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IF you’ve been reading the news, you know that there’s a new
breed of local government politicians personifying “good
governance” in this part of the world. They appear serious,
clean-cut, and ambitious personalities that probably resulted from
the people’s fatigue of hearing nothing from do-nothing political
clans and dynasties.
These “good governors” wear simple clothes
even in formal occasions. In their previous life, they were
virtually unknowns. In short, they have nothing at all except
probably the motto—“the will to serve.”
And yet we are amazed to see how they have
beaten political heavyweights like Governors Faustino Dy III of
Isabela and Mark Lapid of Pampanga.
I’m referring of course to political yuppies
like former radio commentator Grace Padaca and priest-on-leave Eddie
Panlilio who were elected as provincial governors despite their lack
of money and machinery.
Their respective localities may be expecting
some form of “gentrification.” It is a phenomenon in which
low-cost, physically deteriorated communities undergo physical
renovation and an increase in property values with the leadership of
some well-meaning individuals like governors Padaca and Panlilio.
What bothers me now about these political
yuppies is how they should be able to meet the expectations of their
respective constituents in due time. Their one-year honeymoon with
the general public is finally over this month of May and we are
eagerly waiting for their tangible accomplishments.
Again what bothers me is how Padaca and Panlilio
who started-out as wild-eye radicals in the field of local
traditional politics must sustain the gains that they have started.
More importantly, I can only hope that they
resist the urge to develop gum disease and avoid becoming trapos
(traditional politicians) too in the long-term.
It has been our political system since time
immemorial. A good example is Diosdado Macapagal, who when he was
alive was considered a popular Philippine president, but now is
reduced to being constantly quoted by his daughter.
Or take our young idealistic military leaders.
When they were at the Oakwood, they pulled that crazy stunt that
stifled the initiatives of foreign investors or anything related to
economic progress. But look now. Mostly, they lie around happily and
freely roaming around in state as if nothing happened.
So I say Padaca and Panlilio must quickly
produce result or else we need to do something about them. Time is
of the essence. One possibility would be to simply start closely
monitoring their every move to prevent them from being swallowed by
the old system.
One possibility would be to wait until they get
married but not necessarily to each other. Let’s wait until they
change course to reproduce, on the theory that they’ll give their
children the finest clothing and toys and designer education.
And their children will of course, grow up to
absolutely loathe everything their parents stand for and thus become
defiant, ill-dressed, unwashed, unkempt, violently
anti-establishment drug addicts, and then our local politics will
return to normal.
So we’re back to the future.
To avoid that from happening, what we need for
the likes of Padaca and Panlilio is a National Renewal Program, may
be more or less similar to Ferdinand Marcos’ Ang Bagong Lipunan
(New Society), except that we must ban militant students who still
like the music of Black Sabbath while they experiment with the
entire content of bottles of cough syrup.
Then they’d have several years in a job that
offered no opportunity whatsoever for career advancement except that
of MMDA’s sidewalk urinal maintenance crew members who must be
required to wear a combination of pink and blue t-shirts with the
name “Bayani” plastered at the back.
Really, we Filipinos are fortunate to live in a
country where we have many legal rights as we discover new ones
including the right to proceed on a red light.
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Rey Elbo is a business consultant
specializing in human resources and total quality management as a
fused specialty. Reader’s feedback may be sent to kairoshq@info.com.ph.
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