This seminar beginning today is exclusively for the leadership of the CDP, both emergent and proven - and therefore, by definition – a gathering of the elite of the CDP. You have been nominated and selected by your leadership and will have to undergo a rigorous process. This is designed to infuse in you the knowledge, tools and competences that we hope will equip you for a fruitful life in the political firmament.
These two days of study, introspection, sharing and a healthy clash of ideas among and between disparate personalities could give you a foretaste of what is expected outside of this controlled environment. And at the end of the day we fervently hope that this experience will induce in each of you a singular desire for you to willingly assume a greater burden of leadership. This last element will solely be your personal decision and could lead to a lifelong commitment.

Only then will you truly be what this political party and more importantly what this country must have - a Centrist Democrat leader-exemplar.

But before you begin to romanticize this peculiar but necessary role, let me recount for you the hazards of crafting such an assemblage and our failure thus far in this regard.

In the least 3 years, we have had a series of leadership formations from the CDM days – 8 attempts at the grandiose dreams. With the recent CDO exercise, this is the 9th. We have invested in 176 people who were selected for these enhancement seminars. As of today, only 24 remain with the CDP and have assumed and accepted the responsibilities of leaders of men and women. This is 13.64% survival rate.
No way am I saying that the 86.36% who are no longer with us betrayed the CDP’s trust in them. This is not the case. Most must have realized that the life of a political technocrat in the mold of a Centrist Democrat is not for them. I don’t blame them at all. Perhaps, in some future time, they will come back to the fold.

Since 2010, we have sponsored about 40 members for special studies abroad including two select teams to Germany for an in-depth encounter with their opposite party functionaries and more importantly, a taste of a slice of German socio-cultural-economic life marshaled by Peter and myself. Our intention was not to replicate and transplant European realities to the Philippine context but simply to expose our young wards to all possibilities that travel to distant lands can provoke.

We hoped that upon their return they will carry with them fresh insights into what it will take to advance the cause of the Centrist Democratic ideals through this new Political Party we are building. In the intervening two years we are left with just a fraction – 10 out of 40. What is tragic is that some of them left a few weeks from arriving back to the country. Some did not even say "good-bye".

In some quarters, the Pilipino is known to be street smart, but we tend to denigrate ourselves. In the pantheon of accusations, we have popularized the concept that Philippine society is akin to a basket of live crabs. None can escape because they keep pulling each other down. Another one is best said in the vernacular: "...ang Pinoy, kung makalusot...lulusot."

There are 27 of you today, all hand-picked. I hope that the law of averages will not catch up on us but if it does, and it will, 23 of you will leave the CDP. I am a realist not a pessimist.

There was a time when I took it personally whenever one of the leaders leaves the flock. I look at it from the point of view of a hard-nose businessman, calculating the cost-benefit: the amounts spent in Euros, $ & cents, pesos & centimos; the trainings, meetings, plane flights and hotel accommodations. Investing on trips abroad to Germany and the KAYSP destinations alone would cost our sponsors roughly Euro15,000 per head – not taking into account the man-hours spent by the hosts. In Philippine pesos, these would run to millions. And if we don’t forget, we pay our membership dues at P1,000 per annum – reluctantly at times. Sad, until Peter, a bright eyed optimist, forced me to look at it in a different light. 4 of you will remain with the CDP for the next couple of years. And he will be happy with that. He looks at the glass half full.
We will be confronted again and again by dreadful stories depicting our kababayans penchant for "free loading" and other shenanigans. But it's ok. In this type of calling we are prepared to take the good with the bad. In all types of avocation, where passion and love for our fellow man and our country are a precondition (corny, but so true) I now accept the cliché that "...many are called but few are (sonofabitches) chosen...” I am betting on those that will persist. And I totally believe in the eventual triumph of the good in the Pilipino.

But meantime we have a long journey ahead of us - one where each of us is expected to do our part well in crafting a structure that will benefit the Filipino in the long run. Our two days together is part of that long process.

For most of you, the short half-day to a whole day BOS that you attended was merely to whet your appetite granting you a glimpse of delectable political dishes that you can fill your plate with. This is in fact the subject of my little conversation with you this afternoon. I will start by sharing with you my experience as a political technocrat of some 4 decades; a scarred veteran of many political wars. So bear with me for a few moments for me to lay down the predicate.

