By RAFFY GUTIERREZ
Last week, I asked the question that many Filipinos have carried silently for years: Are we truly free? I laid bare the illusion of our so-called independence—our decaying infrastructure, corrupt institutions, hypocritical laws, and the parasitic oligarchy that feeds off the poverty of the people. But if all we do is complain, we become part of the same cycle. Rage without reform is useless. Despair without direction is just surrender. So now, we ask the harder question: What must be done?
No, we can’t fix everything overnight. But we can start with what is obvious, logical, and absolutely necessary. Below is an 12 point roadmap that outlines how to truly free the Filipino people. It’s not perfect, but it’s real. And more importantly, it’s doable—if we grow a spine as a people.
- Scrap the 1987 Constitution and write a new one—for this century, not the last.
Our current charter is a Cold War relic. It protects monopolies, suffocates competition, and scares off the very investors we need to build infrastructure and create jobs. We need constitutional reform that invites 100% foreign ownership in key sectors, accelerates development, and ensures global capital can work with Filipinos, not around them. Vietnam opened up. Indonesia welcomed the world. We clung to paranoia—and look where that got us.
- Legalize divorce now—because forced suffering is not morality.
We are the only country in the world (besides the Vatican) without divorce. We punish people for wanting to leave failed or abusive marriages, and then shame those who choose to love again without a marriage license. That’s not family values—that’s state-sanctioned misery. Legal divorce is not about destroying families; it’s about giving people the right to rebuild one that works. It’s 2025. The ban is a national embarrassment.
- End dynastic rule. Make leadership merit-based, not name-based.
Politics should not be a family business. No one should be allowed to run for public office just because their last name was on a billboard in 1992. We need minimum qualifications, governance exams, and public vetting. If you can’t explain inflation or infrastructure planning in plain Filipino, you don’t belong in office. This country is not your training ground—or your inheritance.
- Build a nationwide transport blueprint—and actually execute it.
The absence of a modern, integrated railway system is a national shame. We need a binding, legally enforced 25-year transport plan with no loopholes, no pa-pogi groundbreaking ceremonies, and no kickback-fueled delays. High-speed rail. Inter-island bridges. Metro-wide subway systems. If Indonesia and Thailand can do it, so can we—if we stop stealing the budget.
- Fix digital infrastructure—and put real tech leaders in charge.
We need to gut the DICT and rebuild it from scratch. No more lawyers unskilled in technology running tech departments. No more app launches that crash on Day 1. We need fiber internet in all public schools and barangays, a fully functional national ID system, and unified digital services for all government transactions. India did it. Estonia did it. We have no excuse.
- Smash the oligopoly economy—or make them bleed through competition.
Utilities, telcos, banks, retail—almost all of them are owned by the same 10 families. This is not a free market. It’s a feudal system with shopping malls. Either break them up through antitrust laws or flood the market with competitors. Let them cry. Let them compete. The era of mediocrity-for-profit ran by the elite few must end.
- Create a Department of National Human Capital.
We don’t just need more jobs—we need better Filipinos. Train our people in AI, robotics, cybersecurity, and advanced trades. Reboot the education system. Prepare students for the world we’re moving into—not the one we left behind. Stop building workers for BPOs. Build innovators, creators, and self-sufficient professionals who don’t have to leave home just to survive.
- Rewire civic education—based on truth, not nationalism theater.
Teach our youth the truth about our history: the lies, the corruption, the cycles of failure. Teach them systems thinking, financial literacy, and constitutional awareness. Patriotism isn’t memorizing flags and heroes—it’s knowing how the country actually works, and fighting to make it better.
- Overhaul the election system from top to bottom.
Ban vote-buying by making the punishment for doing it nothing short of a heinous crime. Introduce blockchain-secured voting. Require platforms and debates. Disqualify candidates who used to be criminal convicts, who have zero platform plans, and who just rely on TikTok popularity. Make campaign funds publicly traceable. If you can’t win clean, you don’t get to serve. Period.
- Decentralize innovation. Give LGUs the power—and budget—to lead.
Manila is not the Philippines. Give Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, and every region the authority and funding to build tech hubs, green energy programs, and modern governance systems. The national government should enable—not micromanage. Progress shouldn’t need to pass through Imperial Manila. This 1600s mindset should end once and for all.
- Abolish all confidential funds and pork barrels—and criminalize their use.
Let’s call a spade a spade: confidential funds are legalized corruption. No audit. No receipts. Just billions vanishing into the shadows. And pork barrel politics? Just a bribe with a fancy name. These funds must not just be abolished—they must be made criminal. Any politician caught spending public money without transparency should be jailed. Not scolded. Jailed. Stealing from the nation is treason, not a technicality.
- End the stupidity of unconditional, lifetime ayuda—and replace it with smart, conditional support.
Let’s be blunt: ayuda culture is turning too many Filipinos into passive, dependent citizens who expect handouts without accountability. Government aid is not inherently bad—but when it’s distributed blindly, without metrics, without time limits, and without any requirement to improve one’s condition, it becomes a weapon of political control and laziness. Being poor should never be a permanent badge that guarantees lifetime subsidy. Aid should be temporary, conditional, and performance-based. Did your child attend school? Are you actively applying for work? Are you attending skills training? If not—no ayuda. This is not cruelty. This is common sense. We need to build a nation of capable, empowered citizens—not one that survives on crumbs and vote-buying disguised as welfare.
These 12 reforms are not idealistic dreams. They are requirements for survival. If we don’t pursue them now, we will continue decaying until there’s nothing left to salvage. This country is not poor because of bad luck. It is poor because we keep voting for thieves, tolerating fools, and worshipping mediocrity. That ends now—or we end with it.
The first revolution gave us a flag. The next one must give us function. The kind that builds, heals, protects, and serves. We cannot afford to wait for another generation to figure it out. We are the generation that must do it.
Because true independence isn’t about waving a flag once a year. It’s about waking up every day in a country that finally, finally works. It’s about becoming brutally honest that we never earned real independence and we need to put in the necessary effort as a nation to become truly free.
________________________
Rafael “Raffy” Gutierrez is a veteran Technology Trainer with over 25 years of experience in networking, systems design, and diverse computer technologies. He is also a popular social media blogger well-known for his real-talk, no-holds-barred outlook on religion, politics, philosophy.
