396 Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016

A Social Contract with the

Filipino People
A National Leadership in
Need of Transformational
Change
Its legitimacy is under question;
It persecutes those who expose the truth
about its illegitimacy and corruption;
It stays in power by corrupting individuals
and institutions;
It confuses the people with half-truths
and outright lies;
It rewards, rather than punishes,
wrongdoing;
It ofers no lasting solutions for the many
problems of the country;
It weakens the democratic institutions
that hold our leaders accountable.
It hinders our local governments from
delivering basic services;
It has no vision of governance beyond
political survival and self-enrichment.
A People Crying out for
Change
Corruption robs our children of their
protection, nutrition and education.
Corruption destroys our families and
communities.
Corruption steals from our farmers and
workers.
Corruption deters businessmen from
investing in our economy.
Tis has eroded our spirit as individuals,
as communities, as a people.
We have lost trust in the democratic
institutions we so courageously re-
established after the dictatorship.
Our proven capacity for collective
outrage and righteous resistance has
been weakened.
We have ceased to depend on the
patriotism and civic engagement that
used to animate many of our eforts.
We have become divided and alienated,
focusing only on ourselves and on our
individual pursuits.
Our moral faculties as a people have
been paralyzed.
BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
PLATFORM of GOVERNMENT
397 A Social Contract with the Filipino People
We have retreated into a dark world
of self-absorption and cynicism. Our
collective despair has reached its lowest
point.
Then finally, the gift of
Light
Cory Aquino passed on to the next
life. From our sadness, we awakened
to a shaft of light cutting through
the darkness. She left the Filipinos
a legacy of selfess love for country
and people. Filipinos connection
with each other was rekindled. In
death, she enabled us to hope again
for decent government. Te millions
who connected with Cory at her
funeral represented something more
than euphoria, sentiment or transient
emotions. Tey represented the
reverent memory of a good leader in
the past and the frm hope of having
a similarly good leader in the future.
A Peoples Campaign of
Renewed Hope
Anchored on Ninoys and Corys
legacy of change through the ways of
democracy
Embraces the qualities of integrity,
humility and trust-worthiness in
public leadership
Recognizes the absence of these
qualities in government as a major
cause of widespread poverty, misery
and despair.
The Vision for the
Philippines:
A country with
1. A re-awakened sense of right and
wrong, through the living examples of
our highest leaders;
2. An organized and widely-shared
rapid expansion of our economy
through a government dedicated to
honing and mobilizing our peoples skills
and energies as well as the responsible
harnessing of our natural resources;
3. A collective belief that doing the right
thing does not only make sense morally,
but translates into economic value as well;
4. Public institutions rebuilt on the
strong solidarity of our society and its
communities.
Our Mission:
We will start to make these changes frst
in ourselvesby doing the right things,
by giving value to excellence and integrity
and rejecting mediocrity and dishonesty,
and by giving priority to others over
ourselves.
We will make these changes across many
aspects of our national life.
A Commitment to
Transformational Leadership:
1. From a President who tolerates
corruption to a President who is the
nations frst and most determined fghter
of corruption.
2. From a government that merely
conjures economic growth statistics
that our people know to be unreal to a
government that prioritizes jobs that
empower the people and provide them
with opportunities to rise above poverty.
3. From relegating education to just one
of many concerns to making education
the central strategy for investing in our
people, reducing poverty and building
national competitiveness.
4. From treating health as just another area
for political patronage to recognizing the
advancement and protection of public health,
which includes responsible parenthood, as
key measures of good governance.
398 Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016
5. From justice that money and
connections can buy to a truly impartial
system of institutions that deliver equal
justice to rich or poor.
Economy
6. From government policies infuenced
by well-connected private interests to a
leadership that executes all the laws of the
land with impartiality and decisiveness.
7. From treating the rural economy as
just a source of problems to recognizing
farms and rural enterprises as vital
to achieving food security and more
equitable economic growth, worthy of
re-investment for sustained productivity.
8. From government antipoverty
programs that instill a dole-out mentality
to well-considered programs that build
capacity and create opportunity among
the poor and the marginalized in the
country.
9. From a government that dampens
private initiative and enterprise to a
government that creates conditions
conducive to the growth and
competitiveness of private businesses,
big, medium and small.
10. From a government that treats its
people as an export commodity and
a means to earn foreign exchange,
disregarding the social cost to Filipino
families to a government that creates jobs
at home, so that working abroad will be a
choice rather than a necessity; and when
its citizens do choose to become OFWs,
their welfare and protection will still be
the governments priority.
Government Service
11. From Presidential appointees chosen
mainly out of political accommodation
to discerning selection based on integrity,
competence and performance in serving
the public good.
12. From demoralized but dedicated civil
servants, military and police personnel
destined for failure and frustration due
to inadequate operational support to
professional, motivated and energized
bureaucracies with adequate means to
perform their public service missions.
Gender Equality
13. From a lack of concern for gender
disparities and shortfalls, to the
promotion of equal gender opportunity
in all spheres of public policies and
programs.
Peace & Order
14. From a disjointed, short-sighted
Mindanao policy that merely reacts to
events and incidents to one that seeks
a broadlysupported just peace and will
redress decades of neglect of the Moro
and other peoples of Mindanao.
Environment
15. From allowing environmental
blight to spoil our cities, where both the
rich and the poor bear with congestion
and urban decay to planning alternative,
inclusive urban developments where
people of varying income levels are
integrated in productive, healthy and
safe communities.
16. From a government obsessed with
exploiting the country for immediate
gains to the detriment of its environment
to a government that will encourage
sustainable use of resources to beneft
the present and future generations.
Tis platform is a commitment to change
that Filipinos can depend on.
With trust in their leaders, everyone can
work and build a greater future together.