This blog documents my own perspectives, biases, judgments, preferences, ideas and ideals. Use of the articles posted here is free. Recommended citation: Cajes, Alan. "Title of Blog Post." Web blog post. Identity, Ideas, Ideals. Alsalca Research and Analysis Services, Date Month Year Published.
Note: This article was published by the Philippine Business in Environment in 2007.
Wind or moving air occurs when air in some parts of the planet heats up, expands and rises thereby allowing the heavier and cooler air to rush in to take its place. Wind, therefore, is a renewable energy source. As long as the sun shines, there will always be wind.
We can trace back the practice of using wind to produce energy to the ancient Egyptians. They used wind to sail ships on the Nile River over 5,000 years ago. Later, people built windmills to grind grains. The people of Persia are the first users of windmills, which look like large paddle wheels. Many years later, the people of Holland improve the basic design of the windmill by giving it propeller-type blades.
At present, people from various countries use windmills to generate electricity. Today’s wind machines collect the wind’s kinetic energy with the use of airfoil-shaped blades. The wind flows over the blades and cause them to turn. The spinning blades drive the shaft connected to them. The shaft then turns an electric generator that converts mechanical energy into electricity.
The two types of wind machines or turbines that are used today based on the direction of the rotating shaft (axis) are the horizontal-axis and the vertical-axis wind machines. There is a wide degree of variation in the size of the wind machines. A small turbine that can power a single house may have a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts. Some large turbines may have a capacity of five megawatts. To increase the capacity, larger turbines are often grouped together into wind farms, which provide power to the electrical grid. The world's largest wind farm, the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas, has 421 wind turbines that generate enough electricity to power 230,000 homes per year. To operate a wind machine, careful planning must be done to determine the location of the machine. This involves determining how fast and how much the wind blows.
In the Philippines, the wind resource depends on latitude, elevation and proximity to the coastline. Based on studies, the best wind resources are found in six regions: (1) the Batanes and Babuyan islands north of Luzon; (2) the northwest tip of Luzon (Ilocos Norte); (3) the higher interior terrain of Luzon, Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Palawan, eastern Mindanao, and adjacent islands; (4) well-exposed east-facing coastal locations fromnorthern Luzon southward to Samar; (5) the wind corridors between Luzon and Mindoro(including LubangIsland); and (6) between Mindoro and Panay (including the SemiraraIslands and extending to the CuyoIslands). The potential installed capacity of these regions is more than 70,000 megawatts.
In Southeast Asia, the Northwind Bangui Bay Project in Ilocos Norte is the first wind power project. It is also the first carbon finance project in the Philippines. The project was inaugurated in June 2005. Its power generation capacity is 25 megawatts. In the world, the top five countries in terms of wind power capacity are Germany, Spain, United States, India and Denmark. Most of the wind power plants are located in Europe where government programs have helped support wind power development.
Wind energy is a viable and economical alternative to conventional power plants. Wind is a clean fuel. A wind farm does not produce air or water pollution. It does not burn fuel. Wind machines, however, have negative effect on wild bird populations and visual impact on the landscape.
References: Energy Information Administration, Renewable Energy Trends 2005, September 2004; The National Energy Education Development Project, Intermediate Energy Infobook, 2005; The American Wind Association, Wind Web Tutorial (http://www.awea.org/faq/index.html), 2007. The Global Wind Energy Council (http://www.gwec.net/), April 2007; FPL Energy (http://www.fplenergy.com/news/contents/090706.shtml), September 2006; U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html#sizes), May 2007.
Note: This essay is published as part of the book The Filipino as a Liberal: Selected Essays on Liberalism and the Philippine Condition.
When one is called liberal it means that one is “willing to respect and accept behavior or opinions different from his own.” In Latin, the term is liberalis, which means suitable for a free man. Assuming that the Filipino is a free man, this paper will focus on whether the Filipino is what a liberal means.
