CDI model of responsible citizenship

IN a nutshell, the above model of citizenship seeks to provide a simple mental framework that is grounded on having a COMPELLING VISION when properly exercising one’s DUTIES as a citizen through ITERATIVE PRACTICE. Through these three components (C+D+I), it is hoped that a citizenship model that is truly authentic and responsible will result; “authentic” in that it truly reflects our indigenous cultural traits, and “responsible” in that it promotes the four distinct kinds of citizen leadership, as described above.

How do we move forward with such a model for citizenship? The alternative model of citizenship as described above is a work in progress and is meant to stimulate and start a dialogue. In having such an exchange of ideas, perhaps it is important for us to also explore the underlying assumptions of citizenship models, particularly with regard to three fundamental questions:

• Do we have a national vision worth believing in?

• Can we individually commit to building such vision together?

• Can we do such building daily and in our own personal contexts?

It may be best to end in terms of where we started. From the author’s experience, activities involving values education for “nation-building” at our local schools too often take the traditional perspective of seeking to define and identify national leaders that we should have in terms of what should be their ideal traits and management styles. Such a view appears to be inherently flawed. In the first place, such definitions tend to conjure overly idealistic notions of what a national leader should be, making it difficult to apply such leadership model in practice. More significantly, such a definition process is overly simplistic and inherently elitist in nature, as it implies that there are those who can be selected to lead whom everyone else should simply follow. This latter perspective was one of the myths used to support the Marcos regime in the early years of Martial Law. In effect, that then President Marcos was inherently brilliant and knew what was best for the country, hence he should lead us in transforming the Philippines into a “new society.”

We should learn from our own history. Developing truly effective national leaders should be founded not on attempting to describe how they should ideally be, but on how all of us can best fulfill the greatest office of any democracy – the office of citizen. Providing a model of citizenship that can be followed in real life by every Filipino should naturally facilitate the eventual development of leaders at both the local and national levels who truly create value and serve the common good, in all sectors of society.

Hence, the CDI model of authentic and responsible Filipino citizenship does away with the need to define what an ideal national leader should be. We will no longer need to provide and develop a definition because the model, if properly applied, makes every Filipino a leader for his or her community and ultimately country – Every Filipino a Leader, in short. The model also avoids elitist notions of leadership by emphasizing personal responsibility first, as a basis for collective vision and action. In other words, having a leadership orientation puts the focus on leader selection on the individual first, in terms of the positive change he or she is passionate about, instead of leader identification and recruitment from among potential candidates.

Particularly from a national perspective, using the CDI citizenship model in lieu of a focus on identifying an ideal national leader is beneficial as it does away with the myth that some are called to lead and some are not. Taken to the extreme, such a perspective promotes the myth that there is that one great leader that we can trust to lead us to national salvation. Instead, the contrarian view as promoted by the above citizenship model pushes us to ask how we all can be leaders in our own ways, in our daily lives.

In May of this year, our country witnessed the passing of a citizen who was a true model of what a Filipino citizen should be, as described above — former Senator Eva Estrada Kalaw. From her, we inherit a legacy that — in its essence — challenges the very notion that our nation exists to supposedly fulfill our wants, our conveniences, and our selfish whims.

Our nation instead deserves those who serve it like Lola Eva: A country that belongs to those with conviction, passion, and courage. And as Lola Eva’s legacy soars into the ages, we should pray that a true spirit akin to hers should rekindle the light of freedom even in our nation’s darkest and most despondent hours.