Migrants’ manifesto

By Rina Jimenez-David
Columnist, Inquirer
Posted date: February 23, 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- From some friends comes this “Migrants’ Manifesto” that a group of Filipinos overseas has prepared in time for the coming elections. The manifesto, presented in a PowerPoint format, calls on all overseas Filipinos to use their numbers and influence to initiate real change in the Philippines by forging an agenda that candidates could adopt for better governance.

“With already 10 percent of the country’s 80 million citizens supporting families back home, there is both an opportunity and a challenge for migrants and overseas workers to effectively exercise this political clout towards influencing public policy back home and ultimately in shaping the national development agenda,” the manifesto states.

Last year, cash remittances from overseas Filipinos reached $14 billion, according to official records, equivalent to almost 15 percent of the gross domestic product, and supporting 16-20 million families. “This could fuel economic growth and fight poverty if properly harnessed. For this reason, we are compelled to exercise our right to … seek solidarity of all concerned citizens to support our advocacy,” the manifesto states.

In their preamble, the migrant groups state that: “We, the overseas Filipinos worldwide, urge each and everyone in the coming May electoral contest to implore all political parties, emerging parties and their respective candidates to bring forth a platform based campaign so that the electorate can choose credible persons who are worthy to lead the nation.”

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IN THEIR analysis, the “root causes of human insecurity and threats to overall peace and development” can be traced to the following:

• Conditions of inequity, with an elite few controlling power and economic resources;

• Abject poverty;

• Poor governance;

• Injustice, abuse of authority and violations of human rights; and

• Marginalization of minority groups.

Despite these many problems, though, the Philippines has seen “squandering of billions of pesos from legitimate and illegitimate sources,” which the migrants say “had been a common scenario in a personality- and patronage-based electoral contest in the Philippines.”

The manifesto thus proposes a platform-based campaign that would, first of all, sustain poverty-reduction efforts by ensuring equitable growth, and then ensuring that “poor people have political power,” that is, giving them “a real voice and space.”

Part of the process of creating a new platform-based politics is holding accountable “the powerful and/or the elites, whether political leaders, corporation or other influential actors” for their “actions, (and) their success or failure in (carrying out) their individual or party platforms that promise good governance.”

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“WE challenge those who want to become legitimate servants and leaders to articulate a concrete and doable developmental plan aimed at the Filipino migrant workers around the world,” the manifesto adds. “We pledge to support legitimate servants of the people running for any public position that aggressively promote the interests of our sector.”

Among the details of the migrants’ platform:

• Institute meaningful comprehensive electoral reforms, starting with the removal of the residency requirement in the Absentee Voting Law. Introduce laws that will create transparency [in] campaign expenditures, [including] verifiable financial sources, imposing a limit on individual, group and corporate campaign donations.

• Create an office with a Cabinet status such as a Department of Migration and Development that will truly work for the interests of migrant workers. Set up an advisory board composed of qualified, dedicated and credible overseas Filipinos to advice the department.

How can overseas Filipinos take part in this campaign? The manifesto suggests that those interested sign the online petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/OFWMan/ “if you are convinced of the Migrants’ Manifesto”; forward the online petition, the PowerPoint presentation and the OFW Blogspot at http://filipinosworldwide.blogspot.com/ to your concerned friends, colleagues and extensive networks across the globe; and send your comments and/or suggestions to ofwmanifestor@yahoo.com to ensure a continuous enrichment process.

“Let’s enable the citizenry, including eligible overseas voters and members of their families in the Philippines to make informed decisions,” the manifesto declares.

“Let’s ensure that only those candidates with clear and sincere intentions of promoting the welfare of the migrant sector, their families, and millions of poor people in our country are elected to public office!”

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