Tito John, as I call him, is currently the Project Manager of Southeast Asia Food Inc. (SAFI) He finished his studies in secondary and tertiary level as a State Scholar of our city.
Now living in La Paz, Iloilo City, Tito has a loving wife, Tita Inday and has 2 sons and a daughter (obviously my cousins) John, Fredeliz Irene Rowena and Cid Henry Erickson. (I'm so blessed to have them part of my family.)
Tito talked on ways on Reviving the Nation through simple steps.
Here's what he told the 2007 graduates of Doña Hortencia Salas Benedicto National High School, the home of Luiji John Karlo M. Suarez, the Organization Awards Winner of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, Lemelson Foundation Award during the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held at Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA on May 13-19, 2007.
Reading this somehow filled up my ignorance on many issues that are currently pandemoniac in our Filipino nation.
I personally thank Tito for these words.
This may take a few minutes of your time but I tell you, it's worth it.
REVIVING THE NATION
The Vision
Where do we go from here? Where must the Philippines be ten, fifteen years from now?
We must be afraid to dream of a country which is free of poverty by the year 2020.
We have to make a decision to solve this problem in our generation.
This translates to two million Filipino getting out of the poverty trap every year.
Can this be done? Yes, this can be done. Is there hope? Yes there is. How do we do this?
My dear graduates, parents, teachers, education officials, local government executives, fellow alumni, fellow students, classmates and friends may I humbly offer a simple step by step strategy.
First, we must put our selves in order and change the world's perception of the Filipino.
To do this, we must change our value system. We need to have a value-driven educational system anchored on love of God, country, and fellowmen.
We must reform the elector process and ensure that only men and women of impeccable integrity will be in the commission on Elections. Men and women who know how to count and cannot be bought. Who have only the present and future welfare of the Filipinos in their hearts and nothing else.
We must educate the electorate so that politicians can no longer fool us.
We must eliminate graft and corruption in government. From the President of the Philippines to the lower clerk. From Malacañang to the Barangay Hall. We need an honest government.
Our government must do what is right and good for the people without expecting to be bribed and without extorting money from the citizens. We have paid you enough with our hard earned taxes. We need not pay you anything extra anymore.
We need to abolish the pork barrel for congressman and senators. Their job is to craft laws, to see that these implemented, and where weakness and problem exist, to strengthen these laws. It is not there job to build waiting sheds, foot walks, roads, schoolhouses, and buy medicines. We have the DPWH, DepED, DSWD, and the DOH to do all these. We do not need a duplication of these functions.
Public office is public trust, according to Henry Ford I.
We need to change first.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "What lies behind us, and what lies ahead of us, are small things compared to what lies within us."
We need to build our character first. We must put our selves in order.
Second, we must put our house in order and attract investments.
We need to clean our backyard.
We need to clean our communities, roads, drainage system and public place and keep them clean.
We need to minimize waste, segregate them, do our best to recycle, and dispose of our garbage properly.
We need to clean our rivers and seas and stop dumping garbage on them.
We need to stop denuding our forests and start planting trees instead.
We need to clean and protect our mangroves and coral reefs.
We need to stop crime, drug addiction and trafficking, urban blight.
We need to invest in social as well as physical infrastructure.
We need to effectively address the needs of the orphans, homeless, the aged, and the disabled.
We need to separate the weak from the able-bodied.
We must take care of the weak and the sickly but we must provide the able-bodied with fresh opportunities for a productive life.
We need to invest in power, transportation, and communication infrastructure.
We need more power generation transmission capacity in order to bring down the cost of power in country.
We need to improve the quality of the roads, bridges, seaport and airports.
We need to balance the national budget. We can do this if we can stop graft and corruption, maximize revenue collection, and exercise prudence in spending.
If we do all these, increase foreign direct investment and tourism, both on a sustainable bases, will nit, far from behind. With added investment, employment will increase and morale will improve. These will lead to better productivity, which leads to better profit, which lead to higher government revenues, and therefore increase level for infrastructure. And the economy will get better and better.
Last but not the least, we must put our tools in order.
Our tools are our knowledge and competence. Our Agriculture. Our Industry. Our Services.
In this third strategic step, we need an educational system that can improve science and mathematics instruction.
Education is one of the powerful social invention against poverty. Innovative educational program instill in the student the power to hope and the desire to make a difference by using gifts to benefit others. To benefit the community and nation.
We need to focus more on science, engineering and technology that convert the knowledge and competence of our workforce from the basic to the more advance know how and skill this nation needs in order to add more and more value to our resources, products and services.
We need to produce more brilliant scientists and engineers. By sharpening our skills, we can produce more rice, more corn, more sugar from our declining agriculture lands and globally competitive costs.
