There are over a dozen leaders who have announced their intention to run as presidential candidates in the 2010 national elections. What makes Nicanor Perlas unique in terms of his potential contribution to the country?

Systemic Strategic Agenda

Nicanor Perlas is often praised as a globally renowned environmentalist. But he is not a one-issue person. He has made significant and outstanding contributions in other issue areas important to the future of the country. These include: poverty reduction, anti-corruption, education, peace building, sustainable agriculture, trade policy, globalization, leadership formation, science and technology, among others. Systemic challenges require systemic responses, an approach Perlas is comfortable with. He can place his wide-ranging talents and track record in the systemic and structural renewal of the Philippines. See www.nicanorperlas.com or www.nicanor-perlas.com for more details.

Societal Threefolding Partnerships

We face deep problems in governance. But we also are confronted with many other kinds of challenges that are cultural, economic, and societal in nature. These include poverty, corruption, unemployment, low quality education, unsustainable population levels, conflict, drugs, environmental degradation, and others. A purely political approach, while important, will not be enough. Solving these problems requires harnessing the collective resources, skills, and intelligence of the three key actors in society: civil society in culture, government in politics, and business in the economy, hence the term societal threefolding partnership.  Nicanor Perlas is a world authority on societal threefolding. His book, Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power, and Threefolding has become a global bestseller and has influenced diverse institutions including the United Nations, global thinkers, and local governments in the Philippines.

Mainstreaming of Positive Initiatives

There are thousands of promising initiatives throughout the country. These initiatives address dozens of problem areas and give positive solutions to most, if not, all the problems we face in the country. We have initiatives in renewable energies, eco-tourism, solid waste management, participatory governance, sustainable agriculture, poverty reduction thru micro-finance, meaningful artistic and cultural festivals, drug rehabilitation, and so on. Yet past governments simply chose to ignore these hotbeds of societal innovation. Through appropriate means, Nicanor Perlas will harness these points of light into a powerful network of excellence that will be the basis for creating a visionary Philippines.

Importance of Civil Society and Cultural Transformation

Structural and systemic transformation is important. But human beings populate and manage the political, cultural, and economic institutions of this country. Thus, in the end, mindsets, values, attitudes, and habits of people, in short, its culture, will determine the ultimate success of efforts to create a better country. The heart and mind of any revolution is the revolution of hearts and minds. In partnership with and in support of civil society, the key actor in culture, Perlas will encourage a cultural revolution that is peaceful, creative, and celebratory. This will be the foundation, the living basis for massive reforms in government and business that will propel the renaissance of the Philippines, domestically and globally.

While most political leaders have no idea of the nature and capabilities of civil society and have often been in conflict with its active citizens, Perlas has been a leader in civil society for over 40 years and has written one of the most influential books on civil society in the world. Perlas will use his expertise and competence in this area to encourage wide-ranging partnerships with civil society to lay the cultural basis for renewing Philippine society.

Inner Change and Creativity as Basis of Societal Transformation

Computer science has a saying: garbage in, garbage out. The wrong software can render the most sophisticated computer hardware dysfunctional and worthless. The same is true in societal transformation. We may create the most wonderful constitution, sets of laws, and structures of governance, but if people remain lazy, cynical, apathetic, corrupt, and hopeless, then our structural reform will never take off. Profound societal transformation can only be done on the basis of inner change.

Past and present governments, with rare exceptions, have no understanding of and appreciation for the importance of human development within a societal transformation context. But Nicanor Perlas has had extensive experience in socially engaged human and leadership development. Perlas will harness his competence in this area to secure the long-term renewal of government institutions on the basis of self-directed inner change of its key leaders, management, and staff.

Tayong Lahat! Ngayon! (All together! Now!)

Systemic transformation, societal threefolding partnerships, positive initiatives, cultural transformation, and inner-change all point to one reality. No single person, no matter how brilliant and competent, can change the country alone. It will require the engagement of millions of citizens to renew a country. Most governments do not appreciate the genius of its people, no matter what economic class they may belong to. But Nicanor Perlas has been facilitating national and global workshops on harnessing the collective intelligence of groups of people. With his rally cry, TAYONG LAHAT! NGAYON!, Perlas will become the first Philippine President, if voters say so, to harness the collective intelligence of a nation to realize its highest aspirations and to change its destiny forever.

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