PHILIPPINE BRAND OF DEMOCRACY & THE RULE OF LAW
Democracy was an alien concept for the 300 years the Country was under the Spanish Conquistadores. It was a transplanted idea in the decades under American tutelage and passed on to the Philippine Commonwealth period. It began to take root and grow from the time the Philippines was “granted” its independence in the post-war era – until the Marcos regime perverted the concept. The Edsa Revolution in 1986 reestablished Democracy but history’s verdict is still out whether what was restored was authentic or just a mirage.

Let us review for a moment our realities.

Widespread corruption, social injustice, violence and the privileged few’s general disregard for the rule of law belie the principles of democracy. Political patronage erodes the notion of the citizenry’s real participation in the democratic processes where the economic and political elites reign supreme.
This centralized system concentrating decision making process situate governance far away from the clientele, the Pilipino people, alienating the populace, robbing them of their roles as stakeholders.
The Philippines is a weak and a soft state (according to the definition of Gunnar Myrdal). It can barely provide a modicum of security through the prevention of crimes and violence; or establish a reliable economic, social and political framework through the strict implementation of its laws thereby promoting a society with unequal opportunities.

It is unable to put in place a minimum of social security for the weak and disadvantaged; or prevent environmental degradation and emboldens the over-consumption of precious natural resources depriving the same for the future generations. It is even incapable to delineate much less defend its territory.
The markets are widely dominated by the oligarchy and its allies and often closed to newcomers, preventing healthy competition and economic progress.

Ethnic and religious minorities are not provided with a fair share of political, legal and economic power and resources.

Yet, we boast that Philippine Democracy is considered the oldest and freest in Asia.
This is the sad state of our country today. We practitioners of political technocracy cannot permit these conditions to fester.

THE CENTRIST DEMOCRACTS’ PEDIGREE
Centrist Democracy was originally called CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY, having had its origins from the Catholic ideals of the 17th & 18th century. Briefly, the French revolution of 1789 initiated a rethinking by the Catholic Church of its institutional values and teachings – as the revolution precipitated a massive shift from feudal institutions to the concept of a State.

Pope Leo XIII issued in May 15, 1891 the classic encyclical Rerum Novarum where he addressed the misery of the working class followed by his Graves de Communi Re which used for the first time the term Christian Democracy and defining the conditions of the working class by establishing its position over capital and labor.

A series of encyclical followed with Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno in 1931; Pope John XXIII’s Mater ET Magistra (1961); and Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus (1991).

For a hundred years, these encyclicals promoted concepts of social justice, preferential option for the poor and the value of Human Dignity…which is the Core of Christian Democracy. These too are the values of the Centrist Democratic Party (CDP).

But in the years after the Bolshevik revolution, there also emerged a world view parallel to that of the Catholics which put into suspicion modernity, distrust for democracy and overall rejection of the legacy of the French Revolution (Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite).

But the universal devastation of the 2nd world war brought about the emergence of a new generation of leaders of Christian Democrats who advocated that the movement would be openly Christian, but neither clerical nor strictly catholic. The adherents from faiths other than catholic or Christian came pouring in.
In time, the appellation “Christian” metamorphosed into “Centrist” - thus Centrist Democracy.

PHILIPPINE ADHERENTS

In the Philippines, the original adherents, the Jesuits, Fr. Francisco Araneta, among them encouraged and trained leaders that in the late 1960s championed CD Ideology – the likes of Raul Manglapus, Manuel Manahan - heirs of Ramon Magsaysay.

In 1967, the Christian Social Movement (CSM) was born lead by Raul Manglapus and with the visit of a young leader of the German Bundestag, a member of the Christian Democratic Union, the link to the German Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung was established, flourishing up to the present. This young German parliamentarian was Helmut Kohl – future chancellor of the German Republic.

A side issue of equal importance was the entrance of the Muslims into the Christian Democracy umbrella. A member of the 1971 Constitutional Convention and a leader of the Muslims in Mindanao, Michael Mastura together with Raul Manglapus signed the Christian-Muslim Manifesto, ushering in a start of a fusion of the two political ideologies. This was followed later by the merger of the United Muslim Democrats of the Philippines (UMDP) and the National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD) in 1987.

SUCCESSOR GENERATION
At this point I believe that I have laid before you the thesis for this short narrative. There is still hope for our society to lift itself up from the morass of moral and political degradation. We, the Centrist Democrats do not assume to be the lead group and we certainly don’t have the arrogance to claim sole proprietorship to the Centrist Democratic values – but we have the privilege of lineage – dating back to the 1s papal encyclicals – and we take pride in that fact.

We have had political initiatives over the years. I am an example of those that tried to - from the time Raul Manglapus recruited us, together with some of those who passed away - Evelio Javier, Rey Teves amongst others. From the Christian Social Movement (CSM), to the Young Christian Socialist of the Philippines (YCSP) to the original Pilipino Democratic Party (PDP); we have failed. I lay claim to be part of that failure – and I am therefore an expert in failure. But out of the ashes – the Phoenix will rise. Hope springs eternal.

And so with the help of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung country representative, Peter Koeppinger, another initiative came into being in the creation of the Centrist Democratic Movement (CDM) – compose of young professionals who must first understand the uses, misuses, abuses and even non-use of political power.
We have since the closing days of 2009 encourage young people after us who are more prepared that we ever were. They have the modern technology in their fingertips and the ability to network at the speed of the internet and that which is more important – the confidence of youth; the belief that they can solve the problems of the world at their own terms. This idealism, tempered with the values of Centrist (Christian-Muslim) Democracy is embedded into this movement – the CDM. This is the SUCCESSOR GENERATION.
In 2011, Peter and I brought along leaders of the CDM Federation to Germany to see first-hand how a country devastated by the World War II picked itself up from the ashes and through the Christian Democratic concepts of Social Market Economy elevated their people propelling their economy to no. 4 in the world today.

May 9, 2011, at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin, 13 CDM leaders drew up a document declaring their intentions to transform the CDM into a political party, as some future date.

The document is called the “Berlin Protocol”.

It took 2 years to midwife this political party but the incubation period goes back 4 decades. January of 2012, the Movement decided to convert itself into a political party and seek accreditation from COMELEC as a full-pledged National Political Party – The Centrist Democratic Party. Ang Partido ng Tunay na Demokrasya.

So we have created a political party that will engage in electoral contest because we need to be in power to precipitate the changes necessary to emancipate the Filipino from decades of mis-governance.
At this point, let me now review for you what we really are and what differentiates us from other political parties purporting to serve the best interest of the Pilipino.

THE CORE VALUE
The Centrist Democratic philosophy is anchored on “Human Dignity”. This is our core value – an inherent right to be regarded with respect, to be treated and accepted as an equal, and to have equal access to the basic needs to live a decent life.

Political, economic and social order must be so logically designed that the dignity of each person is protected and promoted.

An atmosphere of freedom is a prerequisite upon which Human dignity is enhanced. Self-determination by each individual, an essential component, is the impetus for collective expression towards the development of a just society.

These guiding principles can best be implemented through the concepts of a representative democracy based on strong, program-oriented political parties, a decentralized state structure with regional autonomy and local self-government, a “Social Market Economy” with a well-functioning open market, protected by a strong state, a social security system in place and environmental protection and sustainability.
Our Political Party adheres to an essential set of canons:

1. To create a truly functioning Democracy and the Rule of law ;

2. To build up strong and sustainable political parties;

3. To establish a thriving Social Market Economy; and

4. To work for the adoption and practice the principle of subsidiarity in all structures of governance.

These four (4) governing principles of the CDP are intertwined in so many ways and they form the collective substance of the Centrist Democratic Dogma. They help illuminate the sordid state of affairs in the country that have been plaguing us for many decades and give us directions to mitigate, correct and eliminate the failures and also reinforce the good, the positive and the successes of Philippine society.
These tenets are no less than universal and when implanted well, society flourished over time. They succeeded in other countries, particularly those in Europe.

What make CDP unique from other Political Parties are four (4) distinct characteristics:

1. A Clear ideological orientation that defines its objectives and concepts of governance;

2. A Clear and strict membership recruitment, with members paying their dues, undergoing Basic Orientation Seminars (BOS) and constant political education;

3. A strict adherence internal democratic procedures; and well-defined rights and obligations for members and the different layers of leaders coming from the ground up; and

4. Ongoing year round activities with its active members intermingling with their communities through congressional districts even in between elections and campaign periods.

Under an institutional perspective, CDP, in contrast from existing personality based parties or groups, is set to create and promote new players and new rules of the game in the socio-political arena.
Looking back now I can see how far we’ve come. We started from scratch and made our way up to here. We’ve had setbacks only to regain our strength and plan for our next attack. The wind is on our side and so is time.

We have undergone years and years of threshing and winnowing and these are what we come up with; the seeds separated from straws. You are the seeds of CDP. Through you will grow the future of our country.

There’s a few of us considering the number of our adversaries. But we have something they may not have – passion to succeed. We know what we are and what we stand for. We must always bear in mind the wise words of Sun Tzu:

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s make a difference and be different; to stand out from the rest and help mold the history of our country. As the trumpet resounds, we fight for our country, we fight to inspire others, we fight until the battle is won!