and then and only then, will they be considered to have educational privileges. Else, being a slave would be their role to the society and nothing more.
This leaves us with only the legitimate citizens to choose from. All qualified citizens by virtue of their social status will be required to enroll and take elementary education. Using regression analysis, a certain percentage of poor-performing students will be raked-off from the roll every year, until the exact number of Core Professional is reached as soon as they reach tertiary level. By that time, the state will be ensured of devoting its complete and best resources on the best qualified students. Legitimate citizens who did not make the cut for the Core Professionals have to prove themselves in any other way.
The bottom-line: Education is not a right. It is such a crucial and expensive resource that should only be given to the best qualified individuals.
Agenda 5 –Shut Up or Be Shot
No more freedom of expression. If this is not clear enough, no more freedom of speech, no more freedom of the press, and no more freedom of assembly. The Philippines has constant economic worries partly because of the unproductive political bickering happening everywhere, every time. And why do we always have political bickering?
Because of unnecessary and pointless freedom of expression accorded to them. People make unfounded accusations against the government, stage rallies here and there, and publish stories with based on secret informants. To ensure that political peace and harmony is achieved, and hence, economic development, the state should criminalize rallies, public appearances or speeches aiming to discredit the state, as well as anti-government publications. Any individual, group, or institution “expressing” their opinion on any matter without any concrete and convincing evidence should be considered criminals. In this way, we can make sure that the government can do its job and at the same time, maintain a positive reputation for other states and foreign investors.
Corollary — On religion: A state religion should be imposed.
The presence of different religion makes the state prone to conflicts. Would there be a problem in Mindanao had there been no Islamic religion and ways? All Filipinos should swear allegiance and faith to only one deity. Ideally, it doesn’t matter what religion as long as there should only be one denomination in the system. But because we are a democratic country, and a Catholic-dominated country at that, the state shall impose Catholicism, NOT just Christianity, as the state religion. Everyone opposing this mandate shall be considered enemies of the state and shall be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, i.e., military might.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned proposals/agenda may be a little bit revolutionary and uncustomary. The civil society, academe, and even existing government officials may disagree, citing human rights violation, discrimination, issue on feasibility, and many other concerns that may or may not be valid. But the point here is simple: We have had enough of the inefficiency of the current system.
We have tried everything. Education was offered to far-flung areas of the country. Did that improve the literacy of the Filipinos in the country-side? Political visionaries have tried to run for election. What happened? Estrada won over Roco (and it’s a landslide, if I may add!) and Jaworski and Revilla beat Pagdanganan and Yorac in the Senate! Public housing was offered to squatters (oh, darn the political in-correctness of the term!), and what happened after they receive their houses? They sold their rights to the house and went back to their previous place as squatters. We have tried our best, and nothing happened. It became worse if anything at all happened.
Unless there would be a strong political will to implement what would be necessary for the interest and good of the Filipinos; unless the present generation of public servants and protectors would set aside greed and personal interest and focus on the common good first; unless the common tao themselves are willing to help themselves and thus help the society; I believe there is no way but to disregard human rights and ensure effective and immediate implementation of these five-point agenda.
PS: A Commission on Eugenics should be established.
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*Inspired by an essay of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Irish cleric, political pamphleteer, satirist, and writer.
An MBA graduate visited a small village on his graduation trip and saw a lone man fishing by a pretty lake. Curious about the lives of such quaint folks, he asked the fisherman how he spends his days.
papi for president! 