Ang Kapatiran Party Platform

Post date: Oct 20, 2009 4:46:42 AM

Manuel “Manny” Valdehuesa for Senator (No. 59 on the ballot)

Ang Kapatiran Party is a full-fledged national political party, not just a party-list group. It is also known as The Alliance for the Common Good. It is unlike groups that claim to be a political party but are in fact temporary alliances for capturing power and control. Because they are temporary groupings, they break up and disintegrate after elections, some go one way, others abandon their platform and forget their promises, while still others form new groups or join other parties. Meanwhile, all but a few go into the business of enriching self and family, establishing a dynasty, while dipping into the pork barrel to undertake public works that they can claim as their gift to the people.

The truth is, they are not genuine political parties. They are organized conspiracies for political and economic aggrandizement. They are entrepreneurs who invest in politics in hopes of big pay-off. They exploit the weakness of our democracy. They corrupt the electorate. They come alive only during election seasons.

In contrast, Ang Kapatiran is an earnest political party – a fact that made Inquirer Columnist Randy David remark that “there are really just two political parties in this country: the Communist Party and the Ang Kapatiran Party.” It’s easy to understand why he said that; for Ang Kapatiran consistently focuses on a forthright, no-nonsense platform that addresses the malaise plaguing our society. What is this malaise, and what platform can cure it? We have a comprehensive platform; so let me dwell on its salient aspects..

First, our morals and sense of values are decayed. We allow trapos to buy our votes, while others sell theirs. We say we want reforms but elect characters with dubious morals, inferior intellect, corrupt values, or criminal records. And we do it on all levels starting with our own barangay. Generally, we surrender governance to trapos and petty politicos who hijack the votes of our neighborhoods on behalf of the Big Trapos.

To counter this moral, social, and political decay, Ang Kapatiran calls on all to go back to basics, to the tenets of our faith, be it Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or other. That’s the way to build a nation of character and promote the well-being of Filipinos. Only by renewing our spiritual and cultural moorings can we fashion a society built on such universal principles as the sanctity of human life; the dignity of the human person; the integrity and sovereignty of family and community.

Only by being true to the humanist tradition can we effectively proclaim and practice compassion and take care of the poor and disadvantaged in our society. Then there will be respect for the dignity of work, for the rights of workers, for honest living. Then we can forge solidarity, practice subsidiarity, and celebrate fraternity – which is the meaning of Kapatiran. Then shall we take good care of God’s creation and our environment. Good governance simply is caring for man and nature!

Second, our culture has been damaged to the point of damnation. Why else would our society earn the sobriquet of “Most corrupt in Asia?” We are damned in the eyes of others. But instead of complain like a hypocrite, Ang Kapatiran bows its head and strives to dispel the perception with earnest efforts at eradicating corruption. After all, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!

Our platform calls for the eradication of forces that cause the darkness of corruption and wrongdoing. We want to abolish the pork barrel system and all forms of gambling. We want gun control, to make it a criminal offense for anyone except police, soldiers, and licensed security guards to carry weapons in public places. Weapons break the peace and destroy life.

We want to promote responsible parenthood. We want to spend on education and books rather than on condoms and IUDs. We want media and cinema to tone down on sexual promiscuity and violence, vice, materialism, and hedonism. Our society needs to replace these with images and sounds of virtue and joy, responsibility and harmony.

We want an end to political dynasties. We ask those who hold on to power to let go and give others a chance to serve. If they refuse, we call on all to defy them, to remove them, and to recall the power delegated to them.

The rich, celebrity-encrusted parties have shown time and again that they cannot or will not solve the ills of our society. All they have are slogans and slick assurances that won’t do anything for our communities. They don’t even have a strategy for mobilizing the 42,000 communities or barangays of our archipelago. They have no program for awakening the barangays so the people themselves can defy and defeat those that fool and corrupt them. Only Ang Kapatiran has such a defined strategy and program.

Let’s face it, the traditional parties and their trapo leaders will not clean up the system or the culture of corruption, of poverty, of death, of disease. How can they? Their exploitative brand of governance caused it all! This explains why through all the decades they have been in power, none of them rise to the stature of statesmen.

Under them, despite their promises, things only got worse. Immorality got worse. Corruption got worse. Plunder proliferated. Poverty levels spiraled. Only they got rich and comfortable. They not only didn’t do the dirty work, they brought in the dirt and trashed the system, the government, and the society by ruling as oligarchs. Ang Kapatiran wants to reverse all this and install integrity, honesty, and principled governance within the framework of a people-powered democracy.

Now that you know what we stand for, what choice is there except to vote for the Ang Kapatiran slate! Only Ang Kapatiran is ready, willing, and able to do the dirty work.

If you doubt this, check it out with the seven bishops who have already declared Ang Kapatiran as the only sincere party on the political landscape today. They will tell you that JC de los Reyes, Jun Chipeco, and our seven senatorial candidates are your best hope for reforms. For we are a team with a mission and a common platform!

PGEA, March 18, 2010, Cagayan de Oro City