PLATFORM OF THE PARTIDO NG

MARANGAL NA SAMBAYANAN
(PANGMASA)

The Platform of Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) has

four parts.

I. PREAMBLE

II. VISION

III. AGENDA FOR GENUINE CHANGE

IV. PILLARS, POLICIES, AND PROGRAMS TO RENEW THE PHILIPPINES

I. PREAMBLE

Democracy is derived from two Greek words, demos and kratos, the rule of
the people, the rule of citizens. The Latin root words of “constituency” means
to “stand with”, pointing to a leader who stands with his/her people.

Marangal ng Sambayanan Party advocates true, participatory democracy in

its vision, agenda, and policies. Therefore the Party will conduct extensive
consultations not only with its members but also with the general public. The
Party believes that no single individual, institution, network or movement
has the full access to the truth and to the future. In addition, the Party
believes that a deeper truth and a more profound basis for action can be
found in the diverse perspectives of its members and the general public. The
Party sees its consultative thrust and activities as means to create harmony
out of many perspectives and identities and to discover the larger and more
powerful collective intelligence that can be found in a true, respectful, and
creative processes of consultation.

Creating an open consultative space has another very important result. It

will truly revitalize democracy in the Philippines by encouraging active
citizenship.

If only leaders know the answer, citizens will become passive actors in a
political system where citizens are meant to be the true rulers. If a party’s
platform is too detailed, fixed, and rigid, then that citizens will experience
that platform as a heavy burden on their minds, one that does not allow
them to really express how they really think and feel.

However, if the Party truly encourages citizens to engage, then the Party will
help release a powerful, creative energy for the positive transformation of
the nation. No single individual or Party has the power to address all the
challenges that the Philippines faces today. It will take the collective will of
active and engaged citizens to create a visionary and inspiring country.
TAYONG LAHAT ang magbibigay pag-asa sa ating bayan! TAYONG LAHAT
ang magbabago sa Pilipinas!

As such, the Party views its Platform as a living document. The Platform
details are open to constructive refinements. The Party is open to concrete
ideas for action that would lead the country forward to a better future.

In the Platform which follows, especially the section on Policies, the Partido
ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) will indicate the main
contours of its direction and basis for concrete action. This will give the
general public a sense of the direction and enough concrete examples of
what the Party will do once it becomes active in the political and societal life
of the country. This will give enough details of concrete action and direction
without pre-empting other concrete policy and program proposals that will
certainly emerge from the Party’s consultative processes and the
unpredictable developments in national and global affairs.

The Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) Platform is

the Party’s social contract with the Filipino people and any other individual
or institution that wants to have a relationship with the Party. It is not based
on a false sense of utang na loob, paybacks or patronage. It is a platform
based on principles. It is a platform that will be the basis of the new politics.

II. VISION 2016 – A NATION REBORN

Prelude to Vision Statement

The promise of Lupa ng Araw that was felt so deeply by our forebears has
been betrayed. We are now confronted with the devastating results of years
of self-serving traditional politics and politicians. Poverty, unemployment,
graft and corruption, conflict, injustice, and environmental decline, these are
but some of the ills devastating the country today. Virtually every level of
governance and every institution of society has been infected by the pursuit
of narrow and self-serving political ends. There is no guiding vision that
unites the country much less the various departments of government. This
produces loss of hope and worse, apathy and cynicism.

We have now reached a turning point. Many Filipinos want something more
dignified. The country yearns for a new direction to achieve genuine
freedom, justice, solidarity, to restore the Philippines that so inspired Rizal,
Bonifacio, Aquino and many others.

Filipinos yearn for “GINHAWA”, that is, true freedom, true justice, true
prosperity, true respect for nature, true solidarity, true dignity and honor –
all based on our deep innate sense that we all come from one Divine Source,
one Creator. Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) will
change this dismal state of affairs with a new vision, a new agenda and new
policies and programs that will bring “ginhawa”, that will make this country
rise up from the ashes and take its place in the global community of nations.

We envision the true Philippines that has deep sources of spirituality; the
Philippines that respects and empowers individual Filipinos towards
excellence; the Philippines that understands meaningful societal change,
participation and inclusion; the Philippines that respects and values culture;
the Philippines that protects human rights, ensures justice and promotes
participatory democracy; the Philippines that progresses economically by
serving the true needs of the people; the Philippines that protects and
nurtures the integrity of creation, our sources of life – our ecology.

Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) summarizes these

aspirations in its vision statement and principles as follows.

Vision Statement.

We envision a prosperous, peaceful, democratic, moral and visionary nation,

living in harmony with Nature and energized by creative, honest, responsible
citizens who are aware of their divine origin and purpose; citizens who have
united together to sustain a free, vibrant and diverse culture, a broad-based
and inclusive economy, a participatory, just and compassionate governance
that contributes positively to world affairs.

III. AGENDA FOR CHANGE: DIMENSIONS AND PRINCIPLES

The Necessity for Change

The challenge of renewing Philippine society is complex.

In the economy, to use United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
language, we are experiencing jobless growth and ruthless growth. In
recent years, before its current contraction in 2009, our economy grew but
unemployment and underemployment continued to hover at high levels. In
addition, this economic growth was “ruthless” in that it only benefited the
rich upper classes as 4 million Filipinos entered the ranks of the poor
between 2003 and 2006. The Philippines has one of the highest Gini
coefficient (0.44) in the ASEAN region and in the world, indicating that
economic growth is unevenly and unfairly distributed. Furthermore
government has re-established the dreaded practice of crony capitalism,
where, as a result of political indebtedness, the state favors certain
individuals and corporations in different industries to prosper at the expense
of other businesses. Finally, the economy is resting on weak and narrow
fundamentals, with a weak manufacturing sector and an over-reliance on
OFW remittances.

In politics, we are experiencing voiceless growth. Citizens, the true

subjects of democracy, have no real voice in the affairs of the state. Political
dynasties continue to reign supreme in Philippine politics. Traditional
politicians in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government
violate laws and regulations left and right yet continue to justify these
violations as their defense of law and order. The upper levels of the military
are highly politicized and corrupted. Government officials at all levels steal
hundreds of billions every year from the national budget. When citizens
protest government wrongdoing and abuses, citizens are met with water
cannons and police brutality. Worst, some citizens become victims of
unresolved extrajudicial killings. On top of it all, the justice system is
increasingly becoming corrupted, preventing citizens from obtaining relief
from the harm done to them. The growth of condominiums and malls hides
the massive betrayal of democracy.

