ASINGAN, PANGASINAN: Filipinos, we must rethink health in the wake of the passage and signing by President Noynoy Aquino of the medically packaged Reproductive Health Bill into Law.

“Health is wealth,” they say, “but you have to work for it,” I say. And before you work, think first. Think globally, act locally. Think not simply local health but global wellness, where health is stated more inmedical terms (quantitative, as medical workers see it), and wellness is more inpopular terms (qualitative, as people see it).

I’m an agriculturist, not a doctor of medicine, but as a village journalist who has taught himself creative writing and brought himself into the Internet universe of thinking globally, acting locally, today, 05 January 2012, I find that the state of health of my province should be my creative concern.

Sometime in April 2012, when I was blogging & plugging the fiesta of my hometown, I first read The Governor’s Report On The State Of The Province 2012 published and submitted to the people of Pangasinan by the Office of the Governor headed by Amado T Espino Jr, 12 pages and dated 13 February 2012, I was impressed. Yes, I am very hard to impress.

Some 9 months later, aware of the controversy surrounding the plunder allegations of Mayor Rodrigo Orduña of Bugallon, Pangasinan, and aware that I may be stepping into a minefield, after visiting The Best Capitol in the Philippines early January 2013, I am reading again That Espino Report, and I am more than impressed:

I am convinced that Pangasinan is destined for greatness.

And pray, what are my credentials in saying that? I’m speaking considering that I’m in my 17th year as a freelance writer and editor having dealt with subjects ranging from Abaca (misdirected crop in its own native soil, the Philippines),to Creative Thinking (miserably mistaken to be the same as Critical Thinking), to Management (misunderstood by gurus like Henry Mintzberg that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole), to Zimbabwe (mismanaged country, like mine).

Thus, I can see that Team Captain Amado Espino knows his management inside out. I’m saying that, considering his report, and considering it’s his 2nd term (5th year) as Governor; I can read between the lines that the Team Captain has simplified management in such a way that his Team Members can intellectualize it in their heads and internalize it in their hearts. In Espino’s own words:

We are here today to evaluate how far we have gone towards realizing our collective vision of Pangasinan as “the best place to invest, work, live, and raise a family,” and to pursue our mission: “to make Pangasinan Number One.”

Your vision is the place you want to eventually be in, the state of life you want to achieve. What is the desired future of Pangasinan?

Vision: Pangasinan as the best place to invest in, work, live, and raise a family.

In only 14 simple words, the complete vision for the province is expressed and essentially explained in terms of what any resident can identify with:

Pangasinan as the best place to invest the best place to work the best place to live the best place to raise a family.

A touch of genius. A vision for any province in the Philippines cannot get any better than that!

And exactly how is the Virtuality (Vision) going to be a Reality (Mission)? Again, here is another touch of genius:

Mission: Make Pangasinan Number One.

If you just think for a minute or so of the words stated in the Vision along with the words stated in the Mission, you will note that one is in fact a restatement of the other - Mission reinforces Vision as well as refers to the ways by which the Vision may be achieved.

Thinking along these lines, now you will understand why Pangasinan is not stopping at where it is now:

5th Best-Performing Province in the Philippines.

#5 is not good enough. We in Pangasinan are not resting on our laurels, as of now being in Region1:

#1 in hospital management

#1 in local government planning & monitoring systems

#1 in implementing projects in pursuit of poverty reduction

#1 as tourist destination (49 percent)

Likas Yaman awardee (Best LGU-initiated environment project: “Ilog Ko, Bilayen Tan Aroen Ko.” (freely translated: To Love My River To Live) Hall of Famer in Coastal Resource Management Sison Auditorium as preferred venue for functions, conventions, theater etc ”Home of the Milo Little Olympics” Quality health care centers Quality management system Sustained assistance for employment & livelihood National Champion, Garantisadong Pambata Program (nutrition) The provincial Capitol as the handsomest in the Philippines.

With all those achievements, my Governor looks the handsomest in my eyes. Or, another way of putting that is this:

Health+ is what we need: Wellness. The state of wellness of the whole province of Pangasinan is what we are going to lose if we lose Governor Amado T Espino Jr to the politics of unwellness.