Hoping for a Better Nation

Dealing with State Failure

When my mom came home from the long line of interviewees of PCSO beneficiaries, the first thing
she asked me was if I joined our universitys strike against budget cut. Her tone was serious, almost
suspicious. I said I didnt because I knew they wont allow me to. Then, my aunt joked about looking for
me among the students in Mendiola as it was aired on national television. The next thing I knew, my
mother was ranting about how ineffective strikes were and that PCSO decreased my fathers subsidy by P5,
000 so there was no hope for the Philippines and I should strive to go out of the country. I was a bit
offended by their reactions because it seemed like they were thinking that what UP did was irrational or
worse, a joke. At the same time, I felt disappointed as it reflects the failure of the state to provide basic
social services and the hopelessness of the public as well.
Davids article Dealing with State Failure addresses the dysfunctional state and how we respond
and contribute to its problems. 1 Almost all our basic social services are being let go by the government.
What for do we need a state? It is a question that has acquired even more saliency in the context of the
governments worsening fiscal and debt situation. 1 I agree that our state is a failure now because the state
should work for the concerns of the public. In our current situation, the disparity between the rich and the
poor is getting worse as the government caters only to the interests of the few, which are the elites. Also,
together with the increasing privatization, we are leaning towards a market economy. In a market
economy, no individual or organization or government is responsible for solving the economic problems
(Samuelson & Nordhaus, 2010, p. 26). It results to the lack of accountability on the government officials in
the problems of the state; which is also a primary cause of the main problems our state have.
The worsening situation of the state consumes the remaining trust and hope of the people on the
government. One of Davids points is that its hard to expect the public to help the state with its problems
when we see government officials living extravagant lives while the poor are struggling to eat three times a
day. That is why when Noynoy bought a second-hand Porsche, the public had violent reactions.
On the other hand, I think that our indifference with the state can also be traced from our history.
Having been colonized and ruled by their oppressive government, we learned to live detached from the
government in order to survive. The foreign master is gone, yet the government continues to be treated
like an alien power.2 We remained this way, maybe worse, because the present condition of our political
and economic system only aggravated the separation of self from the state.
1 http://randydavid.blogspot.com/2004/09/dealing-with-state-failure.html (2004)
2 Poet-citizen Socio 10 Resource 6 (2011)

However, we fail to see that the problem of the state does not rely on the government alone because
the destructive system will not work without our participation. David raises a point about how the
informed, though aware that the current problems should be solved at its roots, are hesitant because they
doubt that the present officials can do their job. 1 I agree that we have a problematic mindset that changing
the people in power can magically solve our problems. We fail to see the underlying causes of these
problems because we are too impatient for change to take place that we rely on quick-fixes that cant be
sustained. These are mindsets that has been carried on from our collective history that is very difficult to
change, but not impossible.
Just like what John Dewey said, there is no exact process or rules that we can follow in order to form
our state.1 We know what a good government is but in order to change our present situation, we must know
our collective history.1 In my opinion, we have our own story to form based on our past and how we want
our country to be in the future. I agree that history is very important because from here, we can understand
why and how our nation became what it is now; from here, we base our goals and how we want to move
our nation towards it.
The most important point of David is that problems cant be solved in a one-way process. The state
and the people must be together in order to solve the problems of the nation. We cant solve the problem
only by changing the officials of the state the same way we cant solve the problem by always adapting
ourselves in the situation. It is not enough that we provide charity for each other because we also need the
state to change in order for it to be sustained. Together with the aims of changing the public, we must
simultaneously change the system of the state and government. With this, I think our dreams of a better
nation can break free from the trap of sensationalized quick-fixes and move towards sustained change and
development.
Capitalism and Citizenship
Capitalism is an economic system which that works with privately owned property and whose resources
are allocated primarily by private markets (Samuelson & Nordhaus, 2010, p. 656). Increasing capitalism in
the Philippines is parallel to the increasing number of malls in the country. It seems like a win-win situation
where we can have the illusion of equal access to the good life 3 while the owners can have their profits.
What we dont see is that this poses a negative effect on our perception of being a citizen.
Citizenship gives the people the right for equal membership in a society which consists of civil, political,
and social rights.2 However, this understanding has been greatly influenced by our consumer-based society
and is now focused on our market rights. Our concern for freedom in terms of justice and equality is

3 http://opinion.inquirer.net/11061/the-national-pastime (2011)

reduced to our freedom to purchase what we need and want. Focusing on the contractual sense of
consumerism, we are becoming less and less concerned with others.
According to Dore and Weeks, Treating people as consumers and convincing them that this is
their existential role has profound political implications. First, it objectifies ones fellow citizens. Second,
and implied by the first, no social interaction is expected between the provider and the consumer.4 In
other words, consumerism reduces our interactions to provider-consumer relationships. This thinking limits
our interaction with others in the market sense that we eventually lose concern for others- and so our
civility. Without civility, we also lose accountability for others and we tend to concern ourselves with what
we can get than what we can give. It results to self-centered goals and lack of collective will. This
contributes to the failure of the state and our failure to be citizens as well.
This is also problematic in terms of our participation in the state. Because of capitalist logic, we limit our
political rights, or more appropriately our duty, to voting. Our tendency is to give the entire burden on the
people we elect because we think that we have already done our part as citizen by placing them in office.
We fail to recognize that after elections, we still have the duty and right to actively participate in redefining
our nation; thus we become passive individuals instead of being empowered citizens.
Moreover, we can also attribute our lack of discipline and collective responsibility on our
commodified citizenship. For an instance, we think that by paying taxes, we are paying the services of the
government to us rather than as a collective responsibility for the improvement of the whole nation.
Because we are focused on our self-interests, we tend to become more concerned on our own welfare even
at the expense of others. That is why many people say that Filipinos lack discipline. This is not because we
are naturally a race of hard-headed people, but because we fail to see the importance of law in providing
equality and empowerment.
Our devalued citizenship has great implications in our political system. This is evident during
elections. In choosing a candidate, short-term benefits such as commodities are valued more than the
empowering civil and social rights. They [voters] measure the performance of their legislators by the
length of the roads they pave and the number of waiting sheds and health centers they build (David, 2004,
p. 292). This is problematic because effective state officials should be defined not only by how many
establishments they had put their name on, but also on how they strengthened the rights of the citizens in all
aspects. This then translates to how the elected officials govern the country. Together with the diminished
sense of civility, capitalist logic makes their personal interests merge with how they make their decisions
for the nation-state and thus contribute to our dysfunctional government.