In culture, we are experiencing the growth of moral rootlessness. The

pervasive and almost unstoppable corruption around us destroys our sense
of what is right and wrong and uproots our capacity for moral outrage. We
are becoming more apathetic and cynical as a people. Worse, an increasing
number among us flow with the tide of corruption instead of resisting it. And
because we are cut of from our moral center, we cannot unify as a nation
around moral issues that profoundly affect our future. Our low quality
education does not help the situation. The increasing corruption of civil
society, including NGOs, peoples organizations, social movements, schools,
media, and religious groups, adds further to moral cynicism and inaction. On
top of it all, we have no clear vision of who are as a people nor do we have
an understanding of what our collective talents are as a nation.
For society as a whole (including our economy, politics, and culture), we
are facing the challenge of hopeless growth. We are surrounded with the
same urgent issues that have faced us for more than two decades: poverty,
corruption, lawlessness, conflict, crime, overpopulation, damaged
institutions, and others. The promises of past government administrations to
address these societal issues now sound empty amidst the massive growth
of these problems. Our prospects for renewal seem to be bleak and hopeless
in the decades to come.

While our society is burdened with the challenge of hopelessness, we are

also facing the stark reality of futureless growth in our relationship with
our ecology - our sources of life, in our almost utter disregard for the
integrity of creation. Solid waste, water and air pollution is increasing to
dangerous levels. We are inadequately prepared for the massive impacts of
global climate change that is upon us. Our chemical and poison-based
agriculture continues to destroy the fertility of our soil and undermine our
health as consumers. We continue to over-fish our oceans and destroy our
forests and watersheds. Mining practices continue to be environmentally
unsound and socially disruptive.

Economic, political, and cultural structures and institutions are responsible

for the massive challenges we face today. Yet, in the end, human beings
constitute systems and structures. People run the great institutions of our
society. If people have integrity and competence, then the issues of society
will be meaningfully addressed. If people are corrupt, then they will corrupt
the systems, structures and institutions that they manage.

Unfortunately, at the spiritual and the individual level, we are also facing
the challenge of the growth of meaninglessness. Filipinos are becoming
more and more self-centered and egotistic. They only think of their
immediate personal advantage instead of the common good. They cannot
find their place in the wholeness of society and human history and therefore
they do not find meaning in their lives. They are also becoming more
materialistic. They value corrupt shortcuts and material possessions over
honesty, hard work and a deep spiritual life. As a result of egotism and
materialism, Filipinos increasingly feel empty and meaningless inside. They
try to fill this meaninglessness with material possessions. They do not realize
that gold can never replace principles and values as the basis for true
meaning, purpose and satisfaction in life.
The Seven Dimensions of GINHAWA or Integral Sustainable
Development

From the description of the challenges facing our country, it is clear that the
challenges that we all face are not simply political. They are also economic,
cultural, societal, ecological, human, and spiritual. The challenges have
many sources, many dimensions. The solutions, therefore, must address
these different sources, these dimensions of the challenges. An agenda for
change cannot simply address corruption and neglect the other challenges
that not only affect corruption but also add their own unique burden to the
country.

The long reign of traditional politics is ruining our country. Filipinos are ready
to join a new movement to recover the Philippines' true identity as the Pearl
of the Orient – Perlas ng Silanganan. They seek profound relief, GINHAWA,
which can come only from a truly integral and comprehensive agenda for
sustainability.

The Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) recognizes

seven dimensions of true GINHAWA, or authentic integral sustainable
development (ISD). The Party offers this comprehensive Agenda for Change.
This agenda, with its dimensions of development and principles, will be the
basis and context of the Party’s priorities, policies, and programs that are
detailed below.

Spiritual Development. Modern science, especially astrophysics, is providing

evidence that we exist in a profoundly interconnected, living and intelligent
universe; that the human species is not a mere product of blind chance and
therefore has deep purpose; and that Divine Intelligence permeates the
continuous creation and evolution of worlds. As part and parcel of this
universal creation, we affirm the divine nature of the human being. This
sense of the sacred is deeply Filipino and underlies all aspects and
dimensions of a truly integral sustainability. The Party will nurture the
conscious understanding of our spiritual potentials and will encourage
Filipinos to mobilize the tremendous divine potentials within for the good of
Philippine society and the world.

Human Development. We will guarantee the right of every Filipino to the

development of his or her full human potential always mindful and within the
context of contributing to the welfare of society and the planet. We also
affirm human dignity and the rights and responsibilities of every human
being as self-directed, spiritual individuals with unique hopes and aspirations
for themselves and for the common good.
Societal Development. We will encourage governance processes that seek to
eradicate poverty and advance the quality of life for all. We will mainstream
moral and effective governance that will remove corruption, improve the
nation’s education and health, end conflict, secure peace, provide adequate
housing, strengthen family and community life, and achieve sustainable
population levels, among others.

Cultural Development. Culture has the power to transform and civil society
has a key role to play in this process. We will institute a cultural revolution,
a peaceful cultural revolution that will inspire and propel reforms in culture
itself, especially education. These reforms would then have the power to re-
invent government and business and lead to a Philippine renaissance.
Culture, especially the creative arts, are going to become essential in the
renewal of Philippine society. This is an exciting dimension of Philippine
excellence that has yet to be fully mobilized for national development.

Political Development. We will redesign the political system so that it is open

to the participation not only of people in government, but also those in civil
society, and business. In this way, we encourage an approach that involves
and evolves society as a whole. We will ensure that justice and equality,
transparency and accountability become the hallmarks of a more moral and
effective governance.

Economic Development. We will broaden the foundations of the economy

and make its benefits more inclusive. We will align and harness investment,
trade, financial, monetary, and fiscal, especially taxation policies towards
genuine integral sustainable development that eradicates poverty and
improves the quality of life for all.

Ecological Development. We will realign development policy to recognize and

respect the environment as the sources of life of a nation. Ecological balance
and harmony must thus underpin and inform national development. To
achieve this end, the Party will encourage educational efforts to understand
the full implication of Nature as a Divine creation and, which, therefore, has
its own value and integrity beyond narrow human intentions.

Principles of GINHAWA OR Integral Sustainable Development

Certain principles are contained in these dimensions of development,

principles to guide the use of these seven development dimensions in day-
to-day reality. The Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA)
is declaring that it would adhere to the following principles of GINHAWA or
integral sustainable development (ISD)
Spiritual Development Principle

1. We believe in socially engaged spirituality. We advance our spirituality

not for ourselves, but ultimately to serve others, to serve the world. Socially
engaged spirituality respects different religious traditions and beliefs but also
recognizes the common spiritual and moral underpinnings of the nation.

