Editorials
Steinfels, Margaret O'Brien
Editorials Cory's democracy As Corazon Aquino completes her third year as president of the Philippines, she has launched what Manila columnist Amando Doronila calls, "the era of the Great...
...Rich or poor, we are, at the heart of it, bone of the same Adam's rib...
...No wonder the mayor is angry...
...Fidel Ramos, it protected Aquino's government during the bloody Honasan-coup attempt...
...And, what is worse, they are proliferating...
...Proponents of surrogacy argue that banning payment and strengthening the birth mother's rights will not end the practice...
...The mayor, of course-like all of us-has eyes to see, and he does not see what he likes...
...In the industrial sector, unemployment is down and wages are up...
...No wonder the mayor is angry...
...Although Aquino's personal reputation remains impeccable and although the violence today is not state-sponsored, voters question whether the president can control the abuses of those around her...
...And if she can, why hasn't she acted quickly and decisively...
...Specific programs meant to assist those in need must maintain the self-respect of those helped and insure their dignity...
...Were she to do this, she would more than reassure her critics and her constituents...
...What we give as individuals must be balanced by the responsibilities of our state in life...
...between the national addiction to drugs and the dearth of treatment centers...
...In this situation Aquino must exert her leadership...
...There is, after all, a clear relation between the multitude of homeless persons and a federal housing budget cut from $33 billion to $14 billion in the last eight years...
...Were she to do this, she would more than reassure her critics and her constituents...
...The mayor-who himself will be on the trains in a short time soliciting votes-had not as yet implemented a promised ordinance against begging...
...They spoke to all Filipinos, but called on the government specifically to dismantle and disarm vigilante groups, to enforce discipline in the ranks of the military, and to work for a ceasefire with the insurgents by resuming the peace talks that broke off in January, 1987...
...How are we, as individuals and as a people, to judge their needs and to respond to them...
...But not simply at the individuals who make us uncomfortable by their smell, their importuning, their aggressive and unpredictable behavior...
...That only dissipates our fury into a ready but infinitely passive void...
...If not the law, then the experience itself may limit the practice.ience itself may limit the practice...
...First, there is the so-called vigilante problem- the abuses by local groups of civilians who are assisting the army in its war against the insurgents...
...Our anger should be turned instead into creating what years ago in The Other America Michael Harrington called "A public commitment to create a new environment for human beings...
...The recent wave of violence is directly linked to human rights abuses...
...It is also possible, as Amando Doronila has pointed out, that the issue may be more far-reaching than simple corruption...
...But as Elizabeth Kane, a surrogate mother herself, argues in a recent book, there are costs and pains that she never imagined when she agreed to bear a child for an infertile couple-a decision she now deeply regrets (Birth Mother: The Story of America's First Legal Surrogate Mother, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich...
...It is ironic that in the wake of a nearly bloodless revolution in 1986, violence, rights abuses, and government corruption-eerily reminiscent to some of theMarcos dictatorship-are now chipping away at the Aquino democracy...
...We share a common subway ride across this orb in time...
...the secretary-general of the Bayan party...
...It is the uneasy alliance she made with the military at the outset of her political term and has since maintained...
...Almost no one contests the president's personal integrity or her intentions to shape an equitable civil society...
...First, democratic institutions have been reestablished through the drafting of a new constitution and the subsequent formation of a duly elected Congress...
...The army acted as an instrument of peace in the overthrow of Marcos...
...In general, the government has shown widespread ineptitude in maintaining law and order...
...A body of progressive financial and social legislation has been passed: tax reform, reduced rates for home loans, an option to cut medical costs through the sale of generic drugs, a land redistribution policy, and free secondary education that has increased high school enrollment by over one-third...
...Theincreasing numbers should short-circuit the easy judgment we make of individuals, and alert us to the real failures of government and public policy...
...where surrogacy was undertaken gratuitously, the task force proposed that custody be granted the birth mother if she changed her mind (Surrogate Parenting: Analysis and Recommendations for Public Policy...
...Our response must always be one of basic respect, despite the fear or resentment we may initially feel in our hearts...
...And from the PEN Newsletter (September, 1988): [Cynthia Ozick in a statement objecting to PEN's criticism of Israeli censorship of Arab writers] "Allen Ginsberg was not really concerned with censorship but wanted to bash Israel and crush dissent in PEN-although he shouldn't take this personally because she knew him to be the sweetest and kindest of men.'' UNNATURAL ACTS In the wake of the Whitehead-Stern surrogate motherhood struggle, state legislatures are taking an increasingly critical and restrictive look at the practice...
