PAGBABAGO
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid
Being first in the world in risk among 193 countries and with 49 percent or half of our population regarding itself as “poor” are two of the greatest challenges in the country today.
The first comes from the World Risk Index 2022 where we ranked first as reported by Guillermo M. Luz who noted that the risks are from typhoons and earthquakes and natural calamities. “These risks are worsened or mitigated by societal conditions and the ability to respond quickly and provide assistance. The weaker the response infrastructure and lack of access to services such as public health and other essential services leads societies to become more susceptible to disasters.”
Luz heads the Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation which was established for the purpose of helping us cope and adapt so that we become more resilient to disasters.
The second challenge is based on the recent survey of Social Weather Stations where 49 percent considered itself as “poor.”
This finding did not come as a surprise as an earlier survey had shown a mere difference of one percent at 48. It reinforced the growing acceptance by policy makers and other sectors of society that our capitalist system where resources are owned and controlled by a small percentage of oligarchs had been primarily responsible for widening the gap between the center and the periphery. But even with this knowledge, our leaders continued to pursue the path of GDP growth as the way forward. Even Nobel laureates such as economists Joseph Stiglist and Amartya Sen observed that the obsession with GDP and similar economic models had widened inequalities and had “failed to address the asymmetric of power and representation.”
“The capitalist system could result in high costs to the environment in the form of pollution as captains of industry are moved to extremes, all for the sake of profits. We should attend more to “protection from land grabbing, protection of seeds, regulation of food commodities, and debt cancelling,” they said.
There is a growing interest in the establishment of more cooperatives as they have proven to be instruments that promote social justice aside from widening ownership and control of capital by a broader sector of society. Economic models like the Mondragon cooperative in Spain and others in several parts of the world continue to inspire those in search of institutions that would narrow gaps between the rich and the poor.
Others suggest a focus on human happiness, independence, the reclaiming of the economy from the capitalist market through reciprocity and use of indigenous knowledge.
A school for the future that would reskill our human resources to be able to meet the needs of the fourth industrial revolution. This “school” would focus on creativity, problem solving, collaborative learning, innovation and lifelong learning.
Our leaders may consider expanding the mandate of EDCOM II which is intended to initiate reforms in education to a multi-sectoral forum which will carry out consultation with a wide cross-section of society and involve them in the re-structuring of our social, economic and political institutions.
We may find ourselves “chasing the wind” at one time or another. It has been the story of the country’s struggle towards becoming a democracy. We should continue reminding ourselves that the way forward is by listening, sharing, cooperating, collaborating, and creating avenues for dialogue between and among our constituencies.
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