Human Development Principles

2. We affirm the importance of developing the full human potential of

each and every Filipino so that they will be enabled to contribute what is
unique in them to society and the greater purposes they yearn to serve. We
acknowledge that the human being is more than his/her two IQ or cognitive
intelligences: that is, linguistic and logical/mathematical intelligence. In
addition, every human being has 10 other intelligences including visual,
kinesthetic, musical, emotional, social, naturalistic, moral, existential,
appreciative, and spiritual intelligence. The increasing complexity and
survival of societies and the world will require the full development of all
these aspects of human intelligences. The Party recognizes the staggering
implications of these newly established scientific image of the human being
for education and training programs of institutions.

3. Because of the divine creative essence of the human being, we respect

and encourage the need for self-determination in each and every Filipino.
We can also call this principle, dignified individuation. The creative
essence of a human being cannot emerge if it is unconsciously subservient
to all kinds of external constraints. However, we encourage a kind of self-
determination that is consciously nurturing of others, of the whole. This is
the essence of that central Filipino value of pagkikipagkapwa, a sense of
self that is mindful of the welfare of others.

Cultural Development Principles

4. Dignified individuation and socially engaged spirituality flourish best in a

free, moral, and vibrant culture. The outer cultural world should be a
place that is conducive to the unfolding of the multiple intelligence of the
human being. Only a free, moral, compassionate, meaningful and creative
culture can do this.

5. We affirm the need for unity in cultural diversity. We will be sensitivity

to and respect the diverse cultures including religions throughout the
Philippine archipelago – an approach that builds a truly free and vibrant
culture. We will encourage the different cultures to come together as
SAMBAYANAN, as one country, in the pursuit of true GINHAWA: true
freedom, true justice, true prosperity, and true solidarity in society and with
nature, all on the foundation of socially responsible and spiritually active
Filipinos.

6. We support the need for a holistic science and appropriate

technology so that societal developments, especially economic initiatives,
are achieved within the context of genuine integral sustainability.

Political Development Principles

7. We need to move away from a narrow state-centered approach to

governance. Instead we affirm our support for a society-centered
governance. We saw the complex challenges the Philippines faces, many of
which are beyond the realm of politics. We need to engage the key actors in
the economy (business, large and small) and culture (various sectors of civil
society).

8. When we affirm a society-centered governance, we simultaneously

commit to advancing authentic participatory democracy. We engage
citizens from all walks of life, whether they be in culture, the economy, or
directly in politics. With genuine participation, we advance closer to the true
meaning of democracy, the rule of the people.

9. We support the principle of subsidiarity on all levels of governance. This

principle affirms the right of any political unit to pursue self-defined goals
and objectives as long as it does not conflict with legitimate objectives at the
national level. As a party we will pursue governance policies and programs
that would empower legitimate local initiatives.

10. We will gear our efforts at society-centered governance, participatory

democracy, and subsidiarity not primarily as ends in themselves but as
means to achieve wide-ranging social justice and equity before the law.
Among others, this would mean spatial equity, where governance ensures
that GINHAWA or integral sustainable development is found in all regions of
the nation; inter-generational equity, where the present generation does not
develop at the expense of the future generations and vice-versa; and intra
generational equity, where the needs of all sectors of society are truly
addressed in a balanced manner.

Economic Development Principles

11. We uphold the importance of broad-based and inclusive economic

development. We will seek means to broaden the economic foundations of
the economy. And, at the same time, we will make sure that the fruits of
economic activity are shared more equally among Filipinos and the different
regions and provinces of the country.

12. We aspire to ground the true essence of economic activity on solidarity,

not mere competition. Therefore, the Party will advance an economic
approach that recognizes the vital relationships between the different actors
within the economy as well as the mutual interdependence of the market
with the different institutions in other realms of society.

Societal Development Principles

13. We affirm our love for country as a vital principle for development.
Without this love for the whole that has nurtured us from birth and all the
stages of our development, we will wreck the very foundations of our own
individual, spiritual, moral, and social development.

14. Because we love our country and value human life, we will unceasingly
pursue the goal of peace, order, and national unity and put an end to the
wars that have pitted Filipinos against Filipinos, families against families,
wars that have fragmented our nation. We will pursue this peace always on
the foundations of social justice and respect for our diverse identities, the
root solutions to most of our conflict.

15. We cannot say we love our country and we cannot hope to achieve
peace and order if we allow traditional governance to condemn millions of
Filipinos to a life of poverty and want. We affirm the unceasing pursuit of
poverty eradication and quality of life for all.

16. Any country can support only a certain number of people per unit area of
land before it plunges into the slippery slope of unsustainable and
destructive development. We affirm our pursuit of a sustainable
population for the country.

17. We assert our national sovereignty and self-determination that is

founded on a true love of country and will guard against selling the nation’s
patrimony for a few pieces of gold. This thrust of self-determination at the
national level complements our support for dignified individuation.

18. At the same time, we recognize the principle of global cooperation.

The Party sees our nationhood within the larger context of the universal
human as elaborated in the dimension of spiritual development. We will
therefore continue to nurture our innate sense of courtesy and hospitality to
our non-Filipino brothers and sisters within the context of mutual respect
and exchange of cultures. We will also engage in global cooperation as long
as this leads to the advancement of a planetary civilization that champions
universal human rights and responsibilities.

19. We recognize and practice true gender sensitivity that respects the
unique contributions, capacities and needs of both women and men.

20. The massive work of poverty eradication, advancing quality of life for all,
peace and order, global cooperation, national self-determination, and other
principles cannot be done by government alone. We affirm the importance of
societal threefolding partnerships in advancing all the principles
mentioned above and to follow below and ultimately to attain GINHAWA or
integral sustainable development. Societal threefolding is the mobilization of
resources, talents, and power of the three key actors and spheres of society:
government actors in the sphere of the political, business actors in the
sphere of the economic, and civil society actors in the sphere of the cultural.

21. Institutional viability is important in mainstreaming all the principles

mentioned. We cannot walk if our legs are crippled. We can pursue
GINHAWA or integral sustainable development if our societal institutions are
corrupted, compromised, and inefficient.

Ecological Development Principles

22. We cannot achieve sustainability in our development if we destroy the

very foundations of our sources of life. Ecological soundness is an
important principle in our relationship with the integrity of creation.

23. We affirm the importance of bio-geographical equity in our pursuit of

ecologically sound development. This requires viewing development on the
basis of bioregions, delineated along the diverse watersheds of our country.
We affirm our intention to harness the uniqueness and the beauty of our
bioregions to develop greater opportunities for communities located in the
unique combinations of uplands, lowlands, and coastal waters across the
country. Simultaneously a bio-geographical consciousness deepens our
appreciation of and relationship with Nature.

