By Jose Ma. Montelibano
INQ7.net
Last updated 02:27am (Mla time) 08/11/2006
Some days ago, Eric Pasion, a young man studying law at the University of the Philippines, wrote an impassioned appeal for others like him "not to dream only for ourselves." It was a spontaneous expression of a stirred angst that today finds kinship with thousands, maybe even millions, of Filipinos. It was a cry from the soul of a privileged one for the less privileged.
Moved by his message, I distributed through e-mail what Eric the young man wrote. Instantly, and almost unanimously, I received responses that bore the same fingerprint of a shared resonance. It was not surprising. The same spirit, when expressed by individuals who carry credibility before their audiences, invariably elicits sympathy and support. Recently, the most read and admired speeches have been of Antonio Meloto of GawadKalinga, and rightly so, it seems. Meloto and Gawad Kalinga each received the 2006 award for Community Leadership from the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Foundation.
The appeal to those who have a little more to help those who have little or none, has been spreading like it never had before among Filipinos, including those living abroad. There are many who left the Philippines a few decades ago in search of an elusive dream, or just greener pastures, who now dream the reverse. Their thoughts are drawn toward the people and the country they had left behind, and how they can make the pastures oftheir native land greener.
Many who left in the late 1960s or the '70s did so because of the political climate. Of course, bad politics make bad economics, except for bad politicians. People who are very disturbed by political turmoil seek peace of mind maybe even more than more income. So, in a troubled era, many Filipinos could not stand the heat and left. Most, however, stayed behind because they wanted to. Others simply had no opportunity to go anywhere else.
The desire of helping the people and country that were left behind is a growing sentiment that tugs at the hearts of Filipinos abroad. It is more than a tug if we consider that Gawad Kalinga continues to receive this burst of goodwill and generosity from Filipinos the world over to match its noble work for the poor. What is even more inspiring is the birth of that same goodwill and generosity among young Filipinos, especially students of the premier colleges and universities in the Philippines.
Young Filipinos wanting to help the poor has never been a massive sentiment. Social action groups from Catholic schools have always been involved in immersion programs in selected poor communities. While many claimed to have been touched forever by their experiences, there was no visible improvement in the lives of the poor in the communities that hosted the immersion programs. What may have started with the best of intentions ended up like charity programs with no substantial impact on the poverty situation.
The trend today, however, is a radical one. The conversion of the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program to becoming optional gave birth to college students nationwide choosing community service instead. And when introduced to the Gawad Kalinga mechanism for poverty intervention via a full blown community development program, an army of the strategic young are influenced to confront the ugliness of poverty and strive to change it.
Education, then, takes on its higher purpose. The great debates between universities like Ateneo, La Salle and University of the Philippines are giving way from inconsequential form to a new substance that carries the promise of a brighter future. After all, graduates of the premier schools have ruled the nation, and the running total of that education andsubsequent governance is a virtual disaster. And I am not talking about the deteriorating proficiency of Filipinos using English; I refer to the deteriorated values that dominate our way of life led by the badly educated.
The elemental purpose of education is to add knowledge and skills, including the proper use of the English language among others. Yet, the products of an educational system, which shone around Asia as the most proficient in English, oversaw the degradation of a whole culture and value system. Today, poverty has deepened like no other time, reflecting the awesome superiority of exploitation over human concern and social justice. And today, as well, the corruption of a nation has become a gaudy headgear that is noticed by the whole world.
The products of what is deemed as a superior educational environment became the generations that ushered an abundant and Christian nation into one impoverished and highly immoral. Superior education abdicated its higher purpose, trading it for flashy forms and rotten substance. Those who did not engage in the commission of wrong did little to stop it, or simply ran away.
As fewer Filipinos can speak good English, more Filipinos are getting better education. The sympathy and support for the poor is expanding among Filipino students from the leading schools of the motherland. This trend among students reflects the beginning of the end for bad education that allowed flashy form to dominate good substance. At last, glimpses of nobility may soon overpower the rule of inanity, good works may soon overcome empty words, and the courage to confront poverty among our young may soon eliminate it.