Former President Manuel Roxas defines a liberal as someone who fights hard for what he believes in, but concedes to those who disagree with him the right to fight in like manner, so long as they are fair. In Roxas’s philosophy, the fact that a liberal exists presupposes that truth exists and the human mind can grasp it. Truth is elusive and takes many forms. Since the whole truth is usually not known at once, the search for truth requires free and open scrutiny of its parts that are usually diffused in the minds of people.
Reason, therefore, is important to a liberal because without it one cannot grasp the truth. Judgment or the mental process of making a decision from among various choices is also important because it is a higher level exercise of rationality. Finally, a liberal rejoices in freedom because judgment requires the absence of restraint or violence.
The willingness to respect and accept others’ behavior or opinions does not preclude one from convincing others to make his ideas their own in a free and democratic marketplace of ideas. It means tolerance – a postmodernist theme of letting others be. It means opposition to grand narratives or totalization – colonial ideas that tried to convert the Filipinos into Spaniards or Americans. It means being enlightened or ilustrado -- for what good is truth if the mind is ignorant? It means becoming a witness to truth – for what good is a man if he is surrounded by deceptions? Above all, it means the sustained pursuit of justice – giving what is due to a person – because without justice no society is fit for a human person. The philosopher Gabriel Marcel said that the sacred element in the person’s nature is the spirit of justice. The moment life is degraded, the value of justice is eroded.
Now, is the Filipino a liberal?
The prehispanic Filipinos minimized conflicts by forging peace agreements, such as the sandugo or blood compact. William Henry Scott describes sandugo as a process by which two persons became “blood brothers, vowing to stick together through thick and thin, war and peace and to observe mourning restriction whenever they were separated from one another.” Such is the native Filipino’s way of peaceful co-existence with other communities.
The watershed of the Filipino’s adherence to liberalism, however, was the eighteenth century struggle for equality, liberty and fraternity – three ideals of the French Revolution that reached Philippine shores through the educated native members of the clergy. It started as a demand for equality in the parishes. When Spain responded by executing Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, the struggle was picked up by the young and educated Indios who sought reforms through the Propaganda Movement.
Rizal’s execution did not end the struggle of the Filipino liberal. On the contrary, it led another sector of Philippine society to think that freedom is not possible under Spain unless the Filipinos severe their ties with the Spaniards through armed revolution. Inspired by Andres Bonifacio, the Katipuneros fought the Spaniards to free themselves from oppression. The revolutionaries also resisted the American forces, which came later on. The Americans, however, eventually quelled the revolution with the use of superior weapons and military strategies.
Despite being decimated by war, the Filipinos continued to guard their lives and possessions. The Filipino Muslims in the South engaged the Americans in combat while the subdued Filipinos fought for independence in the halls of the Philippine Legislature and American Congress. Under pressure from the American farmers, businessmen and liberal-minded members of Congress, the American Government recognized the country’s independence at a time when the Filipinos, devastated by Second World War, could hardly stand on their own feet.
With the struggles for equality, freedom and independence over, the Filipino faces a daunting task: to make independence a reality rather than an end in itself. At present, the Filipino exhibits liberalism by letting those institutions established by law to manage the affairs of the State. But as a jealous guardian of his freedom, the Filipino liberal is willing to sacrifice his life and his fortune to ensure that the rule of law is not subverted by the very institutions that it has created. It is in this context that those who ousted Estrada from power and installed Macapagal-Arroyo as president in 2001 can be regarded as liberals, who showed vigilance in safeguarding their freedom. It can also be said, however, that there were liberals, who did not side with those who took part in Edsa Two. They were not just fence sitters but rather a part of the silent majority who wanted the Senate to continue with the impeachment proceedings.
Put differently, the contemporary liberal Filipino takes many forms. He works in government and performs his task effectively and efficiently despite the low pay. He labors in factories to feed, house and cloth his family and to send his children to school with the hope that they, with proper education, will have a better future. He plows and fields and braves the seas but at the same time protects the natural endowments so that the next generation will be able to meet their own needs. He practices his profession or runs his firm with a social conscience while silently murmuring prayers that those clowns in Congress, Judiciary and Executive Department will spend every centavo for the benefit of the Filipino people. In short, the Filipino as a liberal is what makes this country worth living and fighting for.
In my experience as manager of environment training courses, it is no longer surprising to meet a considerable number of people – project proponents, project managers, technical staff of government agencies, corporations and non-governmental organizations – who hold strong opinions against the practice of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the country. Some of reasons, which surfaced in the course of my discussions with these people, on why the practice of EIA still needs a lot of improvements are:
Lack of appreciation about the nature and purpose of EIA. EIA is treated merely as a legal requirement that proponents must satisfy before pursuing a project or undertaking that falls under the environmental impact statement (EIS) system. It is not treated as an element of the project planning process, thus, it has no added value to project proponents.
Lack of capability on the part of government to implement the EIS system uniformly and well. As a result, there are environmentally critical projects that are operating either without an environment compliance certificate (ECC) or violating the ECC conditionalities.
Lack of capability to do EIA. In the case of the Philippines, the problem is not merely a technical one, i.e. relating to the appropriateness of methods and tools, credibility in the analysis of systemic impacts, and linking of stakeholders to the technical assessment process. It is also a problem of lack of appreciation and expertise in the areas of environmental conflict management and management of the public participation process.
These problems, for sure, cannot be addressed overnight. There have been various initiatives to address these problems but we are still in the journey of improving our performance in implementing the EIS system. We still need to be systematic in our decision-making processes, for instance, in order to sustain and institutionalize certain initiatives aimed to strengthen the EIS system. Another possible area for improvement is enhancement of government’s credibility to implement the EIS system. This is important because in the Filipino psyche, there is a direct correlation between the credibility of a system and the credibility of the institution that implements such system.
This paper is a contribution to current initiatives to improve the EIS system. Its central objective is to answer the question: What is EIA and why is it important? Much of the ideas contained in this paper are taken from personal experience in implementing environmental projects and training courses of the DevelopmentAcademy of the Philippines, discussions with EIA experts, and from recent literature on EIA.
The Meaning of EIA
EIA may be defined as a process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and preventing, mitigating or enhancing the biological, physical, social and health impacts of a proposed project or undertaking before making major decisions and commitments for its implementation. As a process, it begins with the conception and ends with the termination of a project. As an activity, EIA involves multidisciplinary experts and stakeholders. In relation to environmental management, EIA is used, basically, as a planning tool but can also become a monitoring tool through the EIS and a regulatory tool through the ECC conditions.
A good EIA promotes good planning. Good planning implies good management. And good management is good business. The reasons why a good EIA promotes sound business practice are:
The assessment of the project and its alternatives through EIA leads to a more effective and efficient project. An effective project is one that attains the maximum benefits, while an efficient project is that which operates with the least cost.
The process saves time and money in the long run. By integrating environmental factors in decision-making at the planning stage, the proponent avoids expensive and sometimes controversial remedial action afterwards.
The process facilitates investment. Conducting an EIA and securing an ECC first before implementing the project are now required by financial and other institutions that loan money or make investment decisions for major development projects. The EIA can also help long-term investments by determining how resources can best be managed over the long term.
EIA keeps business, government and the community in touch. Inputs generated through public participation can improve community relations and ensure that funds are well invested. As a good management practice, EIA can support future prosperity. Through decisions based on recommendations from the process, there can be more prudent use of resources and a reduction of environmental threats to human health and ecosystems.
EIA leads to responsible decisions. Responsible decisions in turn are good for investment, good for the health of the proponent’s organization, its employees and the community where it operates.
Goals of EIA
EIA aims to facilitate sound and integrated decision-making by incorporating environmental considerations in the over-all project balance sheet. Before implementing a project or undertaking, the decision-makers must explore the widest possible environmental impacts of the proposed project and determine, through extended cost-benefit analysis, whether the project is viable or not. This is done through an analysis of the value of the positive and negative impacts, as well as the corresponding prevention, mitigation and enhancement measures.
A substantive objective of EIA is to achieve or support the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development. EIA, therefore, should be undertaken within the framework of generally accepted principles of environmental protection such as the following:
Ecocycle Society Principle
This principle seeks to prevent, as much as possible and practicable, the production of stock wastes that cannot be assimilated by the environment or those which goes beyond the limits of sustainability. It applies the principle of “cyclic materials management” in order to reduce and close the flows of materials to the extent that:
The materials that society produce can be incorporated in the natural cycle without impairing the natural capacities and services;
There is a reduction in the use and extraction of nonrenewable resources, and
The natural capital meets fundamental human needs “without extraction exceeding growth in inflow.”
Critical Load
Critical load refers to the “highest load at which no harm is caused to the environment, even after long-term exposure.” This implies that any economic activity should ensure that its negative impacts to the environment remain at a level that is not significant. Thus, the carrying capacity of the environment is taken into due consideration in economic planning and project implementation.
Precautionary Principle
This principle is the philosophical expression of the self-preservation instinct. In practice, it means to “modify the manufacture, marketing or use of products or services to the conduct of activities, consistent with scientific and technical understanding to prevent serious or irreversible environmental degradation.” In essence, the principle means that prevention is always better than cure, thus, the exploitation of natural capital that causes significant damage to the ecological balance must be avoided. It can also be described as a principle that aims to achieve maximal reductions in pollution using the ‘best available technology.’
Substitution Principle
This principle states that substances and products that present a danger or threat to health and the environment are to be substituted by less or non-dangerous ones.
Best Available Technology (BAT) Principle
The BAT principle refers to the use of state of the art technologies that prevent or minimize the emission of pollution to the environment. The term “technology” includes the technology used, how it is designed, and its industrial feasibility, while the term “available” refers to existing technologies or procedures that can be applied at a reasonable cost.
Polluter Pays Principle (PPP)
The polluter pays principle, as the term implies, means that the polluter pays for the cost of pollution. The principle:
Covers the cost of environmental protection;
Covers pollution and control measures to promote the efficient use of limited material resources;
Covers the cost of pollution control and cleanup, and compensation to victims or to those who suffer damage from pollution;
Ensures the “effective distribution of the responsibility for cost and that it neither imposes demands nor excludes the possibility of reducing pollution to an optimum level,” and
Includes the “internationalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments.”
Extended Product Responsibility (EPR) Principle
The extended product responsibility uses the life-cycle approach to identify strategic opportunities for pollution prevention and resource conservation. Based on this principle, the manufacturers, suppliers, users, and disposers of products have the collective responsibility for the “environmental effects of products and wastes streams.”
As an environmental management tool, EIA aims to lend support to efforts that promote the sustainable use and management of the natural resources. Specifically, EIA can help ensure that:
The consumption of renewable resources does not exceed their capacity to regenerate;
The consumption of renewable resources does not degrade the biodiversity of the ecosystem;
The consumption of nonrenewable resources is minimal;
A portion of the nonrenewable resources is set aside for the manufacture of renewable substitutes and the development of such substitutes is given priority in resource consumption;
The consumption of nonrenewable resources is within minimum strategic levels;
The assimilative and regenerative capacities of the environment are not degraded;
The assimilative and regenerative capacities of the environment are not used for the dispersal of stock wastes or non-biodegradable substances;
The natural life-support systems are not destabilized, and
Environmental quality is not degraded.
Core Values, Guiding and Operating Principles of EIA
The practice of EIA in the Philippines and throughout the world has distilled some values, guiding and operating principles for the successful conduct of EIA. A study made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) identifies the following as the core values, guiding and operating principles of EIA, which can serve as a guide to reviewers of EIS:
Core Values
Sustainability - the EIA process will result in international safeguards;
Integrity - the EIA process will conform to agreed standards, and
Utility - the EIA process will provide balanced and credible information for decision-making.
Guiding Principles
Participation - appropriate and timely access to the process for all interested parties;
Transparency - all assessment decisions, and their bases, should be open and accessible;
Certainty - the process and timing of assessment should be agreed in advance and observed by all participants;
Accountability - decision-makers are responsible to all parties for their actions and decisions under the assessment process;
Credibility - assessments are undertaken with professionalism and objectivity;
Cost-effectiveness - the assessment process and its outcomes will ensure environmental protection at the least cost to society;
Flexibility - the assessment process should be able to adapt to deal efficiently and effectively with any proposal or decision-making situation, and
Practicality - the information and outputs provided by the assessment process are readily usable in decision-making.
