Monday, March 09, 2009

Renaissance Man

Dr. Edberto Villegas, professor of Political Economy and Alternative Development Strategies,

"The class that predominates the economic sector can control the political direction of the society."

"True realization of political and civil liberties will come only after a restructuring of the economic system to achieve an equitable distribution of material resources."
[Dialectics of the Rights of Citizens]

"It must be emphasized that it is through the participation of the people in running the affairs of the society, either direct or indirect, can they not feel alienated from the government."

*Dr. Edberto Villegas, known to his students as "Doc Ed" or "Doc EdVil" is the chair of an independent mass research institution, IBON Foundation. He is a pillar of the Development Studies program at the University of the Philippines and a former chair of the Department of Social Sciences. He is the prolific writer of the novel, SEBYO. This year, he is planning to launch his new novel with the theme of "Insurrecion."

*TOWARDS A NEW WORLD: Political Economy for Change, TANAW.org [view his latest writings]

5 comments:

P O R S C H E said...

Mga Kaibigan, abangan ninyo ang serye ng aking panayam sa dalawang sectoral representatives at isang progresibong miyembro ng Simbahan. Ito ay kaugnay ng dokyumentaryo na ginawa ng aming grupo. Ang titulo nito ay IMPUNITY, sana magkaroon ako ng pagkakataon para ibahagi sa inyo.

Ipaglaban ang batayang karapatang pantao!

Anonymous said...

I will watch out for further posts... was here too...

Reena said...

wow. i'm impressed! :) sige. i'll wait for that documentary.

...the ruling class approach to decision making. i think it's the norm in public administration. there will always be a group whose ideologies (good or bad) that will govern political decisions. kahit na influenced by advocacies of the civil society, it will never be equal...

hey, is there a group or blog or any website that discusses the backgrounds of presidentiables? dapat may ganun diba? so all of us can rationalize our decisions for picking the right president...if there's an election. :)

P O R S C H E said...

Thanks sheng! :) Yes, I will post the information for the first interview... Unahin natin ang isang progresibong miyembro ng Simbahan.

Hi Reena! Thank you!:) But i think I cannot post here the film. I can post the thoughts of these persons.

as to the "ruling class approach"... is it a norm? or shall we say an idea that is being institutionalized by the ruling class themselves? The tyrannical tendencies of the government should be abhorred.

Yes. yes. I agree with you. The problem is, the portal should be independent, as websites are also susceptible to manipulations by virtue of political power. remember, information warfare is always an option for the presidential candidates, hehe. :D kung magkakaroon ng ganito, sana sa IBON Foundations na lang ibigay ang karapatan. On the other hand, hindi lang dapat sa blog/internet, dapat mauna iyong sa mainstream at iba pang media na mas maraming Pilipino ang nakatatamasa (nakakanood, nakakabasa o nakakapakinig.)

Reena said...

hi YFUR. special reply sayo kasi ang haba ng comment mo. haha...

sorry, i didn't mean the ruling class "approach." i think there could have been a more appropriate term. but in the meantime, this would suffice. this is not my personal opinion but of other public administration analysts which i happen to agree with, and only because that's how it works in reality.

even in consensus building, there is always a governing stakeholder, whether it's public, private or the civil society. and that stakeholder, with their driving force and influence, can actually push their own advocacies or own projects. so there is always a ruling class to decision making.

hayaan mo, when you start working, you'll realize that there is no such thing as absolute equality. :) hehe...utopia na yun which is non-existent even in a socialist government and society.

about the presidentiables, i agree with you. i hope IBON foundation does one. inform mo ako ha. :)