|
|
SANIB-SINAG
1 February 15, 1998
|
|
Much older has been its reality — alive in human society, alive in Nature. But its manifestations are as obvious as its reason is difficult to explain completely.
From one who likes playing with words -- and coining them in combinations -- a new word comes forth: "saniblakas". It has been offered as a "newly-coined Filipino word" for synergism.
Not that our people needed such a translation to capture the reality of the synergism principle and apply it in their lives. As a matter of fact, our race has always had its own word for it, from which came our own concept and our own word for heroism. That word is bayanihan.
But the vibrant meaning of this word, especially in the last century or so, has been undermined by the erosion of its social reality. It has come to be associated with token imitations of the original sense, or, at best, with artistic expressions of it. Efforts to restore the word bayanihan to its original philosophical dignity have met with much difficulty, and efforts to restore the bayanihan phenomenon to the very heart and soul of our nation’s life are met with even more challenging obstacles. The word bayanihan has lost its soul. It needs resuscitation, but this will take some time.
In the meantime, the word synergism has not had the impact it should have on the consciousness and behavior of our people. Even within the Civil Society (a new term for what we used to call "cause-oriented groups," "movement for social change" and "NGO/PO community"), the concept behind the word synergism has not been given maximized application to the essence of building and running organizations.
The word saniblakas does not enjoy a rich historical antecedent as the word bayanihan does. But it carries clarity and vitality. Clarity comes from the simplicity and directness of each of the words being combined, and vitality comes from the second word in the pair. In fact, the meaning of this word is all about the magnification of power, energy, strength. With that kind of sense, would this word ever lack in vitality?
The word saniblakas is now offered for the use of Filipinos instead of synergism. It is generic because its application can be applied universally wherever the word synergy may be appropriate.
A. And This Word is Taking Flesh
THE CONCEPT of saniblakas or synergism can "take flesh" in the form of groups using the word to describe themselves as they make sustained efforts to practice it.
A group actively promoting the saniblakas principle by way of propagation of the concept and its general and specific applications has the legitimate claim to use the word in its name.
The word saniblakas has indeed taken flesh in the form of such an entity. There is now such an organization existing and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as "Saniblakas ng Taongbayan Inc., soon to be transformed into the "Saniblakas ng Taongbayan Foundation." (The first meeting to form this organization was held on November 11, 1996. This mid-year report, the first for the organization, covers the seven-month period that has passed since that date.)
The word saniblakas can be universally applied, but the complete name of the entity has the phrase "ng taongbayan" which delineates the focus of application of the saniblakas principle this organization intends to undertake. This is still very broad, but much less than the full breadth of the meaning of the word,
This report for mid-year 1997 covers four main parts: (1) vision-mission defining and refining; 2) institution-building; (3) start-up projects and work force; (4) immediate challenges and prospects.
A. Working Out the Concept from Three Streams
Before November 11, 1996, it was just an idea, a concept that needed a lot more data and ideas, modifications, feasibility studies, and similar inputs. In other words, the Why, What, When and How of everything pertinent to it had yet to be defined.
The saniblakas concept emerged from the convergence of three streams of ideas which had been evolving in both the mind and the praxis of the word originator, who also initiated the founding of this organization (as well as in the minds and praxis of the other members of the present Saniblakas leadership).
The first stream is the concept called "multilateralism," which became a by-word of an organization of which he was part of the founding leadership, namely, the Philippine Movement for Press Freedom (PMPF).
In an article he wrote in December 1990 for the PMPF’s magazine, Press Freedom Advocate, the following points were brought to the fore: (1) the needed democratic wisdom and energy can be mustered only by mobilizing large numbers of people, in contrast to having only a small group of people do all the work and be applauded by the crowds; (2) in the multilateral approach to addressing common concerns, individual persons and entities can assert themselves and be respected as distinct entities with their own respective capabilities, limitations and prerogatives; (3) "multilateralism does not imply the creation of supercontainers where all other organizations would be placed...it is not a big box, but a lot of glue."
The second stream, more comprehensive, concept is that of P.S.E. or People’s Self-Empowerment, especially the parts about alternative frameworks of empowerment and about the concept of healthy -- and therefore empowering -- organizations.
The three alternative frameworks of empowerment bring forth the question of where the socio-economic and political power would come from (From the bullet, as in "grows out of the barrel of the gun" in the "proxy empowerment "framework? Or from the ballot, as in the "dole out and token empowerment" framework?) The answer was found after some time – from the people’s very act of really coming together to attain and assert their collective empowerment. It brought the realization: that it comes from human synergism, an old concept that has yet to be maximized. The work-in-progress titled The P.S.E. (People’s Self-Empowerment) Challenge explains this framework comprehensively and in detail.
