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The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, together with its local partners TACDRUP and the Centrist Democratic Movement, recently conducted six (6) forum-workshops on crafting a centrist democratic agenda with young professionals from Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon. The six forum-workshops were held in Davao City, Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro, Makati City, Tagaytay City, and Iloilo City. The forum-workshops provided a venue for young professionals to articulate their views on issues affecting the quality of democracy in the country as well as identify consensus points on how to pro-actively respond to such issues. The workshops were attended by 300 legal practitioners, members of the academe, civil society advocates, local government officials and local legislators.

Providing the framework for the forum-workshops are renowned experts in the fields of political science, political party reforms, decentralization and federalism, social market economy, and nation building. Underscoring the failures of the past generation in effectively establishing a system of governance that empowers the people, the successor generation is being called upon to meet the challenges head-on.

Through all of the workshops, there is a recurring recognition of the failure of the nation’s leaders to institute democratic reforms. Particularly, the participants noted the weakening of democratic institutions in terms of delivering basic services and empowering the people. There is a consensus on the inability of Philippine political parties to articulate the issues and concerns of the people as well as the inability to move beyond personality based politics.

Of particular interest are the specific issues raised during the workshops such as the need to analyze how democracy impacts the Muslim system of law and governance, the significance of education in pursuing and promoting centrist democracy in the country, and the sharpening of the analysis of the Social Market Economy in terms of applying its principles in the Philippine setting.

At the end of each workshop, the participants resolved to establish working core groups that would coordinate future plans and actions in their respective regions. Such actions range from expanding the number of people who are receptive to the centrist democracy framework to strengthening the existing network through continuous education and coordination.

To date, 3 of the core groups already conducted team building sessions to deepen the interpersonal relationships of the participants. Similar team building sessions are scheduled to be conducted with the other core groups in the following weeks. The core groups are also preparing the drafting of general statutes that would guide the formation of the movement.