vi Foreword disappearance of billions of pesos intended to bring water to waterless communities in the ARMM in order to appreciate the need for national accountability mechanisms to keep pace with decentralization. Civil society can contribute a lot to this effort. I would close this journey of self-introspection with Felipe Miranda's invitation to conceptualize Philippine democracy. Indeed, too much space has been devoted to measuring democracy while taking for granted its conceptual underpinnings, thus ill-equipping us against the “nightmare” that we must all overcome. Such a macabre characterization of our cherished democracy is borne out by credible evidence, that its political processes have generally been subverted; that oligarchic elites still maintain a stranglehold on local and national politics; that formal mechanisms for governance have lagged behind and have even become tainted with corruption; that true political parties are still a rarity; that civil society groups have yet to wrest influence from ruling non-democratic elites; that horizontal public accountability is ineffectual in ending impunity while vertical public accountability continues to be hampered by the effects of such impunity; that human quality of life has stagnated in the past five decades; that political legitimacy is still being resolved through armed struggle; and finally, that the civilian character of democratic governance has time and again failed to resolve the fate of civilian governments without the participation of the military. As a human rights activist, these indictments on Philippine democracy do not surprise me. On the contrary, they have added to the restlessness. Fifty years have hardly made a dent. After reading the four essays however, I feel that the next fifty years has become a challenge less daunting. Loretta Ann P. Rosales Chairperson Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines