Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership:
On behalf of “Oldies but Goodies”, a rag-tag band of Senior citizens in Manila and elsewhere who wish to make a difference and leave a mark in their legacy, we link up arms with you and pledge that each of us will do our part, with a firm conviction that failure is not an option.
We agree that, President Noy’s call to carry the good governance and anti-corruption advocacies must be extended to the private sector. And we cannot overstate the importance of working with the government for the success of this endeavor. Working with the government will help us institutionalize and sustain the reforms that we hope to introduce.
There are naysayers who will insist that corruption is so deeply ingrained in Philippine society that this whole undertaking will amount to nothing more than a pipe dream. My response to them is Yes, and if I may quote you, “the Integrity Initiative is an ambitious, unprecedented and difficult effort, but it is an effort worth making. We intend to make a signifant difference in terms of cutting the scale and depth of corruption in our country. We will succeed.”
I had written President Noy a letter last August 21, 2011. Allow me to quote excerpts:
“And having been unjustly prosecuted and practically living in jail for almost four (4) years due to a deliberate slow litigation process, I have pondered my prospective plans upon release on various programs and projects to pursue advocacies that will serve as my legacies during my remaining years, while doting over grandchildren or worse, just waiting it out in a “Golden Acres Place,” and these are the following:
1. PRESO-WATCH – An interactive institutionalized resource – based and watchdog advocacy group that is composed of inmates, their wives and families, friends, former colleagues and classmates involved in monitoring and watchdog activities. (Statistics shows high mortality (death) rates among inmates due to failure to provide adequate, feeding, shelter and health care programs for them, exacerbated by long and tedious court litigations and a poor criminal justice system.)
2. CODE-UP – a research and capability/ capacity-building organization that provides Para-legal services and livelihood programs for detainees while awaiting trials. It seeks to review cases while providing appropriate legal strategies and remedies especially for those who have been identified classified and validated as ” unjustly prosecuted” and at the same time intervene and mediate in inmates behalf on issues and concerns affecting their detention- priority of which are those concerting abuses and maltreatment against prisoners.
3. PNOY YELLOW ARMY EX-DETAINEES VOLUNTEER BRIGADE – to serve as a ‘half-way house” for former detainees and “homes for the aged” for those aging who are engaged in various socio-economic and civic activities geared towards social reintegration. As a support mechanism for ex-detainees and their families, business and P-noy yellow army seeks to provide income- generating business and job opportunities thru partnership with appropriate government agencies, corporate and business organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and funding institutions.
By providing job opportunities, this initiative contributes in lessening or reducing the rate of recidivism among ex-detainees . This, in effect serves as building blocks for peace and order in our communities. Examples of these partnerships are those possible tie- ups with Gawad Kalinga (GK) Housing Projects, coastal clean-ups and Sagip- Pasig Rehabilitation Program, with SRP/ MMDA and ABS-CBN Foundation as well as other civic projects with DSWD, DOH, and MMDA where constant manpower is required. The net effect of these initiatives are both cost-efficient and beneficial to stakeholders in achieving immediate gains and a strategic integral component of his reform agenda.
Concretely, among these envisioned livelihood projects include, but not limited to:
• Coffee growing and marketing
• Food processing business
• Rubber trees planting
• Madre-de-aqua production
• Bighead carp fishery
• Junk/scrap trading/ waste recycling / eco-waste management
• Old books/ ukay – ukay trading
• Paper mache products
• Livestock’s/ piggery farms
• River dredging/Beautification project
• E-trikes/Jeeps for Elderly/handicapped
In my forced recluse, I decided to devote my remaining years of my life to advocacies that will give back to society “for the measure of what you give is the measure of what you will receive” (a socialist principle) and to “Do good as your heart tells you, for it will give you joys and money will follow” (a capitalist dictum).
Gone are the days of hardcore activism and fanatical ideologies, yet as I traverse this lonely path of solitude, I could only look back on it with some keen observation, that it never falters nor wane my convictions that indeed, change is not only necessary but likewise an imperative and it is now more than ever that changes must begin, even in forsaken places called prison.
In the interest of justice,
Emmanuel “Manolet” G. Umali
Convenor
Oldies but Goodies (OMG)
Mobile: 09265563922
EM/FB acct: egumali56@yahoo.com
P.S. I am one of 23 direct action plaintiffs who first filed a human rights claim against the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1986 and was awarded an individual verdict of $500,000, which to this day has not been awarded yet. Also, I was one of the pioneer First Quarter Storm Foundation founders which became the predecessor of the FQS Movement.
“We call on every Filipino to not be discouraged by the slew of anomalies being brought to light at this time. It is when good people leave the fight that evil prevails. Let us show them that the Filipinos are united in our fight against corruption and we would not rest until the perpetuators are brought to justice.”-Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership
