10

Critique of elitist, individualist and extreme-collective economic systems, philosophies and practices

Synergism and sharing paradigm in collective productivity and prosperity.

Promotion of successful enterprises that are broad and popular in ownership, management and operation in the mold of genuine cooperatives

Promotion of bigger roles for cooperatives in major industries and the economy

  1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism

  2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine

  3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 

  4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission

  5. Civics and Democratic Governance

  6. Culture as Community Creativity

  7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education

  8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony

  9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice

10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development

11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations

12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology

13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships

14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace

15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart'   

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A Guide to ‘Tangkilikan’

By Tony Cruzada

Co-Founder and Tangkilikan Coordinator, Katipunang DakiLahi Overall Coordinator, Sanib-Sikap Initiatives, Board of Trustees Member, SanibLakas Foundation

This article was written for and published by LightShare Digest maiden issue.

THERE is no single official guide for living the practice of “Tangkilikan,” no authority figure to give the proverbial last word on it, for this principle has been a cultural property collectively owned by the people of the Philippines who have practiced it with the bayanihan as a way of life. It is part of our cherished national patrimony.

Still, with the Katipunang DakiLahi adopting “Pambansang Tangkilikan” as one of twin imperatives for national synergy-building along with “Pambansang Talastasan,” we have had to come out with clarifications on what exactly we mean with the term.

With DakiLahi member-organizations, especially the National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) and the Advocates for Cooperative Education on Synergism (ACES) pushing for its active practice, “Pambansang Tangkilikan” will surely be growing as a concept, growing in the crucibles of challenging applications for current economic efforts of the people.

This article gives some of the key concepts and elements involved, such as Filipino enterprise, associative economics, and the enterprises-and-livelihood web. It also clarifies vision, mission and goals.

Vision and Purpose

A people with a strong sense of shared history and destiny, striving to become a peace-building member of the family of nations, responding to the universal call for a just and humane world; pushing for a paradigm of global harmony, and making its spiritual presence felt in every other nation, as a people faithful to the Earth Charter in building global solidarity for the victory of justice.

Rather than an economy ruled over by a narrow elite, foreign investors and foreign importers, we ought to have a nationalist economy that is in the hands of the millions of the common tao, an economy that protects Filipino enterprise, utilizes Filipino ingenuity, develops Filipino industries.

This will be an economy that is not dependent on foreign investments or loans but on talent, labor and savings of the millions of people, savings consolidated for strategic investment. All .the elements of  this Ekonomya ng Taongbayan are already present in the hundreds of pilot programs that have been designed, developed and tried out by the numerous people’s organizations (POs) and non-government organizations (NGOs), small and medium enterprises,. cooperatives and socially-responsible media, religious and academic entities. All that is needed to integrate the best and most equity-building of strategies and programs into a coherent system to be adopted by communities.

The integration process will be guided by the new principles of Associative Economics and the long-hidden potential of the cooperative system. This will be a national economy built upon a synergy of thriving local economies.

Exodus from Poverty

The millions of poor who comprise a large percentage of the population will be moving out from the bondage of poverty into freedom from want, adding to the overall strengthening of the market, the economy and the nation. This envisioned exodus calls for the emergence of leadership from among the ranks of the presently poor and unemployed, the ones who need jobs and want to have jobs.

Social security benefits must come with stable employment, and increased savings rate should enable the poor to invest in productive ventures, increase their purchasing power to be able to afford decent housing on a calibrated, progressive payment scheme.

With millions of poor families participating in the jobs and savings programs, they will become part of the consumer community that will sustain and create more productive activities.

As they move upward on the economic ladder, via the scaffold of support mechanisms, they will move into the mainstream of the economy as regular co-contributors.

Mission and Goals

The national invigoration of the economy will be accomplished through the thousand units of synergistic action at community level, orchestrated through a complex of institutional linkages.

Integration, consolidation and synergy building will be nationwide through convergences creating concentric circles of energy at all levels from the Barangay, Municipality, Province, and Region. All of these will be grounded on local empowerment, giving “Primacy to Primaries,” that is, to community-based economic units that are formed by households in a neighborhood.

The Local Drive

To consolidate the initiative and energy provided by indigenous, organic leaders, entrepreneurs and economists who instill faith in self and in the community, faith in the Filipino’s capacity to reform and triumph.

Leaders who will generate hope that we can break the cycle of failure brought upon us by uninspired leadership and policies, and finally build the nation we can be and want to be.

Lakas ng loob and bayanihan spirit will propel the needed action. Intensive mobilization will be easier if centered on ensuring stable employment and adequate income since these will enable families to meet their basic needs, provide a wider range of options and satisfy other aspirations.

Local Solutions

To raise the level of productivity of every household and participation in community planning and decision making and the overall empowerment process. Installing local mechanisms for savings and investment that enable jobs to be multiplied and local resources optimally utilized, based on best practices from numerous pilot projects. Business groups will be alerted to their productivity potential and possible net worth.

On the basis of potential productivity, savings will be invested in groups and ventures that show dedication and promise, and products that are of high quality and marketability. Capacity building, especially management, will be given priority to ensure that the planned ventures succeed.

Local Synergies

Local Synergies will be created “to coordinate the diverse elements that must come into interplay at the community level.

Attention will have to be paid to the synchronization of the cultural, natural and economic capital; to ever-widening circles of collaboration, involvement and participation in diverse forms.
Programs on jobs and savings will be linked with social security, family planning, health care, housing, utilities and environmental concerns. Finally, preparing the next generation will be an essential part of the integration process.”

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