When a dear, dear friend dies...

... You think of all the great times that you had together

And the ones you will never, ever have again.

... You cry not for him, because you know that he is already at peace.

You cry for yourself because you were not there for him when he was in pain.

Because you were too busy working. Or "saving the world."

But you were not able to save him.

And you never got to say goodbye.

Bouncey, I'm so, so, so sorry... I hope you do know (and I tried to tell you as best as I could) that I have always loved you. You have always been, and always will be, one of my Top Three. You know that.

John Julian "Jay" Tan III (a.k.a. Bounce): September 1, 1975 to February 25, 2008

Bouncey...

Here's to that first fateful date that you witnessed

(And the many others that you heard of...)

To all the tears that you caught

With every time that my heart broke

(Whether through my own fault or otherwise)

And the big, warm hugs that you generously gave

Here's to conversations about your Dewey and my Ravi

(Or whatever name we would have called them)

And how they would have been best friends

Here's to the debut that you hosted oh-so-well

And the wedding that would have been your show

Here's to pillow talk

And DVD days

To Hablo con Ella

And Y Tu Mama Tambien

Here's to all the looooooong nights

Talking on the phone

About your ___

And my ____

And everything else in between

Here's to the temper tantrums

That only YOU witnessed

And to everything that you meant to me

You were one of my Top Three

My big brother

My best friend

The guy that would have seen it all

I WILL MISS YOU TERRIBLY,

MY DEAR, DEAR BOUNCEY.

Even after you're gone

Only YOU will be able to call me

Your little sister, Niney.

The youth are asking for reform, not rhetoric (TEAM RP Press Statement)

Please allow me to share with you the statement that we at TEAM RP released to the media during our presscon last Saturday.

To push our advocacy further, we are staging the TEAM RP CONCERT FOR TRUTH, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND REFORM THIS AFTERNOON (25 FEB, 4-8PM) AT THE ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS (GATE 2.5), LOYOLA HEIGHTS, QUEZON CITY. More than being just an ordinary concert, this event will gather TEAM RP volunteers from different institutions and sectors to help us in the necessary and crucial activities to follow.

For more information about TEAM RP and how you can help us work for TRUTH, ACCOUNTABILITY, and REFORM in governance, please email me at nina[dot]terol[at]gmail[dot]com. Please also pass this on to your friends who can help us.

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TEAM RP

PRESS STATEMENT: February 23, 2008

REFORM, NOT RHETORIC

We are the generation of Filipinos who stand before you today, filled with high hopes for our nation despite the convoluted and confounding events unfolding before us. We acknowledge that we have tolerated and contributed to a system of dysfunction, corruption, and selfishness not only in public governance but also in other spheres of daily life. But we also realize that, just as we have contributed to the problem engulfing our country today, so can we work proactively to set things right. Therefore, we are here before you today to declare our commitment to pursuing TRUTH, ACCOUNTABILITY, and REFORM for the sake of millions of Filipinos who are hungry, desperate for, and deserving of real progress.

While the rest of the country is hooked on the unfolding telenovela that the recent spate of scandals have become, we see that the cycle of greed, malpractice, and corruption has gone on for generations already, and has been inherited by each generation after it. Though our outcry has been brought out by our gross appreciation of what has been going on and revealed to the public these days, we believe that anyone in public office is accidental to our call for genuine, fundamental, and systemic reforms. We will continue fighting for our cause regardless of who is in power.

In our pursuit of TRUTH, we believe that every citizen should be given the right and the freedom to access information—about how they are being governed, how public resources are being allocated, how their officials (whether elected or appointed) are performing their duties. If we are to effectively participate in democratic processes, then we must have access to information that we will need to make intelligent decisions.

In our pursuit of ACCOUNTABILITY, we believe that people should be held accountable to and by the public whom they serve—and not merely to and by the Powers that Be that direct their careers and their paychecks. We believe in upholding retributive justice by prosecuting unlawful acts and pressuring wrongdoers to correct their mistakes and effectively prevent such problems from happening again. Many crooks—not only in government but also in the private sector—have gotten away with their crimes simply because we chose to look away, let them go, or negate our laws and judicial processes. We have to make our democracy work by ensuring that our institutions are functional, regardless of the personalities within them.

In our pursuit of GENUINE REFORMS, we believe that specific policies, programs, and practices should be enacted and implemented—and others abolished—to bring about real, tangible solutions to age-old problems. The public's outrage and frustration should be channeled into efforts to change not just governments and personalities, but entire systems as well. We must act as a people to ensure that appropriate reforms are effected and that results are continuously monitored, evaluated, and revised in order to maintain ethical effectiveness. People change, times change; so, too, must systems change accordingly.

We may be young and lacking in experience, but we do not fall short of the passion, the belief, and the hope that the Philippines can still be a country to be proud of—not only in the future, but also in the here and now. We hope that our actions will encourage our fellow Filipinos to set aside partisanship, political mudslinging and grandstanding, personality bashing, and the protection of familial ties or friendship in favor of pursuing higher goods that will benefit each and every one of us.

Since the beginning of our collective history, many men and women—perhaps including you, in some instances—stood up and risked their own lives so that we in this generation may have the liberties we now enjoy. So now, we are putting these same liberties to good use to rise—rise above the system of inequity, injustice, and ineffectiveness that this current system has bred. We urge you: push for change, BE the change.

One country, one team: TEAM RP

We have only one country
We are only one people

Regardless of color
Regardless of tongue
Regardless of location
Regardless of faith
Regardless of affiliation

Let us blur party lines, break down walls
Let us be ONE COUNTRY, ONE TEAM

Please join TEAM RP!

A CONCERNED CITIZEN’S 10-POINT REFORM AGENDA TO STRENGTHEN THE PHILIPPINE BUREAUCRACY

I break my online silence with this open letter, which I drafted late last night.

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8 February 2008

Dear friends and fellow citizens of the Philippine Republic:

I am writing this in the wake of several events that have greatly upset the balance of various forces that keep our teetering nation afloat.

Three nights ago, I awoke from a night-time nap to see a live telecast of the House of Representatives unseating its incumbent Speaker after an explosive (but not shocking) revelation and a long and tense voting process, and then installing a new Speaker from the same party.

Then, the day after that, I once again awoke from my slumber in time to see another live telecast—this time showing an emotionally charged man presenting a damning testimony about a large-scale government project and billions of pesos that we (and our children and grandchildren, and maybe even our great-grandchildren) will have to repay in taxes and foregone basic social services.

Through these past three days, I have kept close watch over the unfolding of events and have felt a deep sense of sadness, frustration, anger—and even rage—over what our country has turned into. Here I am, still in this country in spite of several opportunities to leave, and I’m wondering if this country is indeed still worth staying for, still worth fighting for. I feel sad that I feel this way; I feel frustrated because I don’t know if ANYTHING I do will really make a big difference; and I feel anger and rage because I do not deserve this. WE do not deserve this.

I am not here to take sides, or to lay blame, but to make my feelings and ideas known. The problems we face in our country are systemic; short-term, “Band-Aid” solutions will not work. In the same way, merely replacing our leaders (such as what the Lower House did) will not do much to change the system. What we need is to OVERHAUL the way we regard and treat our government (which includes the ENTIRE bureaucracy), the way we regard and treat our country and the way we regard and treat ourselves.

For as long as we think that our government is made up of the “latak” of Philippine society, then that’s what we will get. For as long as we EXPECT government workers to be small-minded and corruptible, then that’s what they will. So maybe it’s about time to DEMAND that our government be made of the best, the brightest, and the most qualified of professionals—with some degree of credibility, authority, and moral ascendancy over their posts. Then, perhaps, real change can begin.

What I propose, therefore, are some steps that will entail changing and strengthening the bureaucracy from within. These are by no means politically motivated or even politically focused; these ideas are more organizational in nature—meant to “attack” the virus at its core, regardless of who is in charge.

So please indulge me in sharing my ideas. I realize that I probably have no authority to say these things—I am, after all, merely a communicator with no degree in law or government, with no actual government experience, and with no PhDs to boast of. BUT I CARE. I care so much about what happens to us that I wish I were better equipped to actually make these changes happen. But like José Rizal, one of this country’s greatest thinkers with whom I share my alma mater, my only weapon is my pen—and, perhaps, my great love for this country.

If, after you read this, you think that there may actually be some merit to these ideas, please feel free to pass this letter on to those in government, in civil society, in the academe, or in the private sector who would be capable of putting these reforms into place. At this point, I simply need the catharsis or I will explode.

Reform and strengthen the bureaucracy

Change must happen not only in the top tiers of government, but also deep within it and across the board. I have heard many, many horror stories of the dysfunctions of the system not only because of its leaders, but also because of the very people who make it up. If we are working in the government, or transacting with it and acquiescing to the very ills that pain us today (as most of us are), then we are part of the problem, too. Therefore, the solutions must start at the grassroots level of governance.

1. Require ALL public officials to pass the Civic Service Exam AND a standard psychological exam before assuming an appointive and/or elective post. Corollary to that, require all legislative posts (and even all top appointive posts, from cabinet secretaries down to their assistant secretaries and group heads) to first pass a Constitutional Exam before even being allowed to file for candidacy. (This may require a constitutional amendment)

2. Conduct bi-annual metrics-based performance evaluation of all elected and appointed officials through a publicized scorecard showing officials’ Key Result Areas and Key Performance Indicators, and enabling citizens across the board to know how their officials fared. (For this, we can look to the BPO industries and other best practices in the private sector for the necessary templates.)

