“Be assertive” Duterte tells the public

HAPPY WEEKEND

By Gina Dizon

Being assertive of one rights takes one being informed.

And being informed takes one to be responsive. And get empowered with such information to one’s rights to live and act freely, to pursue one’s welfare, mobility and happiness.

And to act accordingly.   

“Be assertive”, President Rodrigo Duterte tells the Filipino people during his State of the Nation (SONA) 2019 address to slap faces of public employees who ask for more than required government fees.

A strong message that equally takes one to know the required fees first of all, basic and necessary before one acts.

And on with other rights that a person has to know. This to include rights to information, to due process, to mobility, to expression, to security, to live freely among other social, cultural and political rights. Rights enshrined in the Philippine Constitution, State laws, international laws and the very divine 10 commandments of God.

It takes a person to know, use his will and act accordingly. For what is life for existing, without knowing and acting. Responsively and responsibly that is.

In this present state of affairs in Philippine society, one is bound to encounter a number of rights-bulldozing situations one has to be conscious of.  While one has to be conscious of one’s rights to one’s personal relationships, government conditions equally need attention as this in everyday conditions come across one’s social and economic existence.  

The Build, Build, Build program of President Duterte cuts across rights of the person to one’s property. Just compensation calls for titled lots for sites to be built on whether private  where the public needs it.  Untitled lots on the other hand face difficulties on having peoples’ properties justly paid because precisely these are untitled as the law provides.

In mountainous areas where indigenous peoples abound on their untitled properties due PD 705 have all the rights for their properties not to be arbitrarily scraped or bulldozed to make way for any infrastructure project be it a road or a gymnasium without out their consent.

Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is a glaring right provided by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) accorded to any indigenous person to assert in an individual or collective state.

In the same context where the country’s call for investments, foreign investment included is up and about, rights to one’s property as to his notice, consent or compensation equally needs assertion. Investment can be made in any piece of land or body of water or the air where territory covers. It can be a housing, food or raw material factory, hydro energy, telecommunications project and people have to be very alert and conscious of their rights to their very own properties, individually and collectively. That is, whether they like or not and the necessary consent, compensation or terms where such is necessarily called for.

‘Be assertive’ so it goes.

In infrastructure project implementation, the perceived sinful, illegal, irregular 60-40 ‘commission’ of politicos and government officers from infrastructure programs is public knowledge.  The end result is poor substandard infrastructure that easily collapses and the growing wealth of a contractor and the politico in having partook of what is in public knowledge called S O P.

There is only a legal 10% contractors’ profit. The rest, less the VAT and overhead costs, as what the project specifications are should be followed as contained in the program of work. Otherwise, the government’s Build Build program shall be riddled with corruption if people are not informed, not vigilant and thus should watch and monitor what the project is with all its specifications, and how it is constructed in their very own territories.

Corruption with all of its ugliness let people and government officers and officials fall in this lopsided enticing game of deviltry ultimately leading to people’s poverty and misery and the government officer’s laughing his way to the bank.

Where both governments especially the leadership shall not stop corruption and the people shall not sound off and forward their rights corruption and the devil and suffering is here to stay.

Corruption breeds poverty and this has been emphasized over and over again.

Any citizen can feel the pinch of corruption where it prevails in a given society. The stench of poverty, of unemployment, of disease, of sickness, of inequality, of violence and disorder that corruption brings. This with the need for people to “be assertive”, and demand for their rights.

Yes, President Duterte, people should be assertive. 

The Philippines is ranked 99th out of 180 countries based from 2018 Transparency International data  as the most corrupt country from its 111th place in 2017.  

Be assertive. And it takes the government to equally complement.

Alejandro Salas, regional director at Transparency International says, “The progress of anti-corruption efforts can only be achieved and sustained, if there is a combination of building and strengthening of democratic institutions, fair and non-politicized punishment, and openness to citizen and journalism participation and engagement."

Other rights are sectoral State law provides for.

In pursuance of the Magna Carta for Women, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) allots at least 5% from the budget of local government units and government agencies for gender and development (GAD) programs. Women organizations are a many and with their many needs necessarily and justly needs that 5% allocation to address livelihood, empowerment, violence against women and children (VAWC).

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) equally have 1% of the total budget of government units and government instrumentalities according to the GAA in pursuance to the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. That aside from other laws benefitting PWDs.

And so with other sectoral, individual and citizen's rights one has to be conscious of and be assertive and accordingly demand for where these are not recognized or delivered.

That, to include the 5 to 10 working days limit demanding action from government offices to a   public request based on the ARTA (Anti Red Tape Act)  which in the latest SONA directive of Duterte is giving “three days”  from the amended 2017 Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act. This amended ARTA providing a 3 to 7 working day limit to public requests  informs the public for government to work efficiently as what their jobs call for them to do being paid accordingly from people’s money.  

Where rights are ignored and people are not assertive would be a dreadful and miserable world.   

So ‘just do it’ so to remember what the late DOH officer and senator Juan Flavier once said.

That includes literally slapping erring government officers and employees.