Agrarian reform

Second, the problem of agrarian reforms for dividing the land will not solely be determined by Noynoy especially that he is the president and has forego his rights in the corporation that is leading Hacienda Luisita. To do so will not be a good model, it is abuse of power to actually handle matters not immediately under the supervision of your office. Although the president can have a say about everything and about every final decision on matters of national interest, the Hacienda Luisita matter is not his sole ownership so that he can distribute these lands at his own whim.

Another thing, what infuriates every land owner is the spurious and disputes that surrounds many of the claimants; while some of them want ownership of the land, others are simply happy with the way they are being governed. In addition, most of those who are prominent in asking for land have not actually tilled the soil! They were simply there to ask a land, and what? By just asking! There was no real law concerning land distribution that was enforced until Ferdinand Marcos actually tried to do it. By that time, most of the lands that have high commercial value are already owned by most of the Hacienda owners. He created the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Agrarian Reform Special Account Fund. He sought to strengthen the position of farmers and expanded the scope of agrarian reform.

Most land owners are from prominent families, the rich and illustrious. While most laborers would dream to have a land of their own to till, many of these are actually living in rural areas governed by staffs of the land owners. It is easy to see that these lands should be given up for the poor and distributed equally but the effectivity of this method is questionable as no one can sequester any land and then just distribute them for free without being penalized by the law. To do this is contrary to protecting the legal right of individuals and their properties. What the government can do is to compensate and enter into agreement with landowners on how best to divide the land or how much of it can actually be distributed for the needs of the farmers who are landless. Another typical problem also arise when the land is about to be divided, many spurious claimants appear and try to restrain the distribution of the land. These are just some somber problems that we face when doing land distribution and there are none left to distribute except those of the government owned and bought areas including those that are still owned by the traditional and big land owners.

Thus, it is not easy to resolve land disputes except that the government encourages those who own it and then buy the land. Man is not motivated to give his own except by providence and a form of token. An alternate solution to these problems is providing massive scholarships to those poor and deserving that ensures them to get a vocational training and college schooling for four years. The vocational training such as farming, fishing, carpentry and craftsmanship have dignity in all of them, so that one does not depend on employment alone after college when one waits for a call for a job by a company. In Jewish culture, every father is called to teach his son a trade so that he will not become a thief. They train their children not just the Bible but give them trades to learn from and get their living. This system has worked for more than 4000 years. I do not think there is a better way than this or to simply depend on a vanishing resource such as land.

Streamlined government functions best

Third, on the reduced subsidy on basic services, the government, to function in a manner that is fast and swift to our needs, it must truly reduce its debts as well as its expenses. Close those offices that are not needed anymore and open more to those which can truly cater for the needs of the people. For example, BFAR which overseas the aquatic resources of the country could have been streamlined by simply incorporating this within DENR as a division or co-department and putting all its staffs and resources neatly together with DENR so that there is no need to create separate departments or bureaus. The only problem is learning to respect their divisions and the autonomy of each division chief from eg forest, or terrestrial resources from those who govern the seas and the atmosphere. At present, we have a government which is functioning and using 80% of its resources for 20% of real output. We should reduce the government to 20% of its present size to 80% of output. The people should be doing more because democracy is a government by the people and for the people. It should not be dependent on the offices.

The jobs of the offices should be to facilitate contracts, policies and enforce the law where needed. We are to stop becoming beggars to the government, instead, if we see a problem, we have to deal with it and produce an alternative solution that is deemed better than what is currently being done. That brings us to the public and private partnerships which are truly needed because the weight of burden to keep our government afloat. This cannot be solely borne by a government which is running at deficits. If we have 90 million people simply depending on the 5 million that is government employed, that leaves us much to answer for. Or to think that half of the 90 million are depending on their OFWs and the other half are dependent to government and private employment, this is just a survival mode with no outstanding wealth left to boost innovation, engineering or technology.

The design of democracy is a proactive people and government working together for the good of all. Not a government that is solely bearing the weight and provision of every person so that the individual does not develop his own talents and resources to live and help others. We need to privatize services which are not being done properly because private services allow us to measure the output by the amount of investments and see if we are profiting or not.

There is no permanent charity on record that provided sustained giving except the ocean, rivers, soil, the air, the plants or forests but even these are already being depleted by pollution, over extraction and trampling by humans. Privatization is an attempt to distribute resources at an affordable price to the widest base of consumers while maintaining quality service. Government which is reticent to maintain good or outstanding quality is often below this standard both in service and provision compared to a streamlined private sector. This is what the president sees, the aftermath of providing good and quality services for the people.

Travels and trainings

Concerning the US visit, Jon Amos Comenius, the father of modern education once said that traveling is a must for every scholar to increase in learning and widen the breath of one’s experience. In this globalized economic setting, isolation will not bring us any good thing in the long run. The only way to continue speeding up is to actually enlist the help of everyone who can facilitate our growth towards our goal. If we want concrete development, looking at others such as the US, Japan, Germany and China of what made them successful and what made us fail should be a must and not only a suggestion to do. Talking to a leader from these countries will help us achieve and get impartation of their experience even just in a few minutes of talk. This is humility.