4 http://www.social-europe.eu/2011/04/america-consumerism-and-the-end-of-citizenship/ (2011)

In conclusion, our commodified citizenship results to the loss of civility among the people. We
reduce our participation only for our individual development. It enhances the separation of self from the
nation-state that we see our participation as a burden for self-growth. The ideology of consumption
converts us to the faith that government is a burden that through taxation robs us of fulfilment by the
purchases of commodities.4 Citizenship shouldnt hinder us from improving ourselves and being one with
the state because citizenship should be about exercising moral responsibility for others while being able to
have self-development at the same time.
Hope for the Philippines
We have tried many times to rebuild our nation through series of People Power only to result on a
failed revolution that we cannot sustain. We keep on looking for the perfect candidate that can save us from
our countrys dysfunctional institutions but remain to be trapped in the same system. Many Filipinos go out
of the country to look for greener pastures because all they can see in the Philippines are deserts and
deforested mountains. There is no doubt that our state faces so many problems that it seems there is no
hope left; however, I believe that we just dont realize that we have the power as citizens of the country to
make a change.
"Upang

maitindig natin ang bantayog ng ating lipunan, kailangang radikal

nating baguhin hindi lamang ang ating mga institusyon kundi maging ang ating
pag-iisip at pamumuhay. Kailangan ang rebolusyon, hindi lamang sa panlabas,
kundi lalo na sa panloob!" --Apolinario Mabini, La Revolucion Filipina (1898) 5
Many of us dont realize that in order for the system to work, the people should have active participation in
it. It also applies that in order for the system to change, the people should also change their views and ways
of life that is parallel to the path collectively desired. Therefore, to change the system, we should offer our
participation, not to the flawed system, but to the collective change we want our country to have. This
entails that we regain our citizenship back from capitalist logic and lack of collective will. Citizenship
requires us to participate actively in the development of the state through our individual growth. We should
be aware that getting it back does not take overnight and requires a lot of time and collective effort.
While this may be true, I think that in order for us to regain our citizenship, we must first have a
shared understanding on the collective goal we want to pursue. Its hard to change for the better if we dont
know where to go and when we feel that we are alone in our quest for change. And this all boils down in
informing the people about the problems our society have. How will the people work on having their
citizenship back if they dont recognize that they already lost it? Honestly, I wouldnt understand the
importance of citizenship if I were not educated through the academic sphere. Majority of native Filipinos
5 http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/2008/03/ignorance-apathy-social-moralityand.html (2008)

are apathetic about socio-economic problems because they are not informed; and lack of information
(ignorance) reinforces apathy. 5
That is why I firmly agree with Jose Rizal when he said that the youth is the hope of the nation.
With the youth, the nation can always start anew by educating them of real citizenship. This explains why
the state must give education its highest priority; not only because education arms its citizens with
resources and skills to survive, but also it imbibes to them their rights and roles as members of the nationstate. With education, they can create a collective history where its citizens can create a collective will for
the country. With education, the state can redefine citizenship more than memorizing Panatang
Makabayan and singing Lupang Hinirang. However, this doesnt end with education because in order
for it to be sustained, it must go hand in hand with the change in other institutions. This requires both the
unified sense of citizenship of the people and the clear goal of the institutions to a better society.
We were once the greatest country in Asia, while our neighbors like Korea and Japan are plagued
by the aftermaths of war. Now, we look up to them as they triumph economically and socially. Many say
that our countrys really far behind development and growth. I say, we may be late but never too late for
our country to once again have its place in the world. In our own way, I still hope that our country can find
the Philippines that we all want to be and finally take pride on a sustained revolution towards a better
nation.
REFERENCES:
David, R. S. (2004). Nation, Self, and Citizenship. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing Inc.
Samuelson, P. A., & Nordhaus, W. D. (2010). Economics (19th ed.). Singapore: McGraw Hill.
INTERNET SOURCES:
David, R. (2004, September 04). Dealing with State Failure. Retrieved September 25, 2011, from Inquirer News
Service: http://randydavid.blogspot.com/2004/09/dealing-with-state-failure.html
David, R. (2011, August 31). The National Pastime. Retrieved 2011, from Philippine Daily Inquirer:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/11061/the-national-pastime
Dore, E., & Weeks, J. (2011, April 18). America: Consumerism and the End of Citizenship. Retrieved September
27, 2011, from Social Europe Journal: http://www.social-europe.eu/2011/04/america-consumerism-and-the-end-ofcitizenship/
Drona, B. M. (2008, March 10). Ignorance, Apathy, Social Justice/Morality, and the Nationalist Revolution
(Updated). Retrieved September 28, 2011, from The Filipino Mind:
http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/2008/03/ignorance-apathy-social-morality-and.html
Poet-citizen Socio 10 Resource 6 (2011)