24. We assert the importance community-based resource management

approaches to the appropriate development of the natural resources of the
country. The richness of Nature’s bounty is the heritage of all Filipinos, not a
few privileged few.
IV. PILLARS AND POLICIES TO MOVE US FORWARD

The task of nation building is wide-ranging. The Party envisions 6 pillars as

its priorities and entry points to the vast and complex task of achieving
GINHAWA or integral sustainable development. We will pursue these pillars
ever mindful of advancing the 7 dimensions and 24 principles of integral
sustainable development as these apply to the specific pillars involved.

1.0 PILLARS

The first pillar deals with eradicating the massive poverty, inequitable
growth, lawlessness, and conflicts that plague our country. Our first pillar
aims to Eradicate Poverty and Enhance Quality of Life for all, through,
among others, a vibrant broad-based economy, social justice and peace.

The second pillar addresses the pervasive corruption that is tearing the
social fabric of the nation and rupturing the hearts and minds of Filipinos.
Our second pillar therefore seeks to Advance Moral and Effective
Governance in all institutions of society and all situations in life.

The third pillar concerns itself with stopping the massive destruction of our
ecology and our environment. Our third pillar seeks to Uphold the
Integrity of Creation and respectfully partner with it as our source of life.

Our fourth pillar seeks to Build Partnerships for Social Justice. We want
to introduce a new approach to real participatory governance and authentic
democracy. No one can solve the problems of the country alone… tayong
lahat ang kailangan upang mabago ang ating bansa. This means government
working together with civil society and business in the pursuit of social
justice and creating a better country. The Party will advance societal
threefolding partnerships (as elaborated above in the principles) at all levels
of governance where appropriate.

The fifth pillar strives to Promote Holistic Education and Inner Change.
Better schools, colleges and universities, drawing out the many talents,
intelligences, and potentials of students, are crucial. Equally as important is
self-directed education and transformation. At the end of the day, it’s
important to also address the factor of inner change—taking responsibility
for changing our hearts and minds. No one can do our inner work for us. And
there can be no genuine change in a system or institution if the people who
work there do not change. Depressed, apathetic, and poorly trained people
cannot create visionary and high-performance organizations, much less a
world-inspiring country. Individual and cultural transformation is the
foundation of the other pillars.
The sixth pillar of the platform aims to Mainstream Visionary Initiatives.
There are thousands of promising initiatives throughout the country in a
wide variety of fields that already point the way forward to another, much
better Philippines. We will reward innovation. We will systematically
discover, magnify and multiply these existing success stories of excellence.

This platform with its six pillars recognizes that everything is interconnected
and requires a multidisciplinary approach. Ang lahat ng bagay ay
magkaugnay. Reducing poverty, for example, is not simply about giving
people work. It is about setting appropriate government policies that
strengthen the economy, create jobs and minimize the adverse aspects of
globalization. Poverty reduction also requires significant advances in peace,
culture, including education, health care, sanitation, clean water, housing,
micro-finance, nutrition and of course, agriculture and asset reform among
others.

We are talking about a practical platform of sustainability that recognizes all

of these connections. We cannot transform the system if the system is
plagued with corruption. But you cannot get rid of corruption if you don’t
involve the citizenry in changing behavior. And you cannot change behavior
if there’s no inner change. For instance, we already have many excellent
laws that simply lack enforcement. Everything is interrelated and systemic.

2.0 Policies and Programs

The Party will put in place the following policies and programs that will
ground the six priority thrusts of the Partido ng Marangal na
Sambayanan (PANGMASA) in the life of the nation.

Eradicate Poverty and Enhance Quality of Life

Jobs and the Economy

Provide meaningful self and/or work employment for the economically poor
as outlined in the various policies and programs that follow below.

Increases government resources for the sustainable modernization of

agriculture and fisheries and place priority on agricultural policies and
programs that will eradicate poverty.

• Accelerate the passage of a comprehensive land use plan for the

country.
• Speed up the implementation of the Agrarian Reform Program on
private lands.
 • Provide, on a priority basis, agriculture-related support services to
Agrarian Reform Communities including, but not limited to, new
technologies, roads, credit, post-harvest facilities, and access to
broadband Internet services.
• Irrigate all rice lands using both large-scale irrigation infrastructure
and artesian wells for small farms.
• Provide branding, packaging, and marketing services to farmers and
fisherfolks to enhance their market penetration.
• Remove local monopolies and oligopolies that suppress the prices of
farm and fishery products and which extract usurious lending rates
from the poor.
• Design, together with microfinance NGOs and banks, an agriculture-
oriented micro-finance program that would receive the appropriate
financial, technical, and guarantee support from the government.
• Move towards strategic micro-finance where individual micro
enterprises (in both rural and urban areas) are interlinked vertically
and horizontally into new enterprise networks of larger value added on
the basis of mutual solidarity and benefit.
• Build upon existing micro-finance initiatives and set up new micro or
small industries based on strategic partnerships between academic
institutions (which have pro-poor mature technologies that harness
local resources), socially responsible businesses (which have the
capability to move mature technologies from the lab to the market
place), government institutions (which can provide the necessary
supportive policies and incentives) and NGOs (which can ensure the
social and ecologically acceptability of the new micro-industries).
• Implement special adult education programs for the rural and urban
poor that would improve their knowledge, creativity, planning, and
entrepreneurial and management skills.
• (See also policies and programs in the section below on advancing the
Integrity of Creation.)

Create macro-economic conditions conducive to the appropriate broad-based

and inclusive growth and development of the Philippine economy.

• Renegotiate Philippine commitments in the World Trade Organization

and other regional and global trade venues that are anti-poor.
• Put in place the necessary physical, institutional, and social
infrastructure that would encourage both domestic and foreign
investment in the country. (See policies and programs below.)
• Remove distortions arising from market failures including learning,
information, and coordination externalities.
• Diversify the manufacturing and industrial base of the economy by
encouraging the entry of new kinds of businesses using innovative
 technologies that would increase the value-added of enterprises as
well as utilize the vast untapped local resources of the country. (See
related discussion above on strategic micro-finance and strategic
partnerships for new micro and small industries.) [cogon biofuels, CNG
from trash, mung sauce]
• Implement new approaches to strategic industry diversification and
support including: a) provision of public support and incentives only
for specific projects, not entire industrial sectors; b) identification of
projects that are new not only to the domestic economy and/or new in
terms of technological process used; c) assurance that these specific
projects enhance local research and development as well as lead to
actual productivity enhancement; and d) stipulation that the
government support provided will have a termination period and will
not be abused.
• Ensure that the government implementers of this new industrial policy
will be not be corrupted and that outside stakeholders, including
appropriate civil society partners, are involved in the monitoring and
assessment of the implementation of these new industrial policies.
• Set up a national multi-department task force for identifying,
assessing, incubating, and mainstreaming promising Philippine-based
technological breakthroughs that would enhance the total factor
productivity of the economy.
• Improve the access of small and medium enterprises to low cost credit
and guarantees.

