WHO WE ARE
CEPIP stands for Coalition to End Poverty and Illiteracy in the Philippines. It is a community platform that unites individuals, advocacy groups, and NGOs to tackle nationwide issues through community outreach, research, and data consolidation.
We aim to integrate resources with citizen participation to drive positive change in the Philippines.
Who we are:
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We are apolitical.
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We are non-aligned.
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We are non-partisan.
Who we are not:
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We aren’t anarchists.
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We aren’t vigilantes.
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We aren’t terrorists.
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We aren’t drug lords, cartels, traffickers, pushers, or users.
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We aren’t communists.
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We aren’t religious zealots.
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We aren’t militant groups who illicitly stockpile weapons.
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We aren’t human traffickers or slave drivers.
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We aren’t human rights abusers.
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We aren’t aligned with any political party and therefore don’t represent any candidate running for future elections.
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We aren’t planning a coup. We are educated people. We do not believe in resorting to violence to improve the conditions in our country. We strive to resolve conflict with tact, diplomacy, and peaceful means.
We are declaring the above assertions upfront because those are the grounds dictatorial governments typically use to falsely accuse and incarcerate people and groups who do not agree with their regulations—even if said disagreement is peacefully expressed and diplomatically presented. It is their way of quelling and punishing dissenters.
We are a group of Filipinos who are tired of the way the governing bodies of our country—whether the current administration or past ones—run it. We are appalled that many public servants seek only to “serve” their own interests instead of solving the problems of their constituencies. We are distressed at how flawed the infrastructure of the government is and how the minority ruling parties manipulate regulations to keep their families and cronies in power.
We are exasperated with the corruption, nepotism, greed, and human rights violations of many of our leaders—past and present—and their blatant disregard for the well-being of their citizens.
WHAT WE DO
We spent so many years being complacent, not doing anything, and watching helplessly from the sidelines.
Well, we are done being silent!
Since we cannot depend on our leaders to solve the problems of our country, we have taken it on our own volition to do this ourselves.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
The above quote was attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, even if those weren’t his exact words. We, the members of the CEPIP team, however, are inspired by what this statement stands for. We built our mission around it. We use it to motivate ourselves to make a difference in Philippine society.
We aim to produce practical, feasible, and actionable solutions to problems plaguing our nation and citizens, so Filipinos will have a better environment in which to prosper and thrive, not just survive.
We are reaching out to all concerned individuals, families, groups, and organizations to join us in brainstorming solutions and implementing these to ensure a brighter future for our younger generations.
To rebuild our society and government, we call for:
● changes in the constitution
● electoral reform
● elimination of the caste system, which discriminates against the poor and marginalizes those who are different
● eradication of locked-in thinking
The above revisions must benefit the entire populace, not just the ruling minority, political dynasties, feudal families/land owners (old money and descendants of the conquistadors), and the upper-class.
We have to prevent our leadership from going down the path of that "super power" that recently spawned yet another megalomaniac dictator. Let us unite to prevent the same catastrophe from happening to our nation.
No to a corrupt government! No to totalitarianism!