Shannin Mae Olivarez

Block A
Constitutional Law II
April 3, 2017 Reflection Paper for Day Two Symposium

The symposium is entitled, A national Symposium on Peace, Human

Rights, and Development in a State of lawlessness: An Interchange among

Scholars and Advocates. The speakers focused on how the Duterte

Administration shall solve the major problems of the Philippines that deals

specifically with human rights, such as poverty. The first speaker of the second

day of the symposium was Mr. Gani Serrano. He presented a paper entitled

Achieving Sustainable Development in the Philippines. In his talk, he focused on

economic growth and development, as well as the issue on poverty with respect

to human rights. He said that the poverty level in the Philippines is considered to

be a violation of human rights1. In his talk, Mr. Serrano suggested that the areas

that needed attention are three things: poverty, economic growth, and the

environment. Mr. Serrano mentioned that despite the plans and policies that the

government creates in order to promote sustainable development, the country

still faces hardships in the three main areas of concern 2. Mr. Serrano also

mentioned that the country has achieved economic growth, but despite such

result, the poverty level is still prevalent3. In addition to this, he also mentioned

environmental issues, involving the amount of greenhouse gases the country

emits, and the intensification of fossils during the Arroyo administration 4.

1 Miriam College, A National Symposium on Peace, Human Rights, and

Development in a State of Lawlessness: An Interchange among Scholars and
Advocates, Janaury 31, 2017, FACEBOOK, available at
https://web.facebook.com/MiriamCollege.fb/videos/10154990073218236/April 2,
2017 (poverty is a violation of human rights at 0:49).
2 Miriam College, A National Symposium on Peace, Human Rights, and
Development in a State of Lawlessness: An Interchange among Scholars and
Advocates, Janaury 31, 2017, FACEBOOK, available at
https://www.facebook.com/MiriamCollege.fb/videos/10154990205283236/April 2,
2017.
3 Id.
4 Id.
 Mr. Serrano laid several characteristics that have an effect on the

sustainable development in the Philippine context. Primarily, he mentioned

vulnerability and adopted capacity, to which he pointed out is the current status

of the Philippines5. Second, he also mentioned high inequality despite economic

growth6. In addition, he also stated that there is an increase in carbon footprint,

wherein which companies that contribute to the carbon footprint dominate the

economic machinery of the Philippines 7. Lastly, another characteristic would be

politics and governance by the rich 8. One of the characteristics that have caught

my attention is the paradox of economic growth and the prevalence of high

inequality or poverty. It is highly evident that numerous foreign investors would

come to the Philippines in order to establish businesses and companies, which

contribute to economic growth. Although, high inequality still prevails despite

changes in the economy due to a number of factors. The primary factor would be

the unequal distribution of wealth. It must be remembered that the economic

growth is only being felt by a small percentage of persons; that is, those who

belong to the wealthy class of society. I believe that the unequal distribution of

wealth does not only account for monetary terms, but also with regard to the

distribution of resources as well. Other areas of concern such as contratualization

and the contribution of corrupt practices of the government would also come into

play when economic growth is being questioned.

Mr. Serrano has proposed an alternative in order to come up with a new

vision. His vision is couched in a tagline entitled, prosperity without growth9. He

stated that this vision will bring about the change that the country needs in order

to have more justice and fairness, as well as help us change the value that we

5 Id.
6 Id.
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 Id.
measure10. In other words, Mr. Serrano calls the vision as development as

usual11. What made me interested in the tagline that Mr. Serrano has proposed, is

its irony and paradox. He placed emphasis on the fact that the Philippines can

prosper or improve, even without growth. The word growth here refers to

speed. The Philippines is focused on policies that are implemented in a fast-

paced manner, most especially when it concerns economic growth.

With this, Mr. Serrano proposed two main strategies: the first one is to

slow down, and the second strategy is to shorten 12. The first strategy suggests

that there should be a reversal of the process 13. Mr. Serrano stated that the

policies and programs being formulated by the government is meant to generate

growth; it is mean to create instant results which ultimately results to economic

growth, although it does not lead to the equal distribution of wealth or resources.

To further expound on this point, slowing down would also mean that the

government should focus on the root causes of the problems of society;

generating income through foreign investors is a part of the solution, but it does

not solve the underlying reason as to why the increase of economic growth is not

being felt by the poor. The common aspects of society that are heavily linked to

the root cause of the problem would be unemployment, education and livelihood.

