Palaisipang KaWillieWili: KayaNatin

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Keh-se Rah-Rah?

12:56 PM

KEH-se Rah Rah?

Credit must be given to my alma mater Ateneo de Manila University for its unyielding vision and efforts in moving to establish an ideal Philippines. I have to say though that I am somewhat wary of their most recent project, Kaya Natin!, in particular, the taste and judgment of its leader, their young idealist professor, Mr. Harvey Keh.

Kaya Natin! mainstays Padaca, Robredo, Lorenzo, Panlilio and Baguilat were successful in winning elections, beating tremendous odds in securing their respective positions in government. In fact, two of them, Padaca and Robredo are recipients of the prestigious Magsaysay Award with their glittering record of accomplishments in governance. My only apprehension is that out of the total 81Governors, 1,577 municipal mayors, 118 City Mayors, 41,982 barangay captains, 238 elected reps of which 26 are partylist representatives, they have not increased the number of the faces they brag about as good governance politicians.

Bakit kaya hindi na dumami ang napupusuang mga elected leaders nitong Kaya Natin?

Hindi naman kaya napakataas ng qualifications nitong si Keh?

But if Keh’s standards are high, I find it really strange why and how he came to hero-worship the priest-Governor Ed Panlilio, school-hop and parade him around, brandish him in the national media as a leader worthy of emulation.

Stranger still is that Keh continues to rah-rah for Panlilio despite knowing that the governor, more than half-way through his term, still do not have any real and concrete socio-economic program for this province, not even a blue print. I’m sure that he had been made aware of the serious and unanswered issues surrounding the governance of his revered leader (having had an earful from colleagues at the Ateneo School of Government who have also given up on Panlilio). He must know that for the Kapampangans who had once believed him, he had long lost his “poster boy” status as a moral leader and champion of good governance. Why, then do Keh act like he does not know? I am beginning to wonder the seriousness of his intensions for our country.

The line was drawn when Panlilio’s head got bigger than the ideals of the Kapampangan Crusade, when his views were clouded out of fear of the many Rs – Recount, Recall, Requiem, Resign, Return to priesthood, and what not. By the way, none of which would have materialized if only he did his job well. But since he did not, now see what is happening!

It was all downhill when he arrogantly plugged his ears against the well-intentioned counsel of his proven allies and listened only to Dabu and then after, to himself, her alter ego. Despite being the obvious cause of his blunderful performance as a governor and the disillusionment / division among the crusaders, Panlilio unreasonably stuck it up with the indefensible Dabu.

The two of his staunchest supporters in the local civil society groups Kapampangan Marangal, Inc.(KMI) and Kapampangan Coalition, Inc (KCI) publicly demanded Dabu’s resignation, called for immediate reforms on his evidently flailing administration and supported the protesting BALAS Boys. What any bright, upright and democratic political leader would do is to yield to the people’s clamor. Instead, he bullied them. In KMI’s case, Panlilio and Dabu went on and appealed directly to KMI municipal leaders and coordinators and formed KASAUP from among them. This created KMI’s great divide, and, let’s pray not, may even be the cause of the eventual dissolution of this organization.

Now, what moral leadership of Panlilio is there to speak of?

And what of his honesty and integrity?

About a year ago, Panlilio was in hot water when the local media got hold of his obviously miscalculated COMELEC campaign contributions report. This caused serious doubt (on his honesty and integrity) and confusion among his official-receipt-carrying donors when their (our) names had mysteriously disappeared from his list. Harvey, what was your governor’s answer to this? Was it not, “I will have to consult my lawyer,” or something like that?

Last July, when he sat down with the anti-Dabu BALAS boys in SACOP for a dialogue, facilitated by priests, participated and witnessed by leaders of supportive civil society groups, he gave his word of their reinstatement among other commitments. What did he do? Why, did he not ask for a copy of the minutes (or was it a voice recording?) that he indeed gave such commitments? Dios mio! Where is the spirit of dialogue there! Worst still, the BALAS boys when they reported to work after the “dialogue” were reportedly given such a hard time by Dabu that they sooner sacrificed their jobs than suffer further humiliation from the lady administrator. Resuming their protest, they were automatically sacked, then after harassed, threatened and bullied at their picket line.

But the BALAS Boys did what no other Panlilio groups would have dared to do at that time, i.e. they made a poignant but a much enlightening point – that Panlilio was the wrong candidate of the Kapampangan Crusade, for he is incompetent, arrogant and he failed exceedingly well in leading and governing this province.

Of course there is the issue of the en masse resignation and even firing of Panlilio’s handpicked confidence team members, composing of most of the Bakal Boys (the tireless ex-seminarian volunteers whom Panlilio himself referred to at his speech last year at, yes, Harvey, Ateneo, as his workhorses, the provider of spiritual dimension in their everyday struggles during the campaign.) Shockingly, these very same people were either considered incompetent or unprofessional by Panlilio – Dabu and so, of the original confidence team members (too many to mention), only Dabu seemed have gained Panlilio’s real confidence.

Harvey Keh & Kaya Natin should be careful in chosing his leaders that he will bring all around the