I DON’T know this guy. I don’t know what his politics are. But this is the kind of thing that people – Batangueños, Caviteños, helpless-feeling Filipinos everywhere – need to hear at this time. That someone cares, that someone who can marshal resources is doing something. A message that imparts not just what he’s doing but also the solidarity that’s driving him.
“Payback time.” Ang lakas.
Ano ba namang makarinig tayo ng ganito mula sa pinaka-mataas na opisyal natin? Simpleng “Batangas will rise from the ashes. We WILL overcome.” Corny pero, tangina, nagbibigay pag-asa.
“Especially in a time of crisis, it’s not enough to lead – you have to SHOW that you’re leading. That’s what leaders do in a time of crisis, they provide the anchor to which people cling to steady themselves against buffeting winds and roiling waters. They become the beacon that tell the people that, yes, there is a light and yes, it’s showing us the way. By all means delegate, but delegate so that you can take on the all-important tasks of reassuring your people that work is being done and showing them that you are grieving with them. In a time of crisis, delegating just so you can carry on with normal activities is simply abdication.”
I wrote that nine years ago, in criticism of PNoy pushing through with a party while a huge proportion of our kababayans was being submerged by a storm. Who knew that it would be a refrain that would frustratingly, painfully, play over and over again in this administration, so frustrating and so painful that you just push away all thoughts of investing emotion, effort, time and finances again, because our willingness to allow our glorified bayanihan and resilience dupe us into accepting mediocrity and absurdity from this government is what gives him a free pass again and again and again and you are just so sick and tired of it?
Matanda na daw siya. Hindi daw siya makina. E tangina, hindi makina mukha mo, kelan ba siya nagtrabaho? Nung Yolanda at Kidapawan, sagana ka sa photo-ops na kala mo napakalakas mo, ngayong elected ka na, pa-ika-ika ka sa TV para sayo maawa ang mga tao sa halip ng sa mga kababayan nila na pinapabayaan mo at tuluyang binabastos sa gitna ng kalamidad.
Back to the Governor. I don’t know you, ser. Pero dahil sa simpleng mensahe mo, saludo ako sayo. At kung magkabalita man tungkol sayo, titimbangin ko sa kontexto ng mga salitang ito. It’s the least I can do to show my appreciation.
