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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Be safe

Be safe

Published Aug 28, 2024 04:17 pm

MEDIUM RARE 

Jullie Y. Daza

“Such a beautiful country,” sighed the retired soldier.

With such beautiful people, I added.

The civilian lawyer chimed in, “And nothing has changed or moved forward in the last 40 years.”

True or not? No one in our lunching group of five was bold enough to loudly agree or disagree with that last statement. However, Willie Villarama, aka pianist Mariel Ilusorio’s father, dipped into a brown envelope and pulled out a four-page, full-color leaflet about a new movement, or what members of Anim – six, in the vernacular – call a “dynamic coalition of six major sectoral groups representing different facets of society,” those sectors being the religious, youth, military and uniformed personnel, women, business and professionals, and civil society.

 Anim, or Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan (loosely translated, Alliance of a United Citizenry), aims to fight corruption, end political dynasties, and institute electoral reform. How the coalition will succeed bears watching, for we are all in this together!

As a nonjoiner, I would wish that Anim link up with groups who are already helping to fight poverty alongside artisans, artists, designers, engineers, technicians and those capable of working side by side with AI and robots. The battle to end corruption and kick out cheating politicians and politicians on the make (and take) begins with overcoming poverty, after which you can talk about overcoming ignorance. A voter will vote according to his/her conscience and not the national hero whose portrait appears on a peso bill if he/she can afford to say no to the bribe.

The ultimate aim of Anim, says their leaflet, is “to halt the country’s further degradation and foster a future of integrity and good governance.” In my language, it means that the wish is for parents and teachers to be well-fed mentally and bodily, mothers and their kids to be equally healthy and fully nourished, and an education system that encourages learning for the joy of discovering, the good times to be had socializing in school, and growing up safe in the world.

The goal of education is not a diploma framed in glass. As we were reminded long ago by a kindly American educator who was here on a flying visit, the goal is learning and knowing how to be safe in the world.

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Jullie Y. Daza Medium Rare
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