Operating Principles
EIA should be applied:
To all development project activities likely to cause potentially significant adverse impacts or add to actual or potentially foreseeable cumulative effects;
As a primary instrument for environmental management to ensure that impacts of development are minimized, avoided or rehabilitated;
So that the scope of review is consistent with the nature of the project or activity and commensurate with the likely issues and impacts, and
On the basis of well-defined roles, rules and responsibilities for key actors.
EIA should be undertaken:
Throughout the project cycle, beginning as early as possible in the concept design phase;
With clear reference to the requirements for project authorization and follow-up, including impact management;
Consistent with the application of “best practicable” science and mitigation technology;
In accordance with established procedures and project-specific terms of reference, including agreed timelines, and
To provide meaningful public consultation with communities, groups and parties directly affected by, or with an interest in, the project and/or its environmental impacts.
EIA should address, whenever necessary or appropriate:
All related and relevant factors, including social and health risks and impacts;
Cumulative and long-term, large-scale effects;
Design, location and technological alternatives to the proposal being assessed, and
Sustainability considerations including resource productivity, assimilative capacity and biological diversity.
EIA should result in:
Accurate and appropriate information as to the nature, likely magnitude and significance of potential effects, risks and consequences of a proposed undertaking and alternatives to it;
The preparation of an EIS that presents information in a clear, understandable and relevant form for decision-making, including reference to qualifications and confidence limits in the predictions made, and
Ongoing problem solving and conflict resolution to the extent possible during the application of the process.
EIA should provide basis for:
Environmentally sound decision-making in which terms and conditions are clearly specified and enforced;
The design, planning and construction of acceptable development projects that meet environmental standards and resource management objectives, and
An appropriate follow-up process with requirements for monitoring, management, audit and evaluation that are based on the significance of potential effects, the uncertainty associated with prediction and mitigation, and the opportunity for making future improvements in project design or process application.
Conclusion
In closing, it should be borne in mind that the EIS system consists of three major components: Conduct of EIA, implementation of the environmental management plan (EMP), and compliance monitoring. These three activities have equal importance. Thus, there is a failure of the EIS system when there is a failure in any of the three activities. For what good is the EIS if it is not translated into actual practice through the EMP? And how would project managers know if they are implementing the EMP properly when there is no monitoring or measurement of compliance and performance?
The political ideas of Apolinario Mabini and Claro M. Recto were largely shaped by the socio-economic and political conditions of the country during their respective eras. . In the case of Mabini, the following factors contributed to the development of his political philosophy:
Infusion of liberal ideas from Europe to the Philippines;[1]
Demand for the secularization of the clergy and the conflicts between the regular and secular priests which culminated in the execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora;[2]
Demand for the abolition of statute labor, which was perceived as a clear violation of the principle that all men are created equal;[3]
Advancement in material prosperity and cultural maturity of the Filipinos;[4]
Increased education and literacy of the Filipinos;[5]
Increased “weight of taxation on that segment of the population least able to bear it;[6]
Abuses committed by the Spanish authorities against the Filipinos;[7]
Activities and writings during the Propaganda movement;[8]
Religious schism which resulted in the establishment of the FilipinoNationalChurch,[10] and
Mabini’s encounters with the other leaders of the revolution who wanted him out of power.
These factors, coupled with Mabini’s knowledge of Philosophy and Law, facilitated the development of his ideas.
In the case of Claro Recto, the following factors serve as a background in understanding his thoughts:
Virtual free trade between the United States and the Philippines which was viewed as “highly prejudicial to the economic interests” of the Filipinos;[11]
Poor economic performance of the country and the deplorable condition of the country’s poor population;[12]
Control by American citizens and corporations of the country’s economy through the parity clause of the Trade act;[13]
His vast and solid experience as a politician and leader of the nationalist movement of the country, and
His own education in law and readings of the literature on nationalist industrialization.
