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Frequently Asked Questions about Change Politics Movement:

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(Revised 29 May 2009)

1. What is change politics?

It is the practice of politics guided by the following principles:

1. Transparency and honesty
2. Protection of and respect for human rights
3. Service to the people and the public good
4. Democracy and civic engagement
5. Solidarity and the common good
6. The right to self determination and equal rights of the poor and the marginalized
7. Protection of the national patrimony and sovereignty

2. What is the purpose of the movement?

The movement aims to develop active citizenship and leadership among the people; especially the marginalized, so that they understand the meaning and embrace the practice of self-determination and people empowerment. Another objective of the movement is to mobilize the people in time for next year’s national elections, so that the polls will be free from the malpractices and pitfalls of traditional politics that paralyze national freedom and development. The movement also aims to enable ordinary Filipinos (non-politicians) to collectively and critically identify leaders who respect, practice and promote Change Politics, and to support the candidacy of these leaders in the 2010 elections.

3. What is the political alignment of the movement?

The movement is aligned with no party, and no organization. It is a movement purely driven by the people and in service of the people.

4. What does the movement expect from the people?

The people are expected to be active and vigilant citizens. The people are expected to be active in upholding the common good, in demanding integrity, transparency and accountability from the government and those who are involved in the polls. You can accomplish these by doing the following:

• Join the Change Politics Movement (CPM) cluster in your area or, if there is no cluster yet, organize a cluster in coordination with the nearest CPM provincial/regional coordinator or the national secretariat
• Participate actively in the nomination, deliberation and voting processes of CPM from May to August 2009 to choose the movement’s “Change Politics candidates”
• Organize “pulong-bahays” in your neighborhood or place of work to discuss Change Politics
• Write about Change Politics, its purpose and principles and then e-mail it or post it on your local bulletin board, newsletter, newspaper, blog or social network account

And initiate activities with the CPM clusters such as:

• Check the voters’ registration list with COMELEC City/ Municipal Election Officers
• Monitor the status/progress of and support the continuing voters’ registration in your town/city
• Ask the COMELEC Election Officers to conduct intensive education/information drive about the automated polls now, and not wait for January 10, 2010
• Organize and declare barangays into vote-buying free zones by identifying and mapping vulnerable areas/barangay to vote buying
• Educate individuals, families, friends, neighbors and colleagues on active citizenship and accountable leadership.
• Conduct “ramdam” surveys, getting a feel of the community, seeing who can effectively represent change politics in your community starting with the members of the CPM but also reaching out to others

5. What the movement IS and IS NOT.

The movement is not a political party; it is a trans-partisan organization. It is not a campaign machinery for any candidate nor is it a campaign movement for the 2010 elections.

While CPM will identify through a participatory and deliberative process running from May to August 2009 the candidates that meet its criteria for change politics, and will actively support the campaign for the 2010 elections of these selected candidates, CPM is not bound to any political party and is not limited to the 2010 elections.

The movement is a platform for active citizenship, which will ensure that accountable and pro-reform leaders will sit in office at the national and local levels. The vision of the movement is to ensure that transformative politics will be the norm and the dominant culture by the year 2022 at the latest.

6. What motivated the inception of the movement?

Development workers and community organizers, many of whom have given at least 15 years of their lives to people empowerment and social change, realize that for the marginalized to be freed from poverty, they must have access to power, and to have access to power, they themselves must change politics. Patronage and transactional politics have been the barriers to genuine poverty reduction and people empowerment. Most civil society organizations in the past hesitated to get involved in politics because it has been seen to be dominated by greedy and self-serving individuals who are corrupt and believe that they are not going to get caught and punished by state authorities because they are in power.

However, today, there is a growing realization that there is a need to take back politics from these corrupt politicians and make politics the sacred covenant that it is meant to be — between the leaders and the citizens. Civil society leaders see the need to change politics so that the principles and practice of politics will bring positive change to governance and society as a whole. There is a need for civil society to engage the political society and influence it to do good governance and democratic politics.