The same work-in-progress carries a specific article on healthy organizations that can indeed be mechanisms for empowerment. It points out that for an organization to be such, it should give full play to not one but "three synergisms"—the synergism of minds, of hearts, and of muscles or warm bodies. According to that article, titled "Three Synergisms: Basic in Organizations," the minds of all the members should be actively synergizing for analyses- and decision-making work. Not only the leaders but also the members have the capability for such work. The morale or team spirit of the organization should be also be synergized from the enhanced morale and spirit of every individual member or personnel. These two synergisms should be added to the one synergism organizations have been more conscious about — the synergism of muscles or warm bodies. Without the first two synergisms, these warm bodies are mobilized to implement decisions and plans they have had no effective participation in making.
The third stream came from what has developed as one of the most important messages of Kamalaysayan (Kampanya para sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan), that the revolutionary Katipunan, founded and led by Andres Bonifacio, was more of a unifying force, as the root word, tipon, of its name implies, rather than the fighting force it was more known to be. This is integrated with the major message of the Sentenaryo ’96 commemoration which billed the 1896 Revolution as the Birth of the Nation, capping four years of gathering work ("pagtitipon") by the Katipunan on the basis of its honorable philosophy and ethical codes, bringing the people of the various regions and provinces of the archipelago together for their first-ever unified enterprise which took the form of a struggle for national assertion and liberation.
Kamalaysayan has issued the call and has done actual work for a new "pagtitipon" process where Filipinos here and abroad from all walks of life are being familiarized with the contents of the Katipunan code of ethics ("Kartilya") and led in pledging to live under the guidance of its lessons.
All members of the Board of Trustees of Saniblakas ng Taongbayan, Inc. have been actively involved in developing and playing out one or two or all of these three concepts which have all flowed into the evolution of our saniblakas concept.
The development of the concept of saniblakas to a certain degree was hurried on by the need to register an organization with the SEC so that a "Saniblakas" non-profit non-stock corporation could qualify to handle what eventually became its first project, a book on the first 10 years’ experience of the Philippine Development Assistance Programme (PDAP). Preparing the application for SEC Registration demanded some level of definition of purposes and approaches that would capture the essence in general terms and would be appropriate and useful in the long-run (because an organization doesn’t often get a chance to change the purposes and mode of operation stated in its SEC documents).
The ideas that went into the formulation of purposes for SEC registration included "individual and collective empowerment" and the matter of "developing and applying" effective technologies for such empowerment. Envisioned activities went into the description of "Mode of Operation."
Having defined somehow the mission and approaches of the organization for the purpose of accomplishing the SEC registration forms, in a meeting last November of the first three organizers (Ed Reyes, Cel Ocampo and Romy Ancheta), Ed and Cel started facing the preliminary tasks for accomplishing the PDAP book project.
Continued development of the concept had to take the back seat for some time, that is, from January to mid-May, 1997. Since that time, however, especially after Joydee Robledo -- who was earlier retained as Executive Assistant to the President -- was also elected as Board Secretary, the Saniblakas core team of Ed and Joydee worked more closely and more actively on developing and continually refining a draft text for the Saniblakas brochure and seeking immediate feedback from a growing number of people.
(Followed by sections on "Institution-Building," " Start-up Projects and Workforce" and "Immediate Challenges and Prospects.")
Addendum:
Ideas from the EdR/JdR discussion about the title of this report originally, "Saniblakas: The Word Becomes Flesh"; now, it’s "Saniblakas: A Word Becoming Flesh"):
Question posed on the original title: isn’t the use of Biblical allusion not "sacrilegious"? (The Bible opens, saying the Word is God; and the Angelus prayer refers to the Word becoming flesh, referring to God-incarnate, Jesus Christ.. On the other hand...
Whenever people come together in His name, He is in their midst. Actually, He is within each one, but He obviously gives premium to community prayer, with us relating to Him also as communities, big and small. He even sent out his disciples in pairs to preach in various lands, thus insuring that a built-in community, a team, was doing His work in each case.
Spirituality enhances unity/synergy; and unity/synergy enhances spirituality... Like matter and energy, these may be just two forms of the same reality. Like cleanliness, it can also be "next to Godliness, a movement in the direction of Godliness" ...but...
Di ba, synergy can also be negative? Can’t criminal syndicates, for instance, join forces and become stronger many times over?
Synergy is not real in evil "unities," which is at best fragile and temporary, because evil essentially springs from a sense of separation and conflict. This is the reason why tactical "unities" among crime syndicates always have mutual suspicions, betrayals, mutual eliminations,
Still, in our title, "The Word..." has been changed to "A Word..." lessening the magnitude of the self-projection to humble, thus acceptable, levels.
< Back to the opening window |