Address other non-economic factors that impact efforts in poverty reduction

and the enhancement of the quality of life for all as provided for in the
policies and programs below.

Social Justice, Peace and Order

Improve social justice, peace and order.

• Renegotiate the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain

(MOA AD) with special provisions, among others, for adequate
consultation on both Muslim and Christian sides and for clearly
defining the relationship between the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity
(BJE) and ARMM and BJE and the national government.
• Advance Muslim concerns including, among others, the expansion of
the Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) to other regions and provinces with
large Muslim populations; the appointment of non-political or neutral
OMA executives and officials; the hiring of more Muslim staff in
Muslim-dedicated government offices including OMA; the expedited
flow of Muslim Official Development Assistance (ODA); and the
 availability of “hallal” slaughterhouses in cities and towns with large
Muslim populations.
• Reopen negotiations with NDF/NPA communist rebels.
• Ensure that all peace negotiations with Muslim and NDF/NPA
combatants are anchored on the government’s demonstrated political
will towards reforming the structural roots of conflict and the pursuit of
social justice, including the equitable delivery of government social
services, infrastructure, and business incentives.
• Ensure the meaningful and organized participation of indigenous
peoples and communities in all matters of governance affecting their
interest and future.
• Strengthen the capacity and resources of the council for indigenous
people and neutralize the heavy interference of traditional politicians in
this council.
• Remove the high-level military and police support for criminal activities
and drug trade and clean both the military and police from corrupt
elements. (See program details in the Moral and Effective Governance
section below.)
• Expedite the removal from public service of rogue military and police
officers and personnel.
• Reinstate, to full position and honors, any military or police officer
unjustly placed in detention or removed from public office.
• Professionalize the military and police forces by means of adequate
incentive systems that reward moral and exemplary conduct and
punish violations of law and order.
• Provide adequate comprehensive support to civil society efforts
towards a holistic and comprehensive approach to peace.
• Implement and reinforce zoning laws and regulations.

Clean and Responsible Fiscal Management

Improve Fiscal Position of Government and the allocations in the National

Budget to attract both domestic and foreign investments, thereby offering
more employment opportunities for the poor and ensuring adequate funding
for social services and lesser tax burden for the poor.

Flagship

• Stop, beginning with the first 100 days and beyond, the hemorrhage of
the national budget due to corruption. Involve anti-corruption focused
civil society and business groups in cleaning up the most corrupt
government agencies, including but not limited to the Bureau of
Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Public
Works and Highways, the Department of Education, the Department of
 Environment and Natural Resources, the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and others. (See also section
on Moral and Effective Governance)
• Demonstrate political will in stopping the misuse of government funds
as efforts are made to improve tax collection and make it more
equitable.

Collection

• Improve the transparency and accountability of tax collection,

expenditures and management
• Assess and improve the effectiveness of performance-based incentive
schemes for greater tax collections, for example, the Lateral Attrition
Law and
• Assess and improve the effectiveness of programs for improving tax
collections, for example, RATES (Run After Tax Evaders)
• Introduce new performance-based incentive packages and better tax
collection programs
• Make the tax rate structure friendly to the poor.
• Improve tax collections from medium and large corporations and from
“sin taxes” by closing legal loopholes and stopping “creative”
accounting.

Disbursement

• Advocate for the removal of pork barrel from the national budget to
ensure that tax pesos are used, not to promote transactional politics
that worsen the condition of the poor, but to eradicate poverty.
• Involve civil society and business corruption watch groups in
procurements and bids of government projects.
• Increase the economic efficiency of government corporations (example
National Food Authority) so that these do not drain the national
budget.

Infrastructure Development

Intensify infrastructure development especially in the poorest regions of the

country.

• Increase the per capita road length, the road length per area and the
presence of bridges especially in economically depressed areas that
badly need roads and bridges to increase the agricultural productivity
of lower income groups.
 • Increase the budgetary allocation for critical infrastructure as a
percentage of total GDP.
• Create a favorable environment for socially responsible and
ecologically sound Build-Operate-Transfer (BOP) projects especially in
poorer regions, provinces, municipalities, and barangays.
• Improve and maintain existing critical roads and bridges using the
Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge as appropriate.
• Ensure that toll rate increases are necessary and are done
transparently and equitably.
• Install, in consultation with civil society and business, toll rates that
lower the burden for mass transport and delivery vehicles for the poor
and that such transport savings incurred are reflected in the lower
price for transportation and food items and higher net margins for
agricultural producers.
• Make transparency, accountability, eradication of corruption, and
greater institutional capacity as preconditions for greater national
government subsidies and increased official development assistance
(ODA) in the road building projects of local government units (LGUs).
• Make LGU commitments to the UN Millennium Development Goals a
precondition for national government infrastructure subsidies.
• Upgrade the quality and capacity of the nautical highway system.
• Decongest the transport system within Metro Manila by improving the
quality and quantity of infrastructure and manufacturing projects in
surrounding provinces and regions.
• (For energy and electricity infrastructure, see the section, Integrity of
Creation, on green energy.)

Social Services

Improve the financial allocation for and the targeting, delivery and impact
monitoring of comprehensive and holistic social services for the
disadvantaged and poorer sectors of Philippine society.

Better Coordination

• Depoliticize the selection of basic sector representatives in the National

Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), increase its membership to include
representatives from business, and professionalize the operations of
NAPC.

Education

• Identify the top 100 secondary educational institutions of the country,

provide support for their innovative practices, document and
 disseminate their creative educational practices, and enter into
partnerships with them as hubs of educational excellence.
• Do an in-depth study, involving all stakeholders, as basis for the
gradual transfer educational services to the cultural non-profit sector
of society especially in partnership with the community.
• Create the policy environment for strengthening the role of private
education in all levels of the school system.
• Increase the usage of educational vouchers to widen the choices of
parents. Increase focus beyond just quantity of education services to
quality of education services including more holistic educational
approaches that develop multi-talented, creative, critical-thinking,
socially-oriented students and citizens. (For other educational
initiatives, see section below on Holistic Education and Inner Change.)

Health

• Install a nationwide health insurance system, in cooperation with

business and civil society, that allows the poor, with a minimal and
easily payable premium fee, access to preventive medical approaches
as well as primary, secondary, and tertiary medical treatment.
• Task the Department of Health to install a nationwide system of
holistic and preventive approaches to medicine.
• Bundle health and nutrition services with educational objectives where
appropriate; eg. breakfast feeding and basic gardening programs in
school.
• Conduct a massive skills-oriented awareness campaign on sanitation,
nutrition, and environmental health to lay the foundations of
preventive approaches to health.
• Mobilize development partnerships with indigenous well-drillers, water
system engineers, socially responsible businesses, community
organizers from civil society to ensure that every community or family
has access to clean sources of water.