Mabini’s Political Philosophy
Apolinario Mabini stands out as one of the greatest, if not the foremost, political philosophers of the country. He is also one of the most comprehensive and consistent of all the Filipino philosophers.
Concept of Man and Society
According to Mabini, “all men have been given life by God...to preserve and employ in terms of a preordained mission, which is to proclaim God’s glory in doing what is good and just.”[14] Men are by nature good and just and have the capacity to unfold his goodness and sense of justice to others. In this context, freedom can only be understood as doing what is good and just, meaning what is reasonable. He said: “True liberty is only for what is good and never for what is evil; it is always in accordance with Reason and the upright and honest conscience of the individual.”[15]
Since life is a gift from God, man has the freedom to acquire all the means to preserve life in a manner which does not constitute a violation of God’s will as implanted in nature.[16] This freedom is inalienable to man and “prior to all human law.”[17] Thus, anyone who leads a luxurious life at the expense of others is guilty of violating the natural law.
On Government
The importance of the government is based on the idea that men form a society for the purpose of mutual help so that each other “may enjoy the greatest possible well-being which would not be possible if men were isolated.”[18] There are those who belong to society who “desire to live at the expense of others.”[19] These people, according to Mabini, “are either the strongest or the most shrewd. Forgetting how they ought to act...they begin by either force or deceit to appropriate the means of the livelihood of others. In so doing, they mock the rights which others have by nature. These being reduced into slavery, are forced to labor for the increase of the personal interests of others.”[20] Because of this condition, it is imperative for society to have a leader, “who by superior force and intelligence, will prevent some individuals from usurping the rights of others, and who will allow everyone to work, in accordance with their respective specialization.”[21]
This leads to a basic question in Mabini’s philosophy: “Who shall be that power who will order others and to whom obedience is necessary...and who will mediate on the clash of interests -- that chronic disease of society?”[22] Now, since all virtues can hardly be found in one man, society has to elect him who is the most qualified. Thus, he, “although equal to all others, has the right to direct others, because his associates have conferred upon him this power.”[23]
It is important to stress the point that Mabini conceived political power as something that is derived from the consent of the governed. The political leader possesses power because his associates in society grant him such power. This power, however, is limited by the principle that the people are only permitted to obey him in all that is just. The moment the leader disgraces himself before his people, he ceases to possess the power granted to him.
Mabini considered the probability that a political leader can veer away from the objectives of his office. He said: “It is necessary that the members of society should nominate a group of men that will represent them before this authority, with the expressed purpose of determining the limitations of the power of this authority and the extent of how to fulfill his mission. This group of men should also see to it that the maintenance of this public power should be done with the greatest possible equality and in proportion to the individual capacity of each member of society. This is the only method by which the elected one will be prevented from abusing his powers.”[24]
What Mabini describes is the check and balance mechanism between two organs of the government, namely the executive and the legislative. The executive needs the guidelines from the legislative in order to perform his functions. Thus lawmaking, which is the function of the legislative body, shall be for the purpose of setting the terms of reference for the executive.
How is the legislative body checked? Mabini said: “The guarantee for the proper functioning of the legislative is its truly representative character and the public character of its sessions.”[25]
A third organ of the state is the judiciary, which is tasked to determine the “kind of punishment for evil in society”. The legislature checks the judiciary by seeing to it that the exercise of judicial power “should be done with the greatest possible equality and in proportion to the individual capacity of each member of society.”[26]
Function of Government
While Jose Rizal and Emilio Jacinto used the phrase “welfare of the people,” Mabini is more specific by saying that the function of the government is to “study the needs and interpret the desires of the people in order to fulfill the one and satisfy the other.”[27] This idea is consistent with his notion of governance as one which is based on the consent of the people. This consent is based on the principle that the leader governs in order to promote the people’s interests. The moment a political leader fails to perform this duty, the legitimacy of his government is in jeopardy.
Obedience to Law
State laws are derived from natural law as interpreted by Reason. Thus obedience to law simply means obedience to Reason. The collective Reason of the people constitutes what is called authority. Thus all authority belongs to the people by natural right.[28]
On Revolution
Mabini defines revolution as the “violent means utilized by the people in the employment of the right to sovereignty that properly belongs to them, to destroy a duly constituted government, substituting for it another that is more in consonance with Reason and justice.”[29] A revolution can be justified because the “tendency of betterment or progress is a necessity or law found in all creatures whether individually or collectively... As it is unnatural that a being should resign itself to its own death, the people must employ all… energies in order that a government that impedes its progressive development be destroyed.”[30]
A revolution can also be external and internal. External revolution means effecting changes in institutions that fail to respond to the needs and desires of the people. This type of revolution should be accompanied by an internal one which consists in changing “our ways of thinking and behaving”.[31]
Recto’s Political Thought
Claro Recto may be considered as the direct intellectual descendant of Mabini. But while Mabini focused on political philosophy, Recto concentrated on political economy, which is almost absent from Mabini’s philosophy. The reasons for this shift in field of concentration are the conditions that shape the minds of the two thinkers: Mabini lived during the time when the country was in political disarray; Recto lived at the time when the Philippines was in economic turmoil.
On Nationalism
Recto defines nationalism as “devotion to and advocacy of Filipino interests and Filipino unity and independence, zealous adherence to our own Filipino nation and its principles, in brief, Filipino patriotism.[32] A more concrete explanation of the term is contained in his speech on the eve of the elections in 1957 when he ran as presidential candidate of the Nationalist Citizens’ Party. Recto declared: “Our national salvation lies first in asserting the nationalistic ideals of our heroes in their fight for emancipation and second in changing the course of our economic efforts by giving emphasis to nationalist industrialization.”[33]
Recto considered the advocacy of the national interests as non-negotiable. The interest of the people should not be sacrificed in any deal with other countries. He defended his position by saying that “there are litigations of such nature as not to allow a concession without sacrifice of the fundamental principles and spiritual interests, and that liberty, supreme aspiration of all peoples and the quintessence of the rights of the Creator, cannot be subject of transactions, promises and barters.”[34]
On Political Economy
The key to the country’s prosperity is industry. Industry, however, has to be placed in the control of the Filipinos themselves. He said: “As long as foreigners dominate our production, our manufacture, and our distribution of the essentials of civilized life, we will remain benighted natives, the dupes of profiteers and carpet baggers. We will remain outcasts in the family of nations, unable to deal with other countries on an equal footing and our internal policies influenced, if not determined, by powerful interests acting through their Filipino friends in power and authority.”[35]
For Recto, the economic condition of a nation is determined by those who control the country’s purse. If the economic machinery is controlled by foreigners, then the nation’s economic condition will be favorable not to the natives but to the foreigners. Under such condition, the natives will depend on the benevolence of the economic managers for their survival. Thus, it is likely that the natives will merely serve as the workers of the capitalists. And since the foreigners would require the assistance of some Filipinos to effectively control the economy, few Filipinos will prosper materially in order for them to extend utmost cooperation in maintaining the status quo. This will then create a situation that will enable the “foreign vested interests and a small privileged class among our people to live in ostentation and luxury, while the great masses of Filipinos exist in penury, ill health and ignorance.[36]
In the final analysis, it is the people themselves who are responsible for the economic condition of the country. Recto explains: “A nation’s political, economic and cultural life is of its own people’s making. Of course there are what we call forces of history, but it is for the people...to channel them toward the realization of national objectives. We must accept, therefore full responsibility for the backward condition of our economy, our political immaturity, our predilection for dramatizing minor issues to the neglect of long-rage basic questions, and for our confusions and indecisions that have delayed for decades the progress of the nation.”[37]
[1] Horacio de la Costa, Readings in Philippine History (Philippines: Bookmark, 1965), 215.
[2] Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People (Philippines: 1990), 122-126.
[8] Cesar A. Majul, The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philippine Revolution (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1957), 33-34.
[14] Apolinario Mabini, La Revolucion Filipina (con otros documentos de la Epocha). Documentos de la Biblioteca National. Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1931 (vol. 2), 22.
