"The Rizal Robredo Index"

How can the internet community have a real influence on politics? Words of themselves don't create result.

Society of Honor brother Jim-e offered up what I think is a brilliant suggestion a while back. It was instigated by JoeAm's article on " A First Class Philippines: Amando Tetangco, Jr." Jim-e wrote:

• Perhaps it would be a good idea to establish a new "religion" or "cult"--the cult of quality, courage, honor, character and bravery--THE CULT OF RIZAL!

Well, I don't like the term "cult" because it has a negative and religious meaning to me. But the idea of developing a movement that recognizes the excellence that exists in the Philippines today, the core of First Class people and institutions and places, is superb.

The way I look at it, the Philippines has been sleeping for 118 years since Jose Rizal penned a speech honoring Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo in 1884. The banquet at which he spoke was hosted by the Filipino community in Madrid, Spain. The audience was mostly prominent Spanish newspapermen, artists and statesmen, and a collection of well-connected Filipinos. The event was inspiring for the speech was inspiring, and for the first time ever, a Filipino was recognized as an intellectual and passionate equal to Spanish intellectuals.

Jose Rizal was 23 years old.

One paragraph of his speech is especially pertinent to this article's topic:

• "The patriarchal era in the Philippines is waning. The deeds of her illustrious sons are no longer wasted away at home. The oriental chrysalis is leaving the cocoon. The morrow of a long day for those regions is announced in brilliant tints and rose-colored dawns, and that race, fallen into lethargy during the historic night while the sun illumines other continents, again awakens, moved by the electric impact that contact with Western peoples produces, and she demands light, life, the civilization that at one time they bequeath her, thus confirming the eternal laws of constant evolution, of change, of periodicy, of progress." ("Jose Rizal; Life, Works, and Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist, and National Hero" by Gregorio and Sonia Zaide)

Well, the patriarchs returned, didn't they? Aguinaldo led the pack, the Americans descended with clubs and bullets to beat the Philippines back into lethargy, and we remain today where Rizal left off, the Catholic Church trying to impose its rigid and timeless way, its unchanging way, on the Philippines. The oligarchs loading the political machine up with self-patronage. And poverty remains relentless.

But!

President Noynoy Aquino has prodded the cocoon once again, jabbed it into life, pushed the oriental chrysalis once again toward the light.

With apology to Jim-e for tweaking his mission statement a little, this is The Rizal Imperative enlarged to consider the very current high-minded ideal attached to the late Jesse Robredo's work. It is now called the The Rizal Robredo Imperative:

• To pursue a national character of intelligence, courage, honor, and capability.

• Intelligence means reason, the highest levels of thought in science, in the humanities, in commerce , in law and in government.

• Courage means the passion and determination required to hold the course, or the wisdom to adjust, to attain success.

• Honor means living up to the highest standards of human kindness and well-being.

• Capability means skill in the use of intelligence, courage and honor to attain the highest possible result.

Well, this is still open to tweaking, after all, the idea of community is that we are stronger together than as individuals.

So feel free to tweak.

How does such an imperative become action? How do we get from ideals and words to inspire changes in behavior and decisions from powerful people?

Well, how about establishing a rating index and a rating methodology?

The Rizal Robredo Index

This would be a score, say from 0 to 100, that would evaluate government officials on intelligence, courage, honor and capability. Like Pulse Asia, it would be published periodically to represent a scaling and scoring of competence in the Philippines. Elected and appointed officials would not feel the heat of public criticism or commendation only during election cycles, but regularly.

The methodology to implement the index would take some effort. I imagine a ratings panel like the Nobel Peace Prize Committee that would look at reviews prepared by teams of volunteer scouts in the field tracking and recording what government officials are up to. The ratings panel would issue their scores in two stages: (1) preliminary, with right of comment, and (2) final.

The essential goal is to recognize the strengths of the Philippines, the top people, and rally around them. Not obsess over weaknesses or problems or shortcomings. They are just temporary barriers. As Secretary Rebredo exemplified, and Joe Am has been illustrating through a series of articles, there is a First Class core within the Philippines, and the best way forward is to grow it.

For illustration purposes only, here is a quick example to show how the index would differentiate among people.  Now it is possible that the rating of Senator Sotto is influenced by the bias of near-term events and the power of Angry Maude's recent rant. This fictitious, top-of-mind evaluation adds up scores from 0 to 25 in each category:

Category	Abaya	Aquino	Binay	Santiago	Sotto
Intelligence	22	18	22	22	5
Courage	22	22	18	18	15
Honor	22	20	15	15	5
Capability	22	20	22	15	10
TOTAL	88	80	77	70	35

The rating could be improved by having sub-categories of scoring within each major  category. For example, intelligence might be comprised of: (a) education, (b) logic, (c ) innovation, (d) expression, and (e) open mindedness. Assign five points each.

It would also be improved if the process were run by Filipinos and the leaders gave JoeAm and Jim-e  the old nationalistic boot out the door.

Finally, the process could be improved by having a panel do the scoring to average out the evaluations and moderate extreme scores such as that we see for Senator Sotto.

The panel might also choose to shade the weightings. Maybe capability should be 40 points instead of 25.

With some work, credible tools and evaluations could be developed and voters would have important new information at their disposal.

• When the ratings are applied to candidates, the public is be better able to select first class leaders.

• When the ratings are applied to people in office, those office-holders are motivated to do better.

The Rizal Robredo Imperative: to find and build on the first class leaders of the Philippines.

The Rizal Robredo Index: a process, a tool for doing this.

UPDATE: 09/05/2012:  Work on a draft evaluation form has been moved to a tab at the top of this page ("The Rizal Robredo Index"). Currently working is version 1.1.1, and comments are welcome. Specifically requested are suggested line item statements to include. Comments may be dropped off in the comment section to that tab page.

UPDATE: 09/09/2012: Development of the Rizal Robredo Index has been moved to an independent location. If you are interested in participating in development, please send Joe Am an e-mail via the "Contact Us" tab.