Housing

• Partner with civil society and business to provide a holistic approach to

meeting the housing needs of economically poor families.
• Encourage government, business, and peoples organization
partnership to transform urban squalor into well-managed and vibrant
housing communities for the urban poor.
Community Development

• Encourage all barangay councils to convene tri-sectoral consultations

with political, business, and civil society leaders/individuals to define
their top 6 priority needs/projects for their community. The new
government will meet all these needs within its 6-year term with
priority financial allocation and technical support given to the poorest
communities in the country.
• Rank LGUs in terms of authentic development accomplishments as the
basis for designing and delivering incentive programs including cost-
sharing and counterpart grant mechanisms for use in infrastructure
and other projects.
• Provide strategic investment, trading and human capital formation
relationships between economically vibrant cities/towns and
economically depressed municipalities and barangays.
• Refine and continue the practice of conditional cash transfers as
appropriate but improve the targeting and monitoring mechanisms to
ensure optimal support for the poor.
• Revitalize disaster response planning in vulnerable areas of the
country especially with the acceleration of climate-change related
erratic weather patterns, super typhoons, and the increasing possible
of increasing sea levels.

Consumer Protection

Promote the rights of consumers to healthy food and safe products.

• Ensure that the mandatory labeling laws for food are followed.
• Remove food products that use deceptive or vague labeling, eg.
“nature-identical” ingredients
• Re-examine the present policy on genetically engineered food
products.
• Upgrade the capabilities and systems of government regulatory
agencies to detect harmful or potentially harmful elements in food
products including pesticide residues, presence of genetically
engineered segments, radioactive isotopes, and others.
• Improve the capabilities of the consumer protection unit of the
Department of Trade and Industry to respond to consumer complaints
about food and other products.
Sustainable Population

Address the twin challenge of structural causes of population surge and

reproductive health by promoting and advancing the framework and goal of
sustainable population levels for the Philippines.

• Anchor the thrust of achieving sustainable population levels in the

pursuit of poverty eradication and enhanced quality of life for all. The
Perlas government, once elected by the people, will push for a massive
campaign against poverty and redress the economic imbalances that
ultimately fuel the continued high levels of fertility rates in the
Philippines. Experience from other countries show that population
stabilizes once a country achieves equitable economic, political, and
cultural development. In short, the reproductive health debate should
be seen in the context of the broader unjust socio-economic structures
that force human beings, especially the poor, into using questionable
reproductive-related practices.
• Advocate for a balanced approach to the reproductive health issue,
balancing the right to life of the unborn with the right of free choice by
the parents. What this balanced approach means is as follows.
• A Perlas Government agrees totally with the provisions of the
Philippine Constitution that forbid abortion. The present vague
language of the various bills on Reproductive Health should be
rewritten to reflect this broad societal consensus against abortion.
From this it also follows that we advocate a prohibition against all
reproductive approaches that ultimately result in harming parents
and/or the unborn. This includes contraceptives and other materials
and methods that are abortifacients. Similarly we will oppose any
coercive measures that force employers to provide and health
practitioners to make referrals for the use of abortifacient drugs and
devices. We consider such coercive measures as a violation of one's
conscience.
• On the other hand, we support the intent of the various bills on
reproductive health to provide greater information, education, and
support for Filipinos who want to make an informed moral choice
regarding their reproductive options. However, schools will be free to
choose, in consultation with their parents, whether or not they will
include age-appropriate sex education (that is, for adolescents) in their
classrooms.
• The educational approach should contain modules on the sacredness of
the reproductive act and the human life that results from it as well as
the responsibilities that individuals and couples have in connection
with human reproduction. This would prevent the misuse of
 reproductive health initiatives as mere excuse to advance sexual
promiscuity and irresponsibility in society.
• However, we do recognize the reality that romantic love often results
in sexual expression of that love, and therefore opens the couple to
the possibility of conceiving a new human life. For couples who are
sexually active but are not prepared to take on the added
responsibility of having children, the educational modules on
reproductive health can provide them information regarding their
options, from natural family planning to the use of practices that can
safeguard against unintentional and premature conception. This latter
can include the use of condoms and medical procedures including
ligation and vasectomy.
• In a predominantly Christian country, it is important to take note that
the Old Testament informs us that circumcision, a form of mutilation of
the reproductive organ, was acceptable for spiritual and social reasons.
The Old Testament reports that circumcision was ordained by Yahweh
to mark off the Jewish people (as part of their covenant with God)
from their surrounding neighbors. Therefore, it follows that human
beings, endowed by Reason and Free Will by God, can choose to
sacrifice their reproductive future, thru ligation and vasectomy, if they
choose not to have children in their lifetime for spiritual and social
reasons connected with their understanding of the population
challenge. This is a personal choice that does not result in abortion of
any unborn fetus.
• A Perlas Government, however, will not subsidize the sale of condoms.
If many people including the poor spend significant portions of their
money in cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling, and other similar practices
that generally do not lead to improvements in their health and general
welfare, they can afford to divert of portion of their budget for
reproductive materials including condoms that are within the price
range of their budgets.
• We will oppose all measure that dictate the "ideal family size" and
other coercive provisions in reproductive health that violate free choice
by individuals and families.
• Finally, a Perlas Government will encourage legislators to make a final
round of genuine and respectful consultations with religious and other
civil society groups to craft an integral language that would acceptable
to most, if not all stakeholders.

Advance Moral and Effective Governance

Eradicate Corruption.
Objectives and Timeline

• Remove corruption in all other government agencies within the first

year of office of a new government under the leadership of the Party.
• Promote a culture of zero tolerance for corruption in all government
agencies.
• Create a 24/7 hotline dedicated to addressing citizens’ complaints
regarding any form of corruption in any institution, ensuring an
immediate response to these complaints, and reporting to the general
public on what action has been taken to stop cases of alleged or actual
corruption.
• Ensure that anti-corruption initiatives converge with policies and
programs aimed at eradicating poverty and enhancing the quality of
life for all.
• Ensure that the legal and judicial system reinforces the political will of
the executive branch to wipe out corruption.

Demand Side

Education, Public

• Conduct massive public education, including the placement of

appropriate posters in highly visible locations in government offices,
regarding the salient provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices
Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Public Officials
(RA 6713) especially the latter’s provisions on expedited action (within
15 days) on public applications and fees.
• Create a program in government TV and radio dedicated, 24/7, to the
topic of eradicating corruption including highlighting the stories of
government officials and agencies, LGUs, civil society organizations,
businesses, and individuals who have successfully stopped corruption.

Best Practices

• Identify the best (top 100) anti-corruption initiatives and reward these
independent efforts with financial and other forms of support as well
as mainstream their innovative approaches for others to follow.

Supply Side

Transparency
 • Make all government budgets, projects, and expenditures, including
the Office of the President, public by prominently displaying this
information in the website of all government institutions.

Participation

• Open up all government agencies to anti-corruption partnerships with

civil society, business and the general public especially in corruption-
prone activities including permits, procurement, fees, certificates, and
others.
• Create, together with business and civil society, well-defined
implementing rules, regulations, and procedures for honest
transactions with government including the loss of benefits and
retirement plans for public officials guilty of graft and corruption.
• Clean up the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission and open its
membership to civil society and business leaders of known integrity.
• Encourage journalists in tri-media, including bloggers in the Internet,
to report cases of corruption or stories of successful struggles against
corruption.

Accountability

a. Human Development

• Conduct in-depth behavioral change trainers training, focused on

moral and effective governance, for all key staff of government, from
the top to the bottom.
• Ensure all employees and officers of government agencies also
undergo a similar training where they draw out specific, measurable
moral and effective governance practices
• Reform the compensation and benefits package of all government
employees to reflect ratings in moral and effective governance.

b. Reward

• Examine the compensation and incentive structure of all government

agencies and link these to exemplary performance and integrity.
• Reward, generously, those who uphold integrity and decency in public
offices beyond the call of duty.

c. Anti-harassment

• Stop the practice of placing honest civil servants in the “freezer” for
refusing to be party to systemic corruption in the institution.
 • Strengthen the ability of the Civil Service Commission to insulate
public servants from political intervention and to protect qualified and
honest public servants from political harassment.

d. Sanctions

• File administrative and criminal cases on erring public servants and

private individuals engaged in graft and corruption.
• Fire all government employees engaged in graft and corruption.

Synergy

• (See related initiatives in the section below on moral intelligence under

the Holistic Education and Inner Change.)

Improve Political Stability

• Advocate for the passage of a stronger and more sweeping anti-

dynasty law that would open the political system to men and women
of integrity, competence, and vision.
• Appoint men and women of proven integrity in the Commission on
Elections.
• Respect the independence of constitutional bodies while, at the same
time, encouraging these bodies to be pro-active in all aspects
connected with GINHAWA, integral sustainable development.
• Support a change in the Constitution through the right means
(constitutional convention, not constitutional assembly or Con-ass),
the right time (sometime after the 2010 elections) and for the right
reasons (not term extension nor dubious attempts to sell out the
patrimony of the Philippines).

Uphold the Integrity of Creation

Promote Sustainable Agriculture and Fisheries

• Re-organize the Agricultural and Fisheries Councils (AFCs) at all levels

(national, provincial and municipal) to advance sustainable agriculture
and fisheries (SAF).
• Mandate NAFC of the Department of Agriculture to conduct tri-sectoral
or threefolding provincial and municipal-based consultations as a basis
for developing a framework and blueprint for mainstreaming SAF all
over the country.
• Identify, with the help of AFCs and other partners, successful SAF
initiatives in their respective areas of responsibilities,
 • Provide adequate research, technical, training, financial, and social
capital formation support for SAF programs and initiatives.
• Provide financial and other incentives for universities and colleges
pursuing SAF especially in the area of ecological pest management and
self-contained nutrient recycling systems.
• Develop SAF partnerships with donor communities interesting in the
greening of Philippine agriculture and fisheries.

Enhance the forest reserves and cover of the country while providing
adequate livelihood for forest-based communities.

• Permanently stop logging in all remaining primary forests.

• Allow logging only under conditions of sustainable forestry practices.
• Accelerate the adoption of assisted natural regeneration (ANR) and the
use of indigenous forest species in social forestry programs.
• Develop fruit-based, no-tillage agro-forest systems in the uplands.

Increase the social and ecological performance of the mining industry

• Support the passage of the Alternative Mining Act as promoted by

progressive legislators.
• Regulate mining operations to make sure that they do not permanently
damage the environment, harm human health, and fragment
communities.
• Ensure compliance of the mining industry with the provisions for
obtaining an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), especially
the requirement of social acceptability.
• Broaden the ownership-base of the mining industry to include
substantial partnerships with affected communities and their citizens.
• Give priority to small-scale, community-owned mining operations that
are ecological sound and socially responsible.
• Instruct the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to
desist from issuing mining claims in watershed and ancestral domain
areas.

Promote the expansion of culturally sensitive ecological tourism.

• Identify, using broad-based consultations, the top 20 additional most

promising eco-cultural sites in the country especially those with
breath-taking natural features and dramatic historical events
important for the promotion of sterling Filipino values.
• Pour infrastructure and promotional resources to develop these
additional
 • Discourage, through regulation, eco-tourism activities that have either
commodified a culture or degenerated into a cover for morally
questionable activities including prostitution and drug use.

Improve air quality of major human settlements in the country.

• Remove all smoke belching vehicles in Metro Manila within the first
1o0 days of a PANGMASA government.
• Remove all smoke belching vehicles in all major cities of the country
within the first 6 months of a PANGMASA government.
• Work with transport sector to install fuel-efficient engines by providing,
among others, technical and seed financial support.
• Provide incentives for the exploration of transport vehicles based on
hydrogen fuels.
• Develop incentives for the installation of mass transport systems.
• Install dedicated human-powered bike lanes in major cities.
• Ensure that the no-smoking ban in public places is strictly enforced.

Improve management, quality and sustainability of the country’s water

resources.

• Conduct, in partnership with the appropriate civil society and business

partners, a global conference on the scientific and cultural significance
of water resources and their implications for better water quality and
supply.
• Assess the extent of fresh water intrusion in the aquifers of coastal
cities and towns.
• Remove all human activity that hasten the dying of lakes including
fishing pens in Laguna de Bay and Taal Lake.
• Ensure the integrity of the country’s watersheds by, among others,
preventing illegal logging, mining, and real estate development.

Accelerate the adoption of zero waste management.

• Restructure the whole garbage disposal system to enable segregation

at source, composting of organic wastes, recycling of non-
biodegradable waste, and proper disposal of toxic medical wastes.
• Establish strategic partnerships with civil society and business in
design, implementing, monitoring, and managing the solid waste of
the nation.
• Highlight and reward cities and towns that have exemplary solid waste
management systems.
• Ban the use of specific plastics that tend to, among others, clog up the
drainage system of cities and towns.
Stop noise pollution

• Define, using threefolding consultation processes and existing laws,

appropriate occasion and hours for public music (karaokes, giant
sound systems, etc.).
• Ensure total compliance with enacted Executive Orders and/or
provincial, city, and municipal ordinances that have a bearing on
mitigating or stopping noise pollution.

Develop a strategic response to the challenge of global climate change.

• Advance irrigated sustainable agriculture to mitigate against

unpredictable weather patterns.
• Upgrade the scientific and technological capability of PAGASA to
monitor and warn against impending super typhoons.
• Delineate the topographic contours and coastlines that will be
inundated in the event of rising sea levels.
• Plan, several years in advance, disaster response initiatives against
rising sea levels.
• Ensure that the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change involves all
key stakeholders and has constant access to the latest global scientific
consensus on the impacts of climate change, especially rising sea level
estimates.
• Advocate new legislation, or even changes in the Constitution, in the
area of area governance to enable LGUs to coordinate and converge
efforts in address potential long-term disasters arising from climate
change.

Promote the rapid use of consumer-saving, green technologies in the energy

sector.

• Create the legal, policy and financial environment to deploy the “smart
grid” concept that would enable households and buildings to become
net energy producers and income earners.
• Re-negotiate the contracts with Independent Power Producers (IPP) to
reduce the cost of electricity for millions of Filipinos.
• Ensure transparency and accountability for all energy producers and
distributors.
• Accelerate the development of indigenous sources of energy especially
environmentally-sound geothermal, solar, wind, hydro and tidal
energies.
• Launch a massive research and development effort on hydrogen fuels.
• Promote the use of high cellulose biofuels instead of relying on food-
based biofuels like sugarcane
 • Dismantle the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant which is highly
defective and cannot be fixed. Use the facility as an eco-tourist center
for green energy, history, and as a monument to the folly of
corruption.

Build Partnerships for Social Justice

Mainstream societal threefolding partnerships in ALL the policies and

programs of ALL pillars of the platform of the Party.

• Embed threefolding partnerships for social justice at the national,

regional, provincial, city/town, and barangay levels.
• Involve civil society, business, and other appropriate government
agencies in the planning, execution, monitoring, and management of
consultations, policy formulation, program design and implementation,
and evaluation activities.
• Update, with business and civil society partners, the country’s
Philippine Agenda 21 (PA21) and its framework for implementation,
the Sustainable Integrated Area Development (SIAD).
• Contextualize and embed all government policies and programs,
including the Medium Term Development Plan of the Philippines, within
the framework of PA21 and SIAD. Both emphasize, among others,
mobilizing partnerships for social justice.

Strengthen the strategic role of civil society in Philippine and global affairs.

• Provide substantive no-strings-attached financial and other appropriate

support for building the infrastructure of civil society networks and
meta-networks at the municipal, provincial, regional, and national
levels. Civil society organizations (CSOs) build ecological, human,
cultural, and societal capital that benefit governments and businesses.
These valuable contributions need to be supported because CSOs are
non-profit by nature.
• Create an Office for Civil Society to help facilitate the massive
mobilization and involvement of civil society movements, networks,
and organizations at all levels of governance throughout the country.
• Encourage, based on existing sector focus, the formation of CSO
clusters/networks around each national government agency. These
agency-specific CSO networks will become the respective partners of
the different agencies of government.
• Channel appropriate segments of Official Development Assistance
(ODA) to the strengthening of civil society meta-networks and
networks, and CSO participation in governance, and the
implementation of innovative programs and projects.
 • Support efforts of civil society to create sector and area-based trust
funds to ensure their financial sustainability; balance this support with
the appropriate regulatory provisions to ensure that these trust funds
will be used for the common good.
• Mainstream innovative CSO programs and projects as official national
government policies and programs.
• Provide counterpart funding for CSO participation in strategic global
conferences, with the proviso that such supported CSO participation
necessitates the formal sharing of results of and experiences in these
global conferences.
• Issue an Executive Order instructing local government units to create
culture and arts councils predominantly involving local artist
practitioners and cultural workers.
• Transfer NCCA governance, while maintaining government oversight,
over to civil society especially, but not exclusively, competent cultural
workers and artists.

For government initiatives appropriate to business concerns, see both the

policies and programs on macro-economics and governance above.

Promote Holistic Education and Inner Change

• Host a series of at least 10 global conferences on state-of-the-art

frameworks and best practices on multiple-intelligent education, life-
long learning, environmental education, appreciative approaches to
strategic planning, organizational/societal learning and Theory U,
scientific evolutionary spirituality, societal creativity, Lemniscate
Approach, and other topics of importance to holistic education and
inner change.
• Mainstream learning from these global conferences into the various
government, private, and civil society initiatives in education.
• Advance multiple-intelligent education (especially existential, moral,
and spiritual intelligence) in public education and encourage all non-
government schools and institutional training and human development
programs to do the same. (See also discussion above on human
development in the dimensions and principles of integral sustainable
development.
• Encourage historically relevant and morally uplifting fiestas.
• Encourage mass media to highlight good news, exemplary initiatives,
moral courage against corruption, livelihoods that life people out of
poverty, environmental conservation, and other topics that help create
a culture conducive to GINHAWA or integral sustainable development.
• Encourage religious groups to highlight the importance of social
engaged spirituality in creating a better country.
 • Upgrade the scientific and technological education and training
standards of the country to ensure that the necessary human
capacities will be there to support the macro and micro-economic
policies and programs envisioned in the section on Eradication of
Poverty and Enhanced Quality of Life.
• Encourage the pursuit of higher education in holistic science,
appropriate technology and environmentally sound engineering
subjects to provide the human capital necessary to mainstream the
green technologies and businesses envisioned in the Party’s anti-
poverty and quality of life platform.
• Restore primary and secondary education back to 12 years.

Mainstream Visionary Initiatives

Mobilize exemplary and visionary initiatives to support the integral

sustainable development of the Philippines.

• Identify, on the basis of the priorities/pillars of the Party’s Platform,

exemplary strategic prototypes and best practices, whether by
government, business, or civil society, at different levels of
governance throughout the country. This would include best practices
in ending poverty, sustainable agriculture, eradicating corruption,
environmental restoration, creative education, zero waste, and so on.
• Stimulate the organization of all these initiatives into clusters of similar
initiatives at the provincial, regional, and national levels.
• Organize these clusters into one national meta-network of promising
initiatives that inspire and learn from each other and aspire to share
their experiences to society at large.
• Provide mainstreaming support for the most vibrant and promising of
these initiatives in line with the priorities of the Party Platform.
• Involve these clusters and networks in the formation of local and
national government policies and programs.
• Provide priority financial and other appropriate support for programs
and projects identified in partnership with these visionary initiatives.