LAMBIGIT (Centrist Democratic Movement Federation of the Philippines)

By: Roderico Y. Dumaug, Jr.,

      CDM Northern Mindanao

      Regional Chairman

     CDM National President

 Ladies and Gentlemen, history really repeats in our favour. More than a hundred years ago, our National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, in his fight for freedom and liberty, have befriended and later on became his inspirer-advisor , the most famous German in Philippine History, Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt. In one of his inspiring letters to Rizal, he wrote a prophetic guiding principle for him which states "If you continue in this manner, then for your people, you can become one of the great men, who will exert a decisive influence upon the development of their spiritual life."

Probably our heroic destiny is inspired by great Germans. Every time I hear Dr. Peter Koeppinger inspiring us and the inspiring presence of Dr. Gerhard Wahlers today, I thought of myself as Rizal fighting for freedom inspired by Germans like the famous Blumentritt who really loved the Philippines.

Good afternoon everyone!Maayong Hapon, mga Ka-Lambigit! Happy New Year 2011!

Last September 2010 when we had our Trainer’s Training in Samal Island, Davao, General Jose Almonte called us as the next Presidents of this Republic, I will repeat again his call that all of us here are the shapers of the future of the Philippines.

In our very hands lie the future of this country.

We, in this political movement are organized and we freely commit ourselves, therefore have the power to succeed or to fail.

In our hands lie the options what road to take: the road going to the abyss of failure or towards that gate of success.

If we fail, we will be adding  problem to our country and which we all know that without the awakening of heroic Filipinos like us gathered today, we will still be poor, poverty-ridden, third world and oligarch dominated Philippines.  What has been started especially by the father of the successor generation, Lito Lorenzana, and Dr. Peter Koeppinger, what they have created for over 4 to 5 decades will reach its limit and we will be losing a very rare chance of making this country great.

If we succeed, it’s like saying, if we are going to agree for a workable strategic plan for the entire federation which will pave the way in restoring the Filipino dignity, if we are going to create a strong membership that we will become a significant political force in the country and if we are united, systematic and professional in presenting our positions to political issues, then we will be able to return to our respective region, with the feeling of having contributed, modestly but effectively, in writing a new chapter in the history of our country.

I should , at the start of this meeting, tell you how essential or important our activity today is; that this volunteerism that we  do for the CDM entails a very difficult task, in our very young movement we will have to combine our dynamism by bringing together peoples and cultures stressing the strong regional empowerment and those that come from our great rigour of thoughts and varying experiences;  I shall conclude with a call of enthusiasm in participating this activity, a call for each one of you here as officers of the Regional Councils, to my colleague in the National Council, to our conveners, Lito and Peter, to our very distinguished guest Dr. Wahlers, I am enjoining you to be enthusiastic in participating and let us all remember, whether you are a Filipino or a German here, that we are all victims of a very wrong confrontations and governance in the past and we should never become  victim again, we are all young people here and if you think you are no longer one, feel that you are young and let us all be the children of the future dreaming for a greater freedom and opportunities in the Philippines.

As your National President, I will bring to you the great appreciation of the National Council for your attendance to our first National Strategic Planning, and I will forcefully underline the importance of our activity today especially that it is highlighted by no less than Dr. Wahlers.

All of us 25 here is strong enough to design the 2011 Strat Plan and to decide some of the very important matters affecting the CDM Federation.

As usual, we will be guided by Lito and Peter, as we all know have held this centrist movement in the Philippines for quite a long time and their thoughts, practical knowledge, great expertise and experiences will be given greater weight as we are going through with our planning to ensure the quality of our output.

Today’s activity is part of our very challenging role for societal transformation in our country.

Our movement have already accomplished great things for our country in just a year. The distance we travelled from the time we were handpicked by the conveners that they have seen something in us that can transform this country and up to today is not so tumultuous compared to the experiences of other political movements that I have seen here in the Philippines. Our growth is very smooth because we are tenderly guided by our conveners and we are faithfully listening to their inspiring messages.  

