PH has a long way to go to be truly free, says Sereno

The Philippines still has a long way to go to prove that the Philippines is truly independent, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said Friday in her speech during the 117th Independence Day celebration.

Sereno said if one will look at the indexes that measure the progress of a nation such as the Human Development Index, the Philippines has a long way to go.

“Kung titingnan po natin ang iba’t ibang indexes na tinatawag nila na sinusukat ang progreso ng isang bayan kung gaano kalaya ang bayan, kung gaano kalaya ang mga journalist dito, kung gaano kalakas ang mga unyon at religious freedom dito, kung gaano kaganda ang Human Development Index at kung gaano iniingatan ang environment, malayung-malayo pa po ang ating kailangang tahakin,” Sereno said.

(If you will look at the different indexes that measure a nation’s progress or its freedom, like how free journalists are, how strong unions and religious freedom are, how effective the Human Development Index is or how people take care of the environment, you will discover that we still have a long way to go.)

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)’s Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) showed that poverty incidence among Filipino individuals rose by 1.2 percentage points to 25.8 percent in the first semester of 2014 from the 24.6 percent registered in the first half of 2013.

Poverty incidence among Filipino families also increased by 1.1 percentage points in the first half of 2014 to 19.9 percent from 18.8 percent in the same period in 2013.

On the other hand, the 2014 Human Development Report said the Philippines climbed a notch to 117 out of 187 countries ranked in 2013 in terms of the human development index (HDI). But it was still behind the global average of 0.702 as well as that of the East Asia and Pacific region’s 0.703.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (right) leads the Independence Day celebration at the Bonifacio Shrine in Caloocan City. TETCH TORRES-TUPAS/INQUIRER.net

READ: PH ranks with strife-torn Syria, Iraq in human development | Lagging behind in Southeast Asia

The HDI is a benchmark that measures life expectancy, years of schooling and income. The closer a country’s HDI is to 1, the higher the level of human development.

Sereno said “marami pa tayong kailangang patunayan sa ating ninunong si Gat. Andres Bonifacio (We still have a lot to prove to our ancestor Andres Bonifacio).”

She said everyone should be “revolutionary” not up in arms but in finding a solution to improve the country’s situation.

“Ang pagiging rebolusyonaryo ay masusing pagaaral ng mga sakit ng lipunan at paghahanap ng solusyon sa mga sakit na ito (Being a revolutionary is examining the ills of the society and finding solutions to these),” she said. IDL