There is nothing so fantastic and so heartening than a letter to the President of the Republic of the Philippines. It is directly addressed to the highest and most powerful officer of the land, President Gloria Arroyo, with the one-line address of Malacañang Palace, Manila. How simple can it get—an ordinary citizen writing a complaint against an abuse or asking for help?
Each time I come across such letters in my line of work, it absolutely kills me. It is the boldness of the gesture that a request properly made will be acted upon meritoriously. It is the trust in our democracy that it is the people who should be obeyed. It is the reliance in our postal office without zip codes or any other details. One wonders if an American can write to President George W. Bush, the White House, and gets a response.
From another point of view, the letter to the President is also an act of desperation. Of officials who fail their duty and policies that are wrong that gives rise to troubles for the common folk. It is the mistaken belief on the overarching powers of the chief executive to make problems go away. It is either an opt-out on self-reliance or a case of lack of empowerment.
What actually happens to the letter? It is duly received by the Office of the President which desk officer farms it out to the proper agencies via endorsements. It is up to the relevant agencies to do several actions: to note the letter if it is for information purpose, to call the attention of the first or field units to study, take initiatives and report, to act on the issues raised, or to further endorse the letter if necessary.
In all these scenarios and for every transmittal, the letter-writer is informed and kept in the loop. In a few cases, he might write a follow-up letter or go to the extent of filing a case. Generally, he is happy that his letter somehow was read and his concerns or frustrations vented. The letter stops circulating when it gets acted upon or in many cases, swallowed up by the bureaucracy.
In one instance, Juan de la Cruz writes from southern Mindanao about the collection of fees with receipts. In another example, Maria Clara sends in a file on unqualified persons appointed to office. Many want to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. Others proudly sign their full names with a flourish to take a stand. Increasingly, letters come in the form of e-mails and in SMS for short subjects.
Are letters to the President ultimately useful or beneficial? The answer is a qualified yes. It provides a simple and direct channel of communication for any Filipino specially the marginalized one. It is a humbling experience for public servants jaded by politics of loyalty and convenience. When properly handled, the letter is a powerful feedback tool that tells us where policies go wrong and which officials are corrupt.
And yet, more and more letters to the President can only mean bad to worse government. The long-term common sense solution is to keep searching for good people and put them in positions of authority. There are no shortcuts. The President knows that public interest can only be upheld by a core team of competent and dedicated public officials.
Next time you have a carabeef against the government or have a beautiful suggestion on governance, try writing the President. You may never know that it has created ripples in our environment. At the very least, you have done your share for the country that one time
1 response so far ↓
1 Mike Lopez // Aug 1, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Thank you to Geronimo Sy for writing this article, and to my cousin Nines Terol for forwarding it.
When people write to the President, stressing their complaints, and especially if they make their identities known, they run the risk of being ostracized by the troupe they’re are criticizing, or by the groups who wish to protect them so they too may protect their own interests.
I think it could really be difficult to sit down and write a letter addressed to the President, especially if the content of which isn’t one that intends to praise him/her, but aims to lodge a complaint against an official in a department, agency or bureau attached to his/her office (people expect it to be more difficult if one is a private citizen and has no personality in government).
When I was still studying in Cebu, I had one such experience. I was renewing my license and fuming mad at the people at the LTO for tolerating the fixers and worse, for conniving with them for a quick buck. I remember slamming the glass at the window of the LTO cashier for refusing to entertain me if I didn’t go through a fixer. I told them that I’ll complain to the President of this atrocious practice, because this was giving her government a bad name. He dismissed it thinking it was just an empty threat, he then called the guards on me. The nerve! So I made good on my warning, got their names, and wrote a letter to the President and sent it through her daughter Luli.
A week or so latter, I was told that Assec. Lontoc, then head of the LTO, sent a memo to the office in Cebu and suspended the people involved. For quite a time after that, there was peace and quiet in the LTO office and this gave me much satisfaction and fulfillment (it was only then that I renewed my license). Thanks too to recent developments at the LTO, their license renewal centers at the mall: we don’t have to worry about these fixers, and how much cut the bureau’s officials and staff get.
Very recently, now as part of this government, I decided to write to the President once again (and truly, as mentioned in the article, it was out of desperation) through an article/essay/exposition circulated in the internet. This is where I realized, that sometimes, being a part of the bureaucracy (or having a personality in government) can be more difficult when one complains of incompetent and undeserving people belonging to the same government. I don’t regret going through the experience (heck, I’ll do it again if I have to), but I came to a stark realization: the government has a few good men, the rest are members of a bureaucratic mafia.
Young people from everywhere have sent their support and want to join in the fight, but some people whom I expected to be the first to care are just so concerned of keeping the status quo so they may protect their own interests, keep hush-hush other secrets they have that could be revealed in case an investigation is launched, or preserve whatever legacy they feel they have left in the office (how pathetic and self-centered!).
This country and the youth deserve the best and the brightest to serve them in government. And the President has the responsibility to choose the best and the brightest. Sometimes, also because of the many problems he/she faces, we need to remind the President that it is his/her responsibility.
I’m not yet sure how it’ll turn out (basing on the reaction of Malacanang, the outlook seems promising) but doing something at a time when I felt I had to is my obligation, and I don’t care what selfish people think.
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