Robredo: Freedom should improve people's lives

Governments should work to see to it that freedom would mean prosperity for their citizens, Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday.

"It is no longer enough to fight for freedom for its own sake. While for some, freedom from tyranny and political repression are unquestionably ends in themselves, it is undeniable that a significant portion of populations and electorates all over the world are increasingly frustrated with freedom that gives them the right to vote, but keeps them poor and hungry," she said.

"To keep the freedom agenda alive, we have to make it work for the last, the least, and the lost. That is the ultimate battle. That is the ultimate test," Robredo said in her speech at the conferring of the Freedom Flame award to former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas II by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FnF), a German nongovernment organization advocating liberal democracy.

Robredo stressed that the kind of freedom desired by nations was one that allows people to exercise and protect their human rights without fear of reprisal.

"There should be freedom to live dignified lives; to speak the hard truth without being persecuted for it; to defend people’s rights in the law, especially those who have nothing else but the law," she said.

"As liberals and democrats at work, our agenda should be as clear as day: that our freedoms are theirs, too. And that their fight for these freedoms is ours, too," she added.

Accepting his award, Roxas acknowledged that his bid for the presidency in 2016 resulted in defeat because his campaign failed to address the relevant issues in the lives of the people, who instead went for the one with a "fearless ...devil may care attitude."

"What took place was our failure to be relevant. We failed to be effective in terms of achieving the desires of those we sought to serve. This is ironic because we are a party that believes in the free market and empowering to connect with that market," he said.

Roxas said his accomplishments  and the agenda he pitched to the people fell short of their expectations.

"We were so fixated on processes that came up short in determining the outcomes of what the public not only expected, but desired. We had achievements: open governance; reaching investment grade status; glowing fiscal health admired by global standards...but we came up short in connecting these achievements with the public's battle for daily survival, the need for safety...because we were looking too far ahead," he said.

"These achievements were not too urgent to keep the public engaged and committed to our vision and development of steady and incremental improvement. That is why this loss to the fearless, devil may care attitude, tearing the system down [type of candidate] is not surprising," Roxas added.

While Roxas had regrets, he stood firm that governing with an iron fist was not going to make the country better.

Roxas, who is eyeing a Senate comeback in 2019, argued that forging a better social contract with the people, which will make sure that everybody will have a share of the fruits of their labor and no one gets left behind, are the ways to go.

"The desire for justice, freedom and fairness still burns in the heart of every citizen. If any, this preference for brute force is a desperate and indignant  demand for the government to do its part," Roxas said.

"But sooner, might makes right will reveal itself as a wrong path in revitalizing a social contract because might that is unchecked replaces fairness with favoritism; firmness with tyranny," he added. —LDF, GMA News