All three aspects are connected to one another, because those are considered to

be basic necessities. A person who is unemployed is usually the one who has not

entered into school such as college, because they do not have access to free

education or they do not have the means to study. This is in turn, connected to

livelihood because most people who belong to the poverty level do not have any

source of income.

10 Id.
11 Id.
12 Id.
13 Id.
 With this regard, I agree with Mr. Serrano in saying that the government

should change its pace, since if it is too fast and eager to grow, it will only see

the big picture of what the country needs; it does not delve into basic problems

such as education, livelihood, or health. Slowing down would enable the

government to identify the root causes of the problem, which would lead to

effective spending of budget and the generation of useful projects and programs

that can benefit the indigent families of the country.

The second strategy is to shorten. What Mr. Serrano meant by this, was to

cut the distance of practically everything between meeting our needs and where

we are physically14. An example that Mr. Serrano gave was shortening the food

mile or to give education as close as possible within the community 15. Ideally, a

person should be able to access his basic needs within the community. According

to Mr. Serrano, to shorten the distance of a person and his needs is a powerful

tool that has the ability to change what we value in life 16. I believe that to

shorten the distance is an effective tool, primarily because it is tailored on the

system of government that the country has. Since the governmental structure is

decentralized, the barangays as well as the local government of each city and

municipality can work together in order to generate projects and programs that

would bring the basic resources closer to their constituents. In addition to this,

shortening the distance would also mean solving the basic problems of the

community. Problems regarding shelter, education, livelihood, employment and

health, can be given solutions even at the grass-root level of the government.

When the two strategies are put together, it would produce great

advantages, particularly a change or shift on how the government would create

programs and projects for the country. When the government would formulate

14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Id.
projects, they would take their time in brainstorming and researching the basic

problems of the nation, with the help of the barangays and the local

governments. The strategy of shortening the distance would also increase the

chances of participation coming from the citizens. In the present situation, the

barangay is the level of government that caters to the needs of their

constituents within their jurisdiction. This participation can be increased if the

solution would be to shorten the distance of the resources. One of the ways of

doing this is to use local resources. Food that is home grown, or even the

establishment of an urban garden in the barangay can help not only increase

participation, but also help the local economy. In that way, small businesses and

those that belong to the poverty line, can be part of the economic growth. The

aim of shortening the distance is to bring down the resources and basic

necessities as close to the ground as possible 17. The basic DNA of modernization,

whether it be capitalist or socialist, is discounting labor and discounting nature 18.

The second speaker for the symposium was Dr. Claudio. Focusing on the

poverty alleviation, the communist party has not contributed much to solve it

since most of the ways to address the issue regarding poverty is through

legislative acts. The communist party would prefer a revolution over the use of

creativity19. For him, the Marcosian way of economic development is what the

Duterte administration is most comfortable at. First is the targeted deficit

spending. Second is the peso-depreciation, in order to boost our exports and for

the convenience of the incoming OFW money. Lastly, is the comfort with

inflation20. Despite the extra-judicial killings, the macro-economic strategies are

the ones that he finds interest in. In the context of the Philippine government, it

17 Id.
18 Id.
19 Id.
20 Id.
is not new for us to have different types of style when it comes to governance. In

the case of the Duterte administration, it is no different than that of the other

past administrations, since it also has its own style of governance, and it also has

different priorities. In my opinion, President Duterte is more focused on the

internal security of the nation, which has to do with peace and order and the war

on drugs. President Duterte invests in resources when it comes to manpower and

security, when it comes to catching drug users, drug dens and distributors. The

war on drugs has been the focus of the administration, in the hopes that if the

drug problem is mitigated or solved, then it shall bring forth a domino effect. The

question is, while the drugs can be a major root cause of the problems in society,

is the Duterte administration solving it in the right way?

Overall, both presentations have given important insights on what the

current administration needs to do and what they prioritize. The approach given

by Mr. Serrano is helpful in terms of how the government should formulate their

programs and policies. The one thing that could be added in Mr. Serranos

framework can be the essence of feedback mechanism. This can further enhance

the participation of people since they can engage in discussions with the

government after the implementation of a certain program.