...That is why the psalmist (Psalm 71) prayed long ago that the King's son might not only judge the people in equity but the poor in right judgment...
...On the other hand, there is a weak spot within the Aquino government, and it is not merely the president's cautious political style...
...Hence, his reluctance to negotiate aceasefire with the rebels...
...to give us the chance to actually become generous human beings...
...As if in response, President Aquino tried, in her address, to distinguish between volunteer forces and vigilantes: "The armed forces must be supplemented by Unarmed Civilian Volunteer Organizations," she said, while announcing that she had instructed the chief of staff...
...Government corruption-a traditional problem within a society where family favors are expected from those in power-now involves some of Aquino's own relatives...
...Of course, the rebels are also claiming gains...
...Magnet locations like bus and train terminals have become gathering places for the homeless, the unemployed, the deranged...
...Second, the beginnings of a dynamic economic recovery are in sight-the GNP is growing at the enviable rate of 7.6 percent...
...Amnesty International and the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights have reported government human rights abuses...
...It demands a proper discernment...
...There is evidence, however, that some bands are armed and that to increase their ranks they forcibly recruit others...
...By decree of Mayor Edward I. Koch, the man announced, anyone contributing to his outstretched paper cup would face arrest...
...Most give her credit for two major accomplishments...
...Finally, we must honestly realize that what we give, both as individuals and as a society, is but a token-not only of what we have received already ourselves, but of what will actually satisfy another's need...
...Of course, the rebels are also claiming gains...
...She would also strengthen the links between political stability and economic recovery-at home and in the eyes of foreign investors and creditors...
...His description is not all that biting since it tacitly assumes that the Aquino government, which has survived five coup attempts in less than three years, is advancing-haltingly...
...With that, she could create a climate for the deeper social reform, national rebuilding, and sturdier democracy that the people of the Philippines have struggled so mightily to achieve...
...But the government has been slow to investigate and prosecute the killers...
...She needs to initiate the peace effort as she did in 1986, to enlist the military in another round of negotiations with the rebels, to insist on the disbanding of the armed vigilantes and the disciplining of overeager and violence-prone army recruits and volunteers...
...Join with us in an important conference to tell those who would change our church "NO...
...Under the leadership of Gen...
...According to the proposals in Aquino's State of the Nation address, July 25, plans are underway to build up over the next few years the basic infrastructure-roads, water systems, and telephones-of rural areas...
...Perhaps, in fact, that is why anything keeps running at all: to give us the opportunity to respond to one another...
...and a former rebel leader, all have been gunned down...
...Third, the highest form of charity is that which enables a poor person to become self-sustaining, that eventually enables the person who is helped to become capable of responding to others in return...
...Ironic but true...
...What is more, the assassinations of leftists, some of whom were human rights advocates, have raised questions about the possibility of government collusion in the deeds themselves...
...between the raving lost ones who roam the streets of our cities and the lack of structured, government-sponsored programs for the mentally impaired or deranged...
...They decided it is time to stop being negative-to take positive action-to stand up and be counted...
...A wave of assassinations has terrorized the country...
...It is not enough to announce, as she has done, her openness to negotiations, but then to require from the rebels a formal request for talks...
...Internal corruption has marred the Aquino administration itself...
...Perhaps they are right...
...Columnist Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., remarks that "the Cory Government, marked by 'moderation,' is now perceived as betraying, in little and big ways, the spirit of 1986" (Manila Chronicle, August 30...
...There is, after all, a mysterious-in the sense that it inspires wonder, when we come to think about it-bond connecting us all...
...There are two ways to view the current situation...
...Michigan, which houses the largest clinic providing surrogacy services, passed a law at the end of June forbidding commercial surrogacy...
...Martin Buber called charity an artery of existence...
...And as a society, we must order our priorities to the common good of all...
...A noted labor leader...
...It is not enough to announce, as she has done, her openness to negotiations, but then to require from the rebels a formal request for talks...
...the former public works secretary...
...These accomplishments contribute to the country's current, overall stability, even though they cater to the middle class more than the very poor...
...As the political situation now stands, few Filipinos are anxious for a new leader...
...The moral do-gooders currently waging a public crusade against government graft may unwittingly be playing into the hands of Aquino's opponents-whose own interests would be served by destabilizing the fragile democracy...
...Those most in need are eager for miracles...
...Our destination is ultimately the same, and as Charles Peguy said, when we get to heaven, God will ask,"Where are the others...
