First and foremost, I do not believe in "winnability". So I hope that would shut up people who would try to convince me to vote for more popular candidates just for the heck of "not losing".
Anyway, it took me quite a while to decide on who I will vote as president. My friends and relatives know how I strongly considered Dick Gordon and Brother Eddie (whom I actually voted in the 2004 presidential election). But I felt that I was longing for that (pardon me for the term) "Dalai Lama" feel on whoever I will vote. Gordon's resolve and Brother Eddie's idealism are good, but I don't think a plate of pasta or a bowl of ramen can answer a person's craving for a bilao of Pansit Malabon, if you get what I mean.
Yes, yes I know. That made you hungry.
We are all hungry for change. Well, not really all. Some people are not just hungry. They are starving!
That's how much I want to vote for change that I changed the the way I vote. My longing for change has made me brush off popularity and "superficial credentials" as criteria in choosing my candidate.
And as an advocate of learning beyond schooling and education beyond academics, I do not believe in the crappy practice of not voting a candidate because he/she is unknown or hindi kilala. That's downright intellectual laziness. Such electoral culture is never compatible with learning and far from educational. Hindi mo iboboto dahil hindi mo kilala? Eh 'di kilalanin mo, problema ba 'yun!?
So I made my research. Along the way, one candidate's name and oratorical prowess captured my attention. His name is Nicanor "Nick" Perlas.
At first, I was struggling hard to remember where and when I first heard his name. I know that contrary to popular belief, this man is not unknown. He is definitely a household name, at least to a circle of some socio-politically active intellectuals. But when I heard him speak about "sustainable population" in a presidential forum, I said, "Wait, this man is a genius!"
The concept of sustainable population is among the principles that brought Brazil from its past condition of poverty to its present economic strength, something that only he and his equally-competent rival Gordon fully explained during the said event.
I made my research about Nick Perlas and his platform right after that. And it was very heart-warming for me to find some beautiful things in his platform, things that I admit I can only dream of as of now. But here is Ka Nick who is asking for my vote, for that chance to turn some of my aspirations into walking realities of Filipino life. Who am I to refuse?
Here are among my aspirations that are included in Ka Nick's platform:
I admire Ka Nick's practical, no-nonsense view towards education. His sense of holistic and socially responsible education is not only visible in his platform but in his actions as well. Despite his brilliant academic credentials, he knows when to give up scholastic pursuits for the sake of noble socio-political involvement. Particularly, he sacrificed his masteral studies at UP Los Banos to protest against the construction Bataan nuclear plant in 1978. While other politicians have the tendency to brag about their academic credentials, we have here Ka Nick who chose not to give a damn about academic excellence but instead chose the noble path of social responsibility and political action... all these without being a politician!
So as a differently educated person, I now know who to vote for president.
(Click here to view photo source)
Anyway, it took me quite a while to decide on who I will vote as president. My friends and relatives know how I strongly considered Dick Gordon and Brother Eddie (whom I actually voted in the 2004 presidential election). But I felt that I was longing for that (pardon me for the term) "Dalai Lama" feel on whoever I will vote. Gordon's resolve and Brother Eddie's idealism are good, but I don't think a plate of pasta or a bowl of ramen can answer a person's craving for a bilao of Pansit Malabon, if you get what I mean.
Yes, yes I know. That made you hungry.
We are all hungry for change. Well, not really all. Some people are not just hungry. They are starving!
That's how much I want to vote for change that I changed the the way I vote. My longing for change has made me brush off popularity and "superficial credentials" as criteria in choosing my candidate.
And as an advocate of learning beyond schooling and education beyond academics, I do not believe in the crappy practice of not voting a candidate because he/she is unknown or hindi kilala. That's downright intellectual laziness. Such electoral culture is never compatible with learning and far from educational. Hindi mo iboboto dahil hindi mo kilala? Eh 'di kilalanin mo, problema ba 'yun!?
So I made my research. Along the way, one candidate's name and oratorical prowess captured my attention. His name is Nicanor "Nick" Perlas.
At first, I was struggling hard to remember where and when I first heard his name. I know that contrary to popular belief, this man is not unknown. He is definitely a household name, at least to a circle of some socio-politically active intellectuals. But when I heard him speak about "sustainable population" in a presidential forum, I said, "Wait, this man is a genius!"
The concept of sustainable population is among the principles that brought Brazil from its past condition of poverty to its present economic strength, something that only he and his equally-competent rival Gordon fully explained during the said event.
I made my research about Nick Perlas and his platform right after that. And it was very heart-warming for me to find some beautiful things in his platform, things that I admit I can only dream of as of now. But here is Ka Nick who is asking for my vote, for that chance to turn some of my aspirations into walking realities of Filipino life. Who am I to refuse?
Here are among my aspirations that are included in Ka Nick's platform:
- Advance multiple-intelligent education (especially existential, moral, and spiritual intelligence) in public education and encourage all non-government schools and institutional training and human development programs to do the same. This is one of the things that I strongly advocate as far as reforms in our education system is concerned. It's too bad for me to notice that the current educational system is strongly biased towards some intelligence types (e.g. logical-mathematical) and against the other types (e.g. intrapersonal).
- Implement special adult education programs for the rural and urban poor that would improve their knowledge, creativity, planning, and entrepreneurial and management skills. Oh how I love continuing education! Now that's practical learning. Education must never be confined within the classroom. It must be allowed spill out of the classroom and reach the needy. After all, the final cause of education is self and social welfare.
- Identify the top 100 secondary educational institutions of the country, provide support for their innovative practices, document and disseminate their creative educational practices, and enter into partnerships with them as hubs of educational excellence. Not only Ka Nick is planning to recognize, document, and spread out-of-the-box education methods, but most of all... at long last, we have here a candidate who finally stops talking about amoral academic excellence and instead promotes ethical educational excellence!
- Increase the usage of educational vouchers to widen the choices of parents. Increase focus beyond just quantity of education services to quality of education services including more holistic educational approaches that develop multi-talented, creative, critical-thinking, socially-oriented students and citizens. Now that's another essential aspect of quality education. When it comes to education, we just don't sink our heads in quantity, endlessly tiring ourselves with numbers and statictics. We go way beyond that. We must also tackle the quality of education services that has a more well-rounded holistic approach.
- Host a series of at least 10 global conferences on state-of-the-art frameworks and best practices on multiple-intelligent education, life-long learning, environmental education, appreciative approaches to strategic planning, organizational/societal learning and Theory U, scientific evolutionary spirituality, societal creativity, Lemniscate Approach, and other topics of importance to holistic education and inner change. Wow! That's ambitious, but I can sense Ka Nick's burning desire to put the Philippines in the world map of educational prowess!
I admire Ka Nick's practical, no-nonsense view towards education. His sense of holistic and socially responsible education is not only visible in his platform but in his actions as well. Despite his brilliant academic credentials, he knows when to give up scholastic pursuits for the sake of noble socio-political involvement. Particularly, he sacrificed his masteral studies at UP Los Banos to protest against the construction Bataan nuclear plant in 1978. While other politicians have the tendency to brag about their academic credentials, we have here Ka Nick who chose not to give a damn about academic excellence but instead chose the noble path of social responsibility and political action... all these without being a politician!
So as a differently educated person, I now know who to vote for president.
(Click here to view photo source)
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