Nicanor Perlas

Implicit in my coming forward is that I don’t see, among the existing slate of presidentiables, any candidate that will genuinely change this country. What will make my candidacy different is a number of factors. I come from outside the system, therefore I don’t owe anybody anything and that’s important because there’s a whole ecosystem of relationships and payoffs and utang na loob and all those kinds of tradeoffs. If I win it’s because I have a mandate from people who want to change politics. I have no vested interest in politics because that’s not where I came from. Now, it doesn’t mean I have no experience in political dynamics. For the last 40 years, I have worked to alter official government policies from the outside and through being a consultant to many government agencies. I know how it is to work in the corridors of power. It is this kind of combination of somebody from the outside who is not going to be a victim of the reciprocal relationships that already exist in the political system, with a fresh view, who has a track record to change the whole system and structure and, on top of that, has an understanding of the individual dynamics of hope and change that will be needed to change the system. There is another difference between me and other presidential candidates. I will challenge the system to its very core. No existing politician can do that because I have not seen that kind of systemic understanding of the challenges facing the country. My experience as a scientist and farmer taught me a valuable lesson: everything is interconnected. Working with my hands, I learned to see these connections. From the sources of life: water, air, and soil to plant health, pest management and farm finance, to nutrition, infrastructure, community development and trade. I apply this lesson to all fields of development. As far as I can tell, no other candidate has this systemic perspective that is so essential in creating a better country. Another difference is that other candidates lack an appreciation of culture. For me, culture is going to be an important factor in the new governance. We will create that new culture on the basis of partnerships – participatory governance. I wrote a book called “Shaping Globalization : Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding. In the book, I detail an approach to governance that has found resonance all over the world, including at the United Nations that has adapted a similar approach in implementing its Millennium Development Goals. It is an approach that engages people in the process of change and transformation of the country through which the government will really become transparent and accountable. This is another unique contribution. So there are many factors that distinguish me from traditional politicians.
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