LSD-1 Tangkilkan Synergy Needed Now

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‘Tangkilikan’ Synergy

Needed Now

By Engr. Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr.

President, National Economic Protectionism

.....Association (NEPA)

Chairman, Katipunang DakiLahi para sa

.....Pambansang Pagsasanib-lakas

Board Chairman, Sentrong Agham Pilipino

.....(Baguio)

Vice President, SanibLakas ng Taongbayan Foundation

Member, Lambat-Liwanag Network Council

ECONOMICS has been described as a way of life, as be­havior patterns in the use of limited resources. With its dependence on foreign investors and foreign creditors, em­ulation of the Am­erican individualist lifestyle and consumerism, feudal structure. IMF-WB dictates, etc., we have a system that is bankrupt. And we need to change it.

We need a cultural trans­formation. Things cannot con­tinue this way or we will sure­ly perish as a nation. There is need to change the people’s world-view.

We have to return to basics and start on what re­sources are really with us, belong to us, and have in our hands. We have one an­other. We are one an­other’s kap­wa. We have a rich heri­tage of strong com­munity. We can com­bine our strengths and work to­gether in synergy to build a new system.

Filipinos need to have a renewal in thinking, substantial change in institutions, techno­logy and leaders who have em­braced new ways.

No longer can we afford to allow the con­tinuance of such practices as kanya-kanya and palakasan, we have to put an end to the mentality of subser­vience to fo­reign “superiors” and turn to va­luing our col­lective honor and sovereign­ty as a nation. We cannot keep on depending on foreign mo­ney, on foreign approval, on foreign demand for goods we can sell. We of the National Economic Protectio­nism Association or NEPA seek to start building a commun­ity that lives the phi­losophies of pakiki­pag-kapwa, and are mutually-supportive (“tang­kilikan”), liv­ing the spirit of baya­nihan.

The Spirit of Bayanihan should fire up our enthusiasm and give us the needed energy for all these things that we want to do. Bayanihan comes from the language of our he­roic ancestors who had this verb “magbayani” which they used to mean helping in com­munity efforts without deman­d­ing material payment.

There­fore, our concerted efforts to build strong baran­gay-centered business ecosys­tems that would pursue a strong policy advo­cacy for effectively res­cuing and uplift­ing the na­tional economy, are forms of “pagbabayanihan.”

In the national context, the Spirit of Bayanihan breathes vibrantly in Nationalism. As the Philip­pine economy con-ti­nues to worsen, there is no other course for NEPA and all other honor­able and pragmatic Filipinos but to en­gage in organiza­tion- and institu­tion-building to­wards a strong na­tional collective stakeholder­ship and advocacy in econo­mic nationalism.

Contrary to the pronounce­ments of apologists of global­ization, nationalism is not only relevant up to now, it is our only hope for national survival. Far from being against deve­lopment and progress, econo­mic nationalism is the Filipino people’s only hope for real development.

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In our national context,

the Spirit of Bayanihan

breathes vibrantly

in nationalism.

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We have so much in re­sources that we can synergize. We still have rich natural re­sources that we can finally start utilizing for our own country’s economic benefit by not selling them down the river hurriedly and therefore very cheaply.

We also have so much hu­man resources in our people’s skills and, more importantly, in deep-seated sense of honor and industry that can be re­awakened and fully harnessed if only we can make them work in a system of collective self-help in an atmosphere of social justice.

Through millions of mutual­ly-beneficial Tangkilikan tran­sactions among empowered lo­­­cal communities, coopera­tiv­es, small and medium en­ter­prises and groups like NEPA, we can save our nation from sinking ever deeper into the mire of mass poverty, massive unemployment, and Filipino enterprises closing shop.

Such transactions and in­terlinking enterprises are build­ing blocks that can be syner­gized as the inner strength and basis for a strong, independent and pro­gressive Philippine eco­nomy.

One important term in our nation's cultural heritage is loob. It finds form in such terms as kalooban and lakas ng loob. It is the innermost part of our pagpapakatao on which basis we engage in pakikipagkapwa-tao,

Being externally dependent from the time of our colonization four centuries ago is one stark indicator that the foreign overlords had succeeded in effectivelty conquering our spirit. To put it in our own words, nasiraan tayo ng loob.

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Such transactions and interlinking enterprises are our building blocks.

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But if we all heed the call for Tangkilikan, in the Spirit of Bayanihan, we can recover our sense of collective self-esteem, sense of collective fate, and even some common sense to overhaul our official economic policies.

NEPA has raised that call, and some organizations have started to come forward to join in this crusade.

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