3. Regularly convene a Citizens’ Evaluation Board that will act as a jury to input their own evaluations of public officials and their legislations or projects.

4. Strengthen the hiring and firing system of the Civic Service Commission to ensure that only those who are qualified for posts are hired, and that those who are unqualified or fail to perform are disciplined, penalized, and/or fired.

5. Streamline the bureaucracy: eliminate redundant posts and ghost employees to free up government funds to raise baseline salaries (competitive to those of private sector posts, since nobody can live on a salary of P4,500 (!!) or even P9,000 a month) and introduce incentives to attract qualified talent to the government. How much is good governance worth? Why do we pay our government officials so poorly and then get surprised when people cheat, lie, and steal to make ends meet?

6. Convene think tanks from the academe, civil society, and private sector (Filipinos based here and abroad) to make specific recommendations about various priority areas in government. Make these recommendations public so that there is transparency and accountability in addressing these recommendations.

7. Require the publication of all elected officials’ and candidates evaluations prior to an election period (where applicable). Exploit the power of available technology to demand transparency and accountability from all government officials and employees.

Discourage and eliminate corruption

There is absolutely no excuse for corrupt practices. However, our current bureaucratic system has encouraged it because it has failed to reward achievements and punish offenses.

8. Institutionalize regulated and standardized project management fees for government agencies that manage projects. Perhaps the answer to all these under-the-table kickbacks and commissions is to bring them out into the open and standardize them. After all, many companies charge project management fees to run projects; maybe the same system can be applied to government agencies (so that we can stop denying that such kickbacks and commissions exist!). Make project management fees “receiptable” and their reports public so that everyone will know who is getting how much for what. Further incentives (performance bonuses, etc.) could be granted to project management teams that deliver exceptional results.

a. Example 1: For projects below P10M, a 10% project management fee may be allotted to the project management team/involved government agency. Of this 10%, the project proponent and members of the project team will get their own (standardized) professional fees as compensation for their time, skills, and expertise. Not only will this, in current events lingo, “moderate the greed;” it might be a good way to start correcting our government’s “dysfunctional procurement system.”

b. Example 2: For projects ranging from P10M to P99M, the project management fee may be lowered to 5-7%; and so on.

9. Publish a Web-based portal (developed and managed by academe, civil society, private sector, with the cooperation of all government departments, agencies, and branches) of all existing government projects (including infrastructure projects initiated by legislators) that will enable even ordinary citizens to track the progress of projects and demand government accountability when and where it is required. Corollary to this, require all legislators, cabinet secretaries, etc. to publish audited reports of their PDAF and department budgets the way publicly listed companies publish their annual reports.

10. Create support structures to encourage and protect private citizens who need to report cases of government corruption across all levels. From those of us who get stopped on the street for traffic offenses we did not commit, to those of us filing government documents and asked to be paid a small fee (“padulas”) to expedite its completion, to those of us involved in government contracts and asked to pay exorbitant amounts to get our projects approved, ALL of us—at one time or another—have been subject to graft and corruption in government. Can’t there be a better way of reporting offenses and protecting ourselves? Perhaps we can also use SMS- and Web-based technologies to make such systems possible. More than this, there should be a campaign to encourage reporting and “whistle-blowing” of government transgressions. After all, we should all be encouraged to tell the truth so that those who are doing underhanded acts are discouraged from doing so.

The events that have recently unfolded in our country only show that we can no longer turn a blind eye on the practical and gray realities surrounding us. Outside of the greed that permeates our society, people are motivated by sheer NEED AND HUNGER. They do not earn the proper wages, so they feel the need to resort to underhanded and criminal acts in order to feed themselves and their families. They do not get the respect they deserve as officials of the Philippine government, so they resort to bullying and power-tripping in order to feel their importance. They are not shown respect and dignity as human beings, so they trample on others’ dignity in order to feel a bit better about their plight. This in no way excuses people’s actions, but it’s, perhaps, the “dark side” of human nature that we ought to recognize and address squarely in the face.

I really hope that things can still be done to heal the wounds that are hurting all of us. More importantly, I hope that WE can be part of the solution. It doesn’t matter whether we’re earning P1,000 or P1,000,000 a month; this upheaval affects each of us, so the answer MUST lie (somehow) in each of us as well.

Thank you for bearing with me. If there is anything I can do to be of greater service to my country, please let me know.

Yours truly,

Niña Terol

Writer. Communicator. Filipino

nina.terol@gmail.com