Our very presence together in this room is another accomplishment for we are moving forward step by step and surely we will be making a significant mark in the country. We have already reached the 300 strong members, organized in the 5 regions with the sterling performances of the Regional Councils and we are aiming for another 4 regions for this year, you have already made your own strategic plan laying down your own roadmap for this year, two months ago we have already organized the National Council and we have already linked with the national public office holders and political leaders in the country.

At the same time, we must admit that our road is lined with many challenges ahead.  Our decision making is becoming more complex and our strong presence in politics will be scrutinized in various manners. This will become more critical as we go nearer to the national power holders, office holders and as we are expanding.

CDM must prepare for this through planning and be focused in attaining our strategic goals.

Our country has no relevant political party. Our country today is need of one that will provide for our democratization.

Our work today will be only one phase for the CDM, but it is a key stage in giving our adventure for political power for national transformation a fresh start.

What will our program be?

And how shall we conduct our proceedings today?

Our present situation prompts us to look back, to return to the birth of our movement and to ask ourselves what is the ultimate goal of our movement.

As we are preparing our National Strategic Plan, we will have to ask each other this question: “What do WE expect of CDM for 2011?”.

We must go back to our Statute especially to our Vision and its relevance for 2011 by listening constantly and closely with one another and analyze the issues at hand.

We have something in common in our Regional Strategic Plan and slowly we understand that we have to engage in controlling, attaining or influencing power. From the commonalities, we can derive the question “what the CDM wants?”

The answer to that question based on the commonalities of our regional strategic plan, I believe, can be summarized into 3 major components and which will form our strategic actions for 2011. These are (1) MEMBERSHIP, (2) POLICY FORMULATION and (3) COMMUNICATION STRATEGY.

First of all, the membership component shall be given attention today. Our membership expansion will make our political movement more visible and our movement will be a political force to be reckoned with and may influence the current policymakers of this country. Also, the expansion will sustain our administrative existence both from the region and in the national.

In boosting our membership, we have already decided that we should go directly to all the legislative districts in the country. The district should be established by the Regional Council and from there we will source our expansion and political activities.

Thus, I have formulated some few key questions which will help us in discussing this particular component:

1. How many Districts can your region establish this year citing your current status and situation?
2. What is the minimum number of CDM members per District are we going to decide for it to become a regular CDM local organization?
3. Are we going to expand the type of people we are going to recruit? Previously we have the Young Professionals and now I have to ask you about the labor sectors, the faith based organizations, other centrist democrats and, the most serious, is the public officials and known political personalities in our region and the country? This is a very sensitive issue which we should seriously discuss.
4. It is impliedly accepted that we cannot deny entry of public officials and known political personalities for we are an open and a democratic movement. Aside from that, their position will in some ways enhance the recognition of our movement in politics. What general mechanism are we going to formulate in treating CDM members who are incumbent public officials or known political personalities that they will faithfully abide by our centrist values and principles in the way they handle their position and as they appear in the public?
5. In recruiting prospective and capable CDM leaders in the District how many trainings are we going to conduct this year in the national, in the region and in the district?

The second component is on policy formulation. Our movement has many active and serious CDM members who are asking me on what is the stand of our movement on many issues in the region or in the national. My email is filled with suggestions, comments and requests for our movement’s stand. We will never become a relevant political movement if we cannot immediately and professionaly present our position to a wider audience to current political issues of the country. I am challenging you here to discuss and provide the National Council a general mechanism on this aspect. To this, I have formulated some of the guiding questions, like:

1. In creating thematic commissions within the CDM, what general mechanism are we going to decide in identifying political programs?
2. At least 3 general thematic commissions are needed to be established like Home Affairs (Political Party Reforms, Strengthening of Democratic Reforms, Decentralization, Subsidiarity, Rule of Law and Human Rights), Socio-Economic Issues (Poverty Alleviation, Trade, Social Market Economy, Agriculture, Social System, Labor, Tax, Health and Education) and a commission on Security and Foreign Affairs.
3. How are we going to identify and prioritize the political issues? What criteria are we going to formulate? How about today, what are the current political issues that the CDM has to make a stand?
4. In having a position to political issues, how are we going to identify and decide on it that it will become our official stand and at the same time protect the stand of the others who have contrary views?

The last component that we are going to discuss is our Communication Strategy.

1. How are we going to maximize the utilization of our CDM website and internet technology in membership registration, CDM updates and on our centrist advocacies?
2. What is the communication flow within the movement that will enhance our unity and cohesiveness?
3. How are we going to deal with print, radio and TV or the tri-media sector in advocating our centrist values and principles?

The challenge is we have to respond immediately to this with a strategy of making our work today simple and understandable for everyone. That is our approach now, a simplified and comprehensible framework.

There is no doubt, that in the public we will then be credible and have this certain authority if we could manage to be united in deciding our strategic plan and dedicated in realizing it.

We must evade any disagreement over the style, technicality or whatever semantics, just think that we have talented secretariat to take care of it and polish it – what they need is our unique and critical thoughts.

And now I come to the conduct of our planning.

Each of us can perceive the sheer size of the task which faces us if we are to carry out our plan.

The one-year timeframe is somewhat short.

But we shall endeavour to fulfil and realize it.

However, I must say that here and now, I am not prepared to give up either the authenticity or uniqueness of our thoughts here, or the quality of work of our Strategic Plan.

The practical working procedure of our meeting today is not a matter to me. We are democratic, show your enthusiasm and feel free and responsible in showing your ideas. Your National Council with the Secretariat and the Convenors will finalize and polish them.

The principle underlying our existence and in having this activity today is Unity.

The delegates here must not regard themselves simply that they represent their region. Each delegate may of course, will remain concern with his region but I enjoin you to make your personal contribution to the movement.

Let us be clear about this. Our activity today will not succeed if it is only a venue for expressing divergent and sometimes out-of-the-blue opinions. We need that this gathering today be the melting-pot where a common plan will be worked out.  In order to be ready to listen let us turn towards what is happening to our country. When we think of our plans, we have to turn towards each other and gradually foster the spirit of unity and oneness.

It is true that the bulk of the work will be in practice be made by the National Council, to me it is alright. But everything will depend to a large extent on you and the substance of your contributions.

If your contribution is asking for a consensus, and if you take account of the comments made by the other members, then the content of the final consensus can be worked step by step here within the expanded National Council meeting.

Let me conclude by calling again on your enthusiasm.

The word comes from the Greek "en-thousia," which means "inspired by God."  To me, we are fighting a noble cause because we believe we are all inspired by God, by someone greater than us and someone who is giving us worth or dignity.

We are often guilty for neglecting our country, for contenting ourselves with what is happening to our nation today.

So let us dream for a great Philippines!

Let us dream for a country at peace, at liberty of its barriers and obstacles, where our history and geography will reconcile allowing all regions to build their own future.

A space of opportunity and freedom where Filipinos can move as they wish to work, study, show, enterprise or broaden their cultural perspectives.

A space undoubtedly identified by the way in which it successfully refines the vigour of our foundations, the need for solidarity and protection of the weakest and the poorest.

But also a space in which strong cultural identities continue to exist and thrive, both aware of their origins and keen for the inspiration that exchange can bring.

Let us also imagine Philippines' voice in the world, its unity ensuring the protection of its national interests.

The richness of our culture and the strength of our creativity are known all over the world.

It must also show itself as competent of ensuring its own security, whatever the dangers we faced.

We must share to others our dream for the Philippines!

If we were to fail, our country will remain to be what it is today. None of us would have the power to take on the giants of this country. We would then remain locked in on ourselves, bleakly analysing the causes of our fall and decline.

Our call for enthusiasm goes out to other Filipinos, but foremost to ourselves.

We must be passionately interested in the success of our task today if we are to engage and persuade others. It is a mission humble in form but enormous in content, for if it succeeds in accordance with our mandate then it will light up the future of the Philippines.

Long live the Philippines! 

Thank you.Maayong Hapon!