Our problem is the system

Ask anyone who wants nothing more than see a better Philippines, and you will get the same answer--revolution. There is simply no other way to change this country of ours other than this. The fact is--we tried every single trick in the Constitutional book and all we got was the same disappointing results.

We tried solving our problem thru political means. We created elections as a way of choosing leaders who would create laws or enact them in a fair and honest way. Nothing happened.

Some blame our culture, others say, we are disunited as a people. However, over time, many of us already realized that the core of the problem lies not within us, but outside of us----the very system which we chose to guide our behavior, our actions.

The thing is, whenever we refer to "system" we often think of governance frameworks. We blame government for all the things happening around us. And, yes, in general terms, our governance model really sucks.

But, what exactly ails us? Why is it that despite us raising the salaries of government employees, including our uniformed personnel, there seemed to be a continuing trend for bigger and juicier "kickbats" from government contracts. Compared a decade ago, salaries of public officials are higher than the usual salaries of people working in private firms now. But, graft continues, most cases involved private individuals who probably think of government as the biggest bank of all.

We strengthened our penal code with stricter laws that discourage graft and corruption, but the incidence of graft remains very high. It seems that nothing really changed.

Let's admit---we fucked up, and fucked up big time. We are living in a society with festering wounds filled with band aids, and rubbed with efficacent oils.

Admit it--our system needs a reboot. It needs to be re-engineered based on the current requirements of Filipinos in this age. Congress is supposed to be the body tasked by our Constitution to do this task, but both houses are now filled with nincoompoops, some of them too deranged to serve, while others too demonic to even think of change. Same goes with our Supreme Court--it is supposed to be the bastion of our sanity, but, for many years, acted like it was the main promoter of our misery.

Our institutions are failing because the very concepts by which their existence are based, are now questionable. We need new institutions.

Today's call is centered on changing our governance model, from Republican unitary to Parliamentary federal. But, is the governance model the problem?

No.

The problem is really our economic system--it was not designed to really benefit the majority of Filipinos.