(RPG-026) “A VISION FOR A NEW NATION”

I recently met with Mr. Victor Barrios, convener of a US based group called “Global Filipino Nation”. Many will remember Mr. Barrios as a top investment banker here before he moved to the States. He now commutes between Manila and San Francisco, but like many of our foreign based compatriots, he is still actively involved in organizing development projects for the Philippines.

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As I understand it, Barrios leads a network of other Filipino communities all over the world, all of them working towards the common goals of uniting overseas Filipinos, and mobilizing them for national development back here. Needless to say, most of these communities are composed of overseas Filipino workers, with small numbers of emigrants among them.

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In a casual conversation, Barrios talked about the possibility of passing new laws so that Filipinos with dual citizenships may be allowed to run for the Senate. He said that many other countries allow this already, opening a new opportunity for these citizens to get involved in the national lawmaking process.

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Being closely in touch with overseas Filipinos through my radio program and newspaper column, I observed that what we lack as a nation as a whole is a common vision, in terms of where we are going and how we are going to get there. Where we are going is our “destination”, while the means of getting there is our “journey”.

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Generally speaking, some say that our vision is to join the ranks of developed nations by a certain date, whatever that is. I would go along with this vision, provided that would also mean reducing the incidences of crime, corruption and poverty in our country.

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While we could not totally eradicate these three negative factors, we should be happy with simply reducing their incidences to levels that would come near the percentage rates of acknowledged developed nations today.