By sharpening our know how, we can run our industries more efficiently and productivity, producing products and world-class quality we can export. Products we can label, "Proudly Made in the Philippines."
By technology and innovation, we can improve the competitiveness of our services sector. In the global market, it is only through productivity, quality value, and innovation that we can compete.
This would mean better profit in industry, which will result to higher government revenues, further resulting to better infrastructure, and further improving the investment attractiveness of the nation.
The Challenge
Dear graduates, whatever field it will be you want to pursue, I challenge you to pursue it the you can by working as hard as you can, always cognizant of the fact that your nation needs us. The challenge I gave you and everybody listing tonight is a long and difficult process.
But we need to start the process of putting our selves in order, putting our house in order, and putting our tools in order. And we need to start NOW.
For ourselves, our families, and our nation and in the process, glorify GOD.
Our nation needs a leader with a vision for a better quality of life for Filipinos. A leader with the courage to do whatever it takes no matter what the cost to his prison. The competence to discern good from bad, right from wrong.
The character to stay the course no matter the threats, the obstacles, the risk.
If we do not have the leadership now, just looking at this batch of graduates of 2007 tells me we will have the leadership in the near future.
Therefore dear graduates, dream to make a difference. For he is not the man who does not improve his part of the world.
Some of you might want to become doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, architects, dentists, lawyer and accountants.
Do not just dream of becoming a doctor or a nurse. Dream of inspiring and giving hope to the sick and the hopeless.
Do not just dream of becoming an accountant. Dream of bringing wealth to this nation.
Do not just dream of becoming an architect. Dream of beautifying our country.
Do not just dream of becoming a dentist. Dream of bringing close-up smile and colgate smile. Dream of bringing about dental health.
Do not just dream of becoming a lawyer. Dream of fighting for what is right. Dream of standing up for justice and equality.
Do not just dream of becoming an engineer. Dream of improving the way people work, travel, communicate, and live. Dream of making this world a better place to live in.
Do not just dream of becoming a teacher. Dream of transforming lives.^
Where do we go from here? Where must the Philippines be ten, fifteen years from now?
We must be afraid to dream of a country which is free of poverty by the year 2020.
We have to make a decision to solve this problem in our generation.
This translates to two million Filipino getting out of the poverty trap every year.
Can this be done? Yes, this can be done. Is there hope? Yes there is. How do we do this?
My dear graduates, parents, teachers, education officials, local government executives, fellow alumni, fellow students, classmates and friends may I humbly offer a simple step by step strategy.
First, we must put our selves in order and change the world's perception of the Filipino.
To do this, we must change our value system. We need to have a value-driven educational system anchored on love of God, country, and fellowmen.
We must reform the elector process and ensure that only men and women of impeccable integrity will be in the commission on Elections. Men and women who know how to count and cannot be bought. Who have only the present and future welfare of the Filipinos in their hearts and nothing else.
We must educate the electorate so that politicians can no longer fool us.
We must eliminate graft and corruption in government. From the President of the Philippines to the lower clerk. From Malacañang to the Barangay Hall. We need an honest government.
Our government must do what is right and good for the people without expecting to be bribed and without extorting money from the citizens. We have paid you enough with our hard earned taxes. We need not pay you anything extra anymore.
We need to abolish the pork barrel for congressman and senators. Their job is to craft laws, to see that these implemented, and where weakness and problem exist, to strengthen these laws. It is not there job to build waiting sheds, foot walks, roads, schoolhouses, and buy medicines. We have the DPWH, DepED, DSWD, and the DOH to do all these. We do not need a duplication of these functions.
Public office is public trust, according to Henry Ford I.
We need to change first.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "What lies behind us, and what lies ahead of us, are small things compared to what lies within us."
We need to build our character first. We must put our selves in order.
Second, we must put our house in order and attract investments.
We need to clean our backyard.
We need to clean our communities, roads, drainage system and public place and keep them clean.
We need to minimize waste, segregate them, do our best to recycle, and dispose of our garbage properly.
We need to clean our rivers and seas and stop dumping garbage on them.
We need to stop denuding our forests and start planting trees instead.
We need to clean and protect our mangroves and coral reefs.
We need to stop crime, drug addiction and trafficking, urban blight.
We need to invest in social as well as physical infrastructure.
We need to abolish the pork barrel for congressman and senators. It is not there job to build waiting sheds, foot walks, roads, schoolhouses, and buy medicines.
We need to separate the weak from the able-bodied.
We must take care of the weak and the sickly but we must provide the able-bodied with fresh opportunities for a productive life.
