Gonzales, Donato III P.

February 16, 2019

HOUSING – ARC P05

Reaction Paper: AMBISYON NATIN 2040

AmBisyon natin essentially groups the aspirations of the Filipino life into 3: strongly-rooted
(matatag), comfortable (maginhawa) and secure (panatag). In a nutshell, it is a middle-class
aspiration and mostly reflects the people’s economic desire, sense of security, trust to government
and individual well-being.
Visions are never wrong. It is subject to people’s perspective. Suppose that the process
of consultation was proper and methodologically correct and that the 10, 000 respondents asked
are the closest representation of the whole population (since we can’t really have true
representation or participation in consultations of any national matter in a way that everyone will
be asked since that is virtually, logistically impossible), then I am in no position to judge the
Filipino’s vision. If they want Income security more than anything then I can’t argue with that. In
fact, that is also what I want. If it’s very telling why the respondents wanted a car each and an
income of P60,000 monthly then maybe the motivations of these respondents must be called to
question. It is; therefore, a major criticism of the document is that it is an aspiration of the middle-
class. Maybe it was all middle class, and no one from the poorest sector, that were asked. If the
whole vision is myopic in favor of what the middle class wants, then we are essentially leaving
the lower class beyond, even so, the poorest of the poor. Them who can’t even look beyond their
daily meal and would not in no way crave to have a family car! Clearly, the CD principle of
participation and bias for the poor wasn't inspiring for the writers of the AmBisyon. Although It
states that it wants a total eradication of poverty (“no one is poor”), it hardly asked the poor
themselves what they want. FGD and surveys like this are hardly the forte of poor Filipinos who
most probably can’t write or articulate their thoughts. If the visions are construed, then how to we
suppose that the overall goal of development shall be the right one. The success of this AmBisyon
2040 is the success of the middle class –not of the poor.