...As if rising expectations were not enough, the Aquino government is now facing three other problems...
...Second, we must know our limitations...
...That artery, to perform its task, must be both supple and strong...
...they are our Calcuttas, the favelas of the North...
...between formerly self-reliant individuals and a minimum wage that now falls, on an annual basis, $1,900 short of the official poverty level...
...In the Whitehead-Stern case the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that monetary payment for the services of Marybeth Whitehead violated the state's adoption laws and declared the contract invalid...
...But now Ramos seems convinced that his troops are winning the war against the rebels and should not stop short of victory...
...It will begin here alone, at least as long as the trains keep running...
...THE BEGGAR & THE MAYOR Recently, on a crowded New York subway, a man first startled, then humored passangers by calling on them to perform an act of civil disobedience...
...What he sees is not only individuals degraded to the level of begging, but a terrible public-policy failure...
...In mid-July, ten days before Aquino's State of the Nation speech, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines issued a statement in response to this wave of violence...
...This past May, the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law recommended to the legislature a ban on payments for surrogacy...
...Such help is therefore never simply a matter of private virtue, it expresses the character of a whole people...
...We can't blame him...
...He is embarrassed, he is frustrated...
...In Hebrew, the words for charity (zedakah) and justice (zedek) are closely related...
...Editorials Cory's democracy As Corazon Aquino completes her third year as president of the Philippines, she has launched what Manila columnist Amando Doronila calls, "the era of the Great Plod"(Manila Chronicle, July 27...
...A Michigan court upheld its constitutionality when the attorney general agreed that such contracts could be valid if the mother was not required to give up the baby...
...When an act of charity is performed toward one, it lifts not only that person, but the spirit of the whole society...
...to begin the process of disbanding all so-called vigilante groups...
...ET CETERA THAT'S THE SPIRIT From a press release: "The decision to hold a conference is the result of a meeting in Atlanta of lay people and clergy with deep abiding faith in and love for the age old traditions of the Episcopal church...
...We all ought to be...
...This particular subway solicitor, it turned out, was a master at working an audience: as the train glided into the station and the tension he had initially induced began to subside, his cup was filled by approving riders...
...Yet these same improvements have also fueled expectations among a people just beginning to find that, compared to dictatorships, democracies are often balky and slow-moving-a pace ill-suited to a nation burdened by desperate poverty, rapid population growth, overwhelming debt, and thousands of armed insurgents...
...Poverty in America is no longer hidden as it once was...
...That need will be most nearly met by a just and welcoming society, one that begins here and now with each one of us...
...She would also strengthen the links between political stability and economic recovery-at home and in the eyes of foreign investors and creditors...
...The only way for Aquino to keep that from happening is to clean up the administration herself...
...First of all, we must approach each individual in light of her or his human dignity...
...She needs to initiate the peace effort as she did in 1986, to enlist the military in another round of negotiations with the rebels, to insist on the disbanding of the armed vigilantes and the disciplining of overeager and violence-prone army recruits and volunteers...
...It must provide direction for what would otherwise be dissipated and lost...
...But the man's audience well might have thought the mayor had, following his well-publicized diatribe this past summer against beggars and aggressive panhandling...
...With that, she could create a climate for the deeper social reform, national rebuilding, and sturdier democracy that the people of the Philippines have struggled so mightily to achieve.ceasefire with the rebels...
...To the relief of his audience, the man went on to say that, fortunately, this was not yet the case...
...Public begging is now an unabashed and unavoidable fact all across the land...
...In this situation Aquino must exert her leadership...
...Not one vigilante has yet been prosecuted...
...Surely it is a failure of the government to protect these particularly vulnerable citizens...
...Several other states have passed or are considering legislation that would make surrogate contracts unenforceable...
...The government's achievements in economic growth and its gains in redistributing the nation's wealth appear especially significant when seen against the backdrop of violence and the high odds the Aquino government has faced from the beginning...
...Worse, some have committed particularly brutal acts against their countrymen-for example, the beheading of a sugar worker suspected of collaborating with the rebels...
...The essential point, of course, is that the Aquino government, by moving too slowly in the promotion of social change, or being perceived that way, could gradually undermine itself and lose its critical base of support...
...Nonetheless, the columnist's taunting words voice the heightened expectations of Filipinos, now that relative stability has been achieved...
...According to the government, these civilians are supposed to be unarmed volunteers...
...And more is to come...
Vol. 115 • October 1988 • No. 18
