By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
“It’s easy to run (in an election), but how about if I win, what will I do?” This is a famous line blurted out by an even more famous personality, the late comedian Dolphy, when asked why he did not run for the Senate sometime in the early 2000’s.
There were so many candidates for the position of barangay captain and kagawad in most barangays of La Trinidad, Benguet. From the radio and TV news, it was the same in many progressive barangays elsewhere. This is not surprising considering that elected barangay officials now receive some allowance. The bigger the income of the barangay, the bigger is the allowance appropriated. It is no wonder then that in more affluent barangays there was an avalanche of candidates. Those crowd of wannabees keep increasing every year!
Gone are the days when a barangay captain, formerly called barrio captain, or much earlier, teniente del barrio, ran for the office for love of providing service to his barrio mates. The urge to run is now motivated more by economic considerations that goes sometimes with bloated feeling of importance or influence . Service becomes remotely, secondary. This is why, some candidates or their supporters will do anything, including dastardly acts, to take hold of such ephemeral influence.
When I was in the elementary grades (and that was before the first man who landed on the moon said: “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind”), I used to witness my dad doing a lot for our barrio mates. Even at 2 o’clock in the morning, people will knock at our door to seek his intercession in a domestic affair! Or ask for some favor. He had no choice then but to get up and accordingly served his constituents. He served for more than 12 years as barrio captain, without any compensation or allowance – just a satisfactory feeling that he had helped other people in time of their need. It was pure service.
Back then therefore, only a few threw their hats into the thankless ring of servitude.
How prepared are the winners during the last barangay and SK elections to discharge their functions? Many winners were new, and am sure a lot of them have scanty, or even none at all, experience in dealing with barangay concerns.
This reminds me of the time when Ms. Vilma Santos-Recto, then a multi-awarded actress, had a short course on pubic administration before running for mayor of Lipa City in Batangas. She became mayor of that city for three terms not because she was a popular actress but because she proved her mettle as an LGU manager. Then she won the governorship of Batangas province and graduated as well as a three-term governor. This all because she prepared herself for the positions that she aspired for. Her being wife to Senator Ralph Recto definitely helped but she did so well, the good senator was sometimes being jokingly introduced as the husband of governor Vilma.
This should be held as a model for newly-elected officials down to the barangay level. They should undergo a relevant training to arm them with the necessary tool of making barangay resolutions, how and where to get ideas for such, and much more. In this way, even if they had another motive in running for barangay positions, they will acquit themselves in the eyes of their constituents.
By the way, I observed during the elections that there were a lot of voters who did not have a list of their candidate-choices but many filled the quota anyway. So, what they did was just to scan the list of candidates on the first page, write down the names that they fancy even if they didn’t know them. They never bothered to look at the list on the next page. Something must be done about this by the COMELEC so all candidates will have “equal chances” to be seen by the voters.
As to the SK elections, it is heartening to see that it had finally pushed through after several postponements (more than that of the barangay elections). The voice of the youth must be heard! However, it is disheartening at the same because I know that some candidates were pushed by incumbent politicians to run-and they underwrote the SK candidate’s concomitant financial need of running a campaign. What could be expected then from such candidate-winner? He/she could just be used for political ends of the concerned politician. The end could become a disaster.
Some winning SK candidates that I know are currently studying way far from their localities. There is therefore a question of proper discharging of their functions. With this, there is a great possibility of hocus-focus somewhere. Some candidates don’t even have an iota of an idea what she/he would do in case of being a winner. A relevant training should therefore be conducted for all winning candidates, just like the winners in the barangay polls, before they assume their positions. The LGU officials are the proper channel for this activity.
Congratulations to all the winners. We will expect a job well done from all of you. The SK reps should prove that you are not stooges of others, that you have your own mind. Prove that you deserve to handle finances properly and objectively, and that you are really the hope of the future.**