We need to invest in power, transportation, and communication infrastructure.
We need more power generation transmission capacity in order to bring down the cost of power in country.
We need to improve the quality of the roads, bridges, seaport and airports.
We need to balance the national budget. We can do this if we can stop graft and corruption, maximize revenue collection, and exercise prudence in spending.
If we do all these, increase foreign direct investment and tourism, both on a sustainable bases, will nit, far from behind. With added investment, employment will increase and morale will improve. These will lead to better productivity, which leads to better profit, which lead to higher government revenues, and therefore increase level for infrastructure. And the economy will get better and better.
Last but not the least, we must put our tools in order.
Our tools are our knowledge and competence. Our Agriculture. Our Industry. Our Services.
In this third strategic step, we need an educational system that can improve science and mathematics instruction.
Education is one of the powerful social invention against poverty. Innovative educational program instill in the student the power to hope and the desire to make a difference by using gifts to benefit others. To benefit the community and nation.
"Walang sinuman and nabubuhay, para sa sarili lamang,
Walang sinuman and namamatay, para sa sarili lamang;
Tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa't isa.
Tayong lahat ay tinipon ng Diyos, na kapiling N'ya."
We need to produce more brilliant scientists and engineers. By sharpening our skills, we can produce more rice, more corn, more sugar from our declining agriculture lands and globally competitive costs.
By sharpening our know how, we can run our industries more efficiently and productivity, producing products and world-class quality we can export. Products we can label, "Proudly Made in the Philippines."
By technology and innovation, we can improve the competitiveness of our services sector. In the global market, it is only through productivity, quality value, and innovation that we can compete.
This would mean better profit in industry, which will result to higher government revenues, further resulting to better infrastructure, and further improving the investment attractiveness of the nation.
The Challenge
Dear graduates, whatever field it will be you want to pursue, I challenge you to pursue it the you can by working as hard as you can, always cognizant of the fact that your nation needs us. The challenge I gave you and everybody listing tonight is a long and difficult process.
"The woods are sleepy, dark and deep.
But I have a promise to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep."
For ourselves, our families, and our nation and in the process, glorify GOD.
Our nation needs a leader with a vision for a better quality of life for Filipinos. A leader with the courage to do whatever it takes no matter what the cost to his prison. The competence to discern good from bad, right from wrong.
The character to stay the course no matter the threats, the obstacles, the risk.
"A nation without heroes is a sad nation, a nation without a leader is a sadder nation."
Therefore dear graduates, dream to make a difference. For he is not the man who does not improve his part of the world.
Some of you might want to become doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, architects, dentists, lawyer and accountants.
Do not just dream of becoming a doctor or a nurse. Dream of inspiring and giving hope to the sick and the hopeless.
Do not just dream of becoming an accountant. Dream of bringing wealth to this nation.
Do not just dream of becoming an architect. Dream of beautifying our country.
Do not just dream of becoming a dentist. Dream of bringing close-up smile and colgate smile. Dream of bringing about dental health.
Do not just dream of becoming a lawyer. Dream of fighting for what is right. Dream of standing up for justice and equality.
Do not just dream of becoming an engineer. Dream of improving the way people work, travel, communicate, and live. Dream of making this world a better place to live in.
Do not just dream of becoming a teacher. Dream of transforming lives.^
6 comments:
wow, bigat!.. hehehe.. wala nakikibasa lang. nakaka ehemm.. ng isip.
^_^ ano kaya yung nakaka "ehemm"?
hmmmm? :) thanks for the comment anyway.
The 1st thing we should do is change the name of the country. Until we do, we are still slaves and have not escaped the chains of colonialism.
Really makes sense Christian.
Thank you for the eye-opener.
The "Philippines" has always been synonymous to "slave" or the "sick man of Asia" (or even of the world).
But i think it would take long years of debates, arguments, scuffles and discussions.
Or perhaps, it would make things more chaotic in our country.
??? - confused.
Your right, it would be very controversial. Why? Because the majority of us "Pinoys" still have colonial mentality even if we don't know it. It will take a while but I believe we eventually will. We as a people will get smarter as the generations come. It's the natural will of people - to be truly free.
Yes, I believe that.
One Asian individual once expressed his opinion on the question, "why does it seem difficult for the Filipinos to rise from the mire of poverty?"
He said, "It's because Filipinos don't want to be Asians."
Still, it's a manifestation that most Filipinos wants to be someone else - American or whatever.
So stupid!
Why can't they be just feel proudly Pinoy.
We're on the international brightlights anyway!
Maria Clara's are still rampant and I think their population will grow bigger given without action from citizens most especially those who got resources.
Screw 'em!
Post a Comment