MANILA, Philippines - A friend of mine, who is soon to finish his dissertation, has long given up on Philippine politics. For several elections now, he has refused to exercise his right of suffrage. Every time he hears news about corruption in government, his conscience tells him that politics offers no hope. Every time he sees people converging on the streets, his conscience tells him that this government cares not for the poor. He talks about brilliant ideas, of the greatest socio-political thinkers of our time—like Francis Fukuyama, T.M. Scanlon and John Rawls, but he feels that our country and its leaders are nowhere near the suggestions of these geniuses.
We have many brilliant young men like him—scholars who have chosen to stay in an ivory tower because there’s nothing positive about our country. The same holds true for many developing countries like China, India and some nations in Africa. They are losing their brilliant young minds to the West. In a few years’ time, these intelligent gentlemen will be serving multinational corporations, not their countrymen.But I have not given up hope on my country. The reason is simple. Every time I search on Yahoo for images of Philippine poverty, I see the faces of young, innocent children suffering from abject misery. Some say poverty has the face of a woman. I think that to a very great extent and for a very long time, it has had the face of a child. These children need the ideas of our scholars who are abroad. We will be equally liable—for “murder by neglect,” as Peter Singer would say—if we don’t realize and actualize what we owe them. The thing is, I am giving my country one last shot—in 2010. Until then, I will keep in my memory the images of young children who are perhaps as brilliant as my friend but who are just simply unlucky in the natural lottery of human life. Our leaders are supposed to mitigate the impact of this natural lottery of being born to the very poor by means of justice and equality. If that doesn’t happen a few years from now, then I shall accompany my friend in finding another way to figure out the solutions outside the realm of politics. —CHRISTOPHER RYAN MABOLOC, via e-mail |
