5

Distinction between democratic governance and 'participatory democracy'

Citizenry as Sovereign Body Politic; and Government's role and accountability as servant, facilitator and leader in a working democracy

People,s collective self-empowerment through 'building-blocks' synergies

Human development and social harmony

Governing to serve the legitimate social, economic, political and cultural rights of the people

  1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism

  2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine

  3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 

  4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission

  5. Civics and Democratic Governance

  6. Culture as Community Creativity

  7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education

  8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony

  9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice

10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development

11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations

12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology

13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships

14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace

15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart'   

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Vote for the People’s Servant-Leaders!

By the Kamayan Forum Journal editors

Official newsletter serving the monthly forum on environmental issues, jointly published by the Clear Communicators for the Environment (CLEAR) and SanibLakas ng mga Aktibong Lingkod ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA), the co-convenors of the forum.  See also www.kamayanforum.8m.net.

This article is the editorial of the KFJ issue number 67, dated September 2007, just before the scheduled baranggay elections in the Philippines.

IT WAS Dr. Jose Rizal who said, through one of his novel characters that “There are no tyrants where there are no slaves. We can only enjoy as much democracy as we can successfully demand for. This is true especially in the localities where the foundation of any such democracy should stand if it can stand at all. It is in the localities where the officials ought to behave unmistakably as the facilitators and representatives of the people’s will that functionaries of larger-scope government entities should iuvariably hear and obediently heed. These local officials should not be allowed to continue being slave-herders of officials in larger-scope government instrumentalities.

Being mostly politicians, these officials have the strong tendency to behave as rulers, instead of as servant-leaders. How can we know which ones of the reelectionists and the challengers deserve our vote in the barangay election, when one is finally held?

Let’s see first the complete process that a local community must undergo in order to protect its legitimate interests, including defense of patrimony. The community people have to chart their own collective path of development, with full control and judicious use of all the natural and cultural resources under their collective stewardship. The people have all the reason to be pro-active, and their own plan should be respected by all as the main plan. (National government entities and various other players may respectfully propose alternative plans.)

The people have the right to insist on being effectively facilitated as they undertake to forge their own collective specific green agenda, their own cultural-environmental-economic program. Once such a program has been hammered out by the people, it becomes the sworn duty of their local government officials to help them assert such program.

Who would be the best facilitators and advocates of the people of the barangay to serve them in their consensus-building and in asserting their will?

The local folks have reason to vote such servant-leaders to be the officials in their barangay halls!

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