PAGBABAGO

During the recent times, and perhaps because of challenges in the West Philippine Sea, our educational system, and food security, I again started to mull over our strengths and weaknesses and how we can survive or compete with several of our ASEAN neighbors.  This continuing re-examination of our value system had been going on for some time now and yet, we continue to face similar challenges of the past decades. 

In the early 80’s, I had the opportunity to work with a group of Filipino scholars and a German consultant at the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) which established the University of Asia and the Pacific, a non-profit educational institution.  Our research team undertook a two-year qualitative research by a technical panel of seven — Bernardo Villegas, Jose Romero, Jaime Valera, Gabriel Villegas, Reuben Mondejar, myself, and Dieter Appelt, a consultant of the Hanns Seidel Foundation which provided  support. The project consisted of several components — a multi-sectoral consultation in six localities, research papers on education, agriculture and agrarian reform, communication, social, economic and political development in the country. 

We traveled to Bacnotan, Daraga, Cebu City, Dumaguete, Cagayan de Oro, and Cotabato City and held discussions with farmers, fisherfolk, business leaders, drivers, teachers, lawyers, church and media people, and community leaders. These “views from below” were compared with previous studies and analyzed together with documents from various government departments, and earlier research done on population, futuristic and social indicators.  The study assumption was that there was a crisis that was multi-dimensional, and would require a broad analysis of the socio-economic,  cultural, political, geopolitical sectors and their relationship. We facilitated and documented workshops and came out with a 1,070-page book entitled, “The Philippines at the Crossroads: Some Visions for the Nation (1986).

One learning experience from Dieter who used to be a high official of Germany’s government educational system, was the need for a comprehensive framework in development planning so that equal emphasis should be given on each of -the social, cultural, economic, political and technological aspects. He introduced three personal attributes which he thought were critical in human development  — precision, autonomy,  and tenacity. 

Precision means “being exact, accurate, and meticulous, a quality valued in several countries known for producing quality goods and services.

Autonomy means independence – being able to work alone without being continually supervised. Tenacity is being persistent, determined, and autonomous even under difficult circumstances. 

Precision, in our culture, as most of us now realize, has  not been given that much attention and  value. The phrase, “pwede na” is an example of our tendency to be satisfied with a not-too- perfect performance or “to cut corners” or the tendency to do a thing at the quickest time or with less effort.  The Swiss artisans are never satisfied until they have achieved perfection in their manufacture of Swiss watches.  

On autonomy, we also realize that in many settings, supervisors are often needed to watch over our workers if we do not want the  latter to slacken. In some of the more advanced economies, the labor sector has been shown to be more independent than their counterparts in the developing societies. 

On tenacity, we may perhaps defend our overseas Filipinos who are known to persist under difficult circumstances. But in our home ground, there is the tendency to postpone or to quit when confronted with difficulties. This explains the failure of many projects, or the inability to meet target dates of completion.

Perhaps we should again examine our values as we face the tasks of finding alternatives in meeting  recent problems  in vital sectors like education, health, food and national security.  ([email protected])