The Filipino Concepts

of
Ideal Society
• The kind of life the Filipinos dreamed about is
well exemplified in the famous literary work of
the late Carlos P. Romulo, I Am a Filipino.
• It demonstrates the Filipino’s dream for
freedom from colonial rule. The works of Rizal
echo the same aspiration for freedom.
Contemporary artists including F. Sionil Jose
voice out the same cry freedom. Filipinos have
an ideal society; it is a society free from any
form of colonial repression.
• The constitution of the Philippines is a
powerful promoter of the ideal Filipino
society. Unfortunately, this topic is the least
discussed because people who ought to
represent it talk much about their personal
plans and achievements and not on the
freedomof the Filipinos.
The constitution says these lines: “We,the
sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of
Almighty God in order to build a just and
humane society and established a government
that shall embody our ideals, promote the
common good, conserve and develop our
patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our
posterity the blessings of independence and
democracy-under the rule of law and a regime
of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and
peace, do ordain and promulgate this
Constitution.” (preamble).
• “The Philippines is a Democratic and
Republican State. Sovereignty resides in the
people, and all government authority
emanates from them.” (Art.II. Sec. 1)
• “ The prime duty of the Government is to
serve the people.” (Art. II. Sec. 4)
• Public office is a public trust. Public officers
and employees must at all time be
accountable to the people, serve them with
utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty,and
efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and
lead modest lives.” (Art. XI. Sec. 1)
 These lines which prevailed through
different drafting and redrafting of the
constitution, point up the people’s desire to
enhance their lives materially and spiritually.
We heard words like pagkakaisa or unity,
pagmamahalan or harmony. These are all
expressions of people’s vision of an ideal
society.
From the government demand for
transparency, fair election, integrity, good
governance and to lead the country in
modest lives.
 Out of these demands, the people ousted
from office two undeserving presidents. As of
this writing the senate is busy for the
upcoming impeachment trial of an alleged
ombudsman who sat in office doing nothing. If
impeachment trial ends in the congress, then
the ombudsman is impeached at this time.
Also as of this writing, the senate has just
arrested a high ranking military officer
accused of corruption.
Before the coming of the colonizers and before
these politicians turned acerbic, the Filipino
people had already demonstrated their ideal
society. Bayanihan, sharing of whatever, is
pictured out by artist where people carriedall
together a single hut transferred to another lot. It
is not utopian unlike the society envisioned by
Aristotle. Or it is not like the great society as
imagined by the former American president
Lyndon B. Johnson. The Filipino vision of an ideal
society is simple and achievable . It is not
fantastic, dreamlike and perfect. It is a reality.