Reclaiming Good Governance

Who are the FSGOs?

We are Filipinos who had served as senior officials at Cabinet and sub-Cabinet levels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines under six presidential administrations over the past 40 years.

We came together in outrage at the corruption and abuse of power of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo while occupying the Office of President. And we continue to work together out of deep concern for the welfare and future of our country under a President such as this. We seek to help the Filipino people end Gloria’s Presidency and reclaim good governance from the malignant power of bad leaders.

Our having met the tough demands of serving our government at senior official levels defines our individual capabilities. Each of us has acquired a high degree of substantive and practical competence in at least one sector, department or sphere important to the life of our people, whether this be in economic planning, agriculture, trade and industry, health, education, public finance, local government, defense, foreign affairs, energy, tourism, among others. And all of us, at one time or another, operated at a zone where policy meets politics, and where critical trade-offs across sectors and issues are considered and decided. Our experience has taught us that the responsible exercise of Presidential power is crucial to our government’s advancing and protecting the nation’s interests.

As a group, we try to re-capture the unified view from multiple perspectives that characterize how a well-functioning Presidential Cabinet works. Yet we do not seek to become a “shadow government” or even a “shadow Cabinet” in the sense of seeking to take over or working in order to take over. We seek to become an intellectual resource to all those acting to serve our nation’s interests in their own distinct ways. We do not offer political leadership. We only offer whatever useful wisdom or insight emerges from combining the specific perspectives and varied competencies derived from our having served at various Cabinets of our country’s recent history.

We seek to challenge the prevailing thinking and action of the incumbent government. First, we take on issues that cut across sectors, fields, generations and geographies of our politics, economy and society. Second, we propose actions marked by the discipline of managed effort with sound planning, efficient organization, and good execution. Third, we want politics to serve our people, not just the politicians, so that our government truly becomes the servant of our common welfare and well-being, not the instrument of our oppressors and exploiters. Fourth, we seek to advance a democratically defined notion of the common good and the national interest, no matter how contentious, imperfect or difficult such definition might be.

Perspectives of Individual FSGOs

Many of us contributed to this blueprint for moving forward as a group. The individual contributions are organized into four main categories of ideas.

1. Proposed frameworks to guide thinking and action

Our people face a fundamental issue of governance. We should not just focus on personalities but must also see the institutions within which they operate. Excessive focus on personalities ties up our attention with short-term, tactical and issue-specific considerations. Strengthening institutions demands long-term thinking, a coherent strategy and managing several inter-dependent issues together.

Our deepest values and highest principles should drive our thinking and action in grappling with the issue of governance. Such drivers include adherence to truth, search for justice, love of God, love of country, solidarity with our fellow Filipinos, service to common good, commitment to excellence, upholding freedom and democracy. Integrity and ethics should infuse our government and society. We observe a government deteriorating in integrity and ethics and we recognize that regaining standards of decency and uprightness would be a long-term process.

Our leaders should not just lead but should set example. Towards having such leaders in our government and society, FSGO shall be among those “people with other ideas but with positive emotions in nation building.” With better examples than those offered today and given encouragement for possible solutions to our governance problems, citizens could be inspired to act where in the past they hesitated to move.

2. Consensus diagnosis of governance problem: a corrupt President exacerbating a corrupt system of governance

Corruption has become pervasive, persistent, prolific. And the President, instead of fighting it, has become its prime practitioner and protector. She corrupted the already weak electoral process. She corrupted the already diminished civil service. She corrupted the already politicized public investment and fiscal programs. By committing crimes without punishment, abusing power without restraint, and violating rules with impunity yet suffering no adverse consequence, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has turned our most valued principle of “public office is a public trust” into a perversion: “public office is a key to whatever you can get away with”.

Our system of checks and balances is being torn apart. And a culture of impunity has taken root and grows by the day. Like a crocodile biting its tail, bad government chases after corruption, which drives even worse government grasping after more corruption.

3. Recognition of four types of consequences of dysfunctional governance

A corrupt President leading a corrupt system of governance to the nation’s perdition spawns four types of grave consequences in its wake:

First, there are the enormous financial costs of corruption that increase public spending without corresponding increases in public benefits and make the burden on every Filipino born and yet to be born much harder to bear for being so much heavier and so infuriatingly unjust.

Second, there is the treason of selling off sovereignty to those willing to condone corruption from foreign powers, to large companies, to well-connected persons, to private interests. This involves the systematic sacrifice of national interest for personal gain, the effect of which directly worsens the situation of the poor and marginalized, and further limits the possibilities of a better future for everyone.

Third, there is deepening damage from long-standing crises, unattended by a government whose attention is on committing corruption, fending off exposure of corruption committed, and buying or scaring off those fighting any corruption exposed. Meanwhile the nation’s state deteriorates. Education crisis. Food crisis. Coming water crisis. Energy crisis. Environmental crisis. Poverty crisis. Urban chaos crisis. Rural development crisis. Rule of law crisis. Human rights crisis. Crisis in the integrity and credibility of elections. Peace in Mindanao crisis.

Fourth, there are steps that perpetuate the cycle of corruption spawning bad government demanding more corruption. Destruction of constitutional bodies. Eroding the independence of the Supreme Court. Turning local governments into puppets. Buying off the military and police hierarchy. Militarizing the bureaucracy. Cultivating a Malacanang wing of the Church. Usurping the House of Representatives.

A very large share of these truly enormous burdens from dysfunctional governance is added to the already heavy burden on the poorer half of the Filipino nation, making their suffering much harsher, their poverty much harder to overcome and even impeding their own efforts to survive and prosper.

FSGO Mission: Work towards a national movement to pursue concrete actions for sustained governance reforms upon the lawful termination of Gloria’s presidency

The Filipino people cannot effectively reform the corrupt system of governance while a corrupt President works against these reforms. The emphasis here is on the lawful termination of GMA’s presidency for three reasons, namely: because of crimes and abuses she has committed; for the damage she has inflicted and continues to inflict; and in order for real governance reform to proceed and succeed. The critique of GMA’s leadership will define public expectations of her lawful successor.
When this corrupt President is out, the nation will still have to reform its damaged system of governance. The emphasis here is on defining concrete actions for better governance that can then be pursued by the government that follows after GMA. Our concern for governance spans such matters as voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. The concrete actions will require a change in leadership, changes in leaders’ behavior, changes in program of government, and changes in how the government operates. The details of governance reforms should be compelling and exciting enough to energize public demands for the lawful termination of GMA’s presidency sooner rather than later.
We operate as a network of individual FSGOs with a common interest in longer-term reforms for good governance based on the lawful termination of GMA’s presidency. In the course of pursuing this common interest, we hope to produce results from which could emerge more permanent institutional structures for promoting good governance based on the experience and expertise of FSGOs like us. We shall adopt specific strategies and undertake concrete actions as part of this mission.
The record of corruption, abuse of power and bad governance of GMA’s administration is long and getting longer. The scale and scope of damage wrought by such bad government is great and getting worse. The immediate impact and worst effects of the damage fall on those with least power and resources, more particularly the marginalized and the poor. The erosion of the nation’s long-term prospects is also alarming. Urgency of effective action is critical.