The main reason the Chinese were currently the most successful is because of their high investment in the education of their children not just in graduate studies in their countries but even sending them abroad. It shouldn’t be a surprise why they are so many in German, English and American universities where one gets a solid foundation in engineering, literature, science and technology courses. China’s massive influx of students both blessed the countries that host them and their home countries because they impart and become imparted with their culture. A subtle attack on this is to suspect every Chinese scholar as a spy. This should not be, nor should we suspect every Filipino student who goes abroad as one who simply wants to have a good life.

The more students we send abroad, the more of these can return and bring back their learnings if we allow them to have a contract with us that any discoveries, any learnings should be brought back also to the Philippines. Although the contract is binding, it is meant also as an insurance for the sending country to be given due return of its investments in the students. Travel therefore hones our skills at communicating our discoveries and also learning from what others have already achieved. With this we do not need to re-invent the wheel.

About the human rights violations, it is indeed true that we need to do something here. It starts by giving constant seminars and re-education of the police and military forces by including them in conferences and proceedings that are needed by them to be equipped. Why not include them in human rights conferences, so that the story is not one-sided? Why not ask them to come in forensics, DNA conferences, in the latest spy and intelligence training? Doing these investments in the top cadre of our police and military forces can professionalize them. The same should be done with the union leaders so that they do not become intransigent of their positions over what is rational and truth, what is profitable for business and what can destroy a business. Often, people who have been exposed to seminars on what runs a business and what does not learns to become rational over their demands. This benefits not just business owners but also helps the employees try to become entrepreneurs themselves.

Divisions within the appointees

While it is laudable that every government should be solidly for the president and his agenda, we know that for every gold in the office, there are also hays and stubbles. If this cannot be avoided, we should learn to tolerate and respect the decisions of one another without bringing the personal conflicts within our offices so that we do not duly affect our constituents. The Bible simply tells us that if we are raising our voices for one goal to God, we should give up any malice that we have towards each other. We must learn to forgive the offenses committed against us whether this was intended or by ommission. Finally, on matters of his handling the messes that was committed by neglect of duties, let us learn that it is not easy to be appointed or elected in an office that at first we did not desire to be thrown into. Let us help instead by praying that our president will do his job well and we do ours by looking for solutions to the problems that we see.

The unenvisioned place

Just as the president did not expect to get elected and be thrown into the limelight as quick as possible even to the world stage because of a hostage mess, all of us are being thrown into places we did not quite expect at first. We all face challenges in our walk in this life. We desire to be at a certain place already or at a school and scholarship we want, but sometimes, the expected places do not come. Instead we receive the things we did not wish for in the first place. This happened to the apostle Paul who wished many times to come to Thessalonica but as he said, "Satan thwarted us" (1Thess 2:17-18). Can the devil be this powerful so that he can actually influence the plan of God for this apostle? Of course not but God allowed this circumstance to shape the life of his apostle. Though he greatly desired to be with the Thessalonians, God did not allow Paul to be there in the times that he wanted to visit them.

Paul must have received his vision from God to actually plant churches, disciple more students, soldiers, laborers and prisoners but more often, his journeys led into imprisonments. This could have created a great set-back in the plans of Paul to plant churches and ministries. But what we don’t often see in the present is unfolding plan of the Lord in the life of his servant.

God allowed him to be thrown into jail and buffeted by the enemy to refine Christ’s life in him: singing hymns at midnight, rejoicing always not just in the happy days but even in imprisonments, thanking and praying to God without ceasing and foregoing places of human fraternity for an intimate relationship with God. Paul's character was polished by his sufferings so that his obedience stemmed from genuine love for the Lord. His letters express the warmth of an actual life bathed in Christlikeness that comes from genuine experiences in the unexpected places. He, more than any other apostle has penned mighty letters that changed the landscapes of civilizations. At one time, visiting a place, the people recognized him and his companions so that they said, those who have turned the world upside down have come here too!  Beloved, our walk with God may be punctuated by sorrows and sufferings that we have not expected in the first place. We too have been beset by trials but we have a sure word and testimony that God sets up people for a nobler and far greater purpose.

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Hebrews 12:1-13

Let us learn to consider others who have walked in the same paths as we have already done. They have been sawn into two, beheaded, cut, accused, burned, wearied and walked homeless, without companions or without fathers and mothers. Think of John the apostle who was exiled in Patmos, if there was anyone who was a "people person," it would have been John. Yet, there in the isle of Patmos, a rocky and deserted island, he could have been bitter. But this was not certainly God’s plan for his servant who had been with Jesus and served the Lord the longest. Yet without John being exiled, we would not have read nor seen the majesty of Christ’s end time plan for his church and the beginning of a new beginning on earth. All things are beautiful in God’s time. Pray that your struggles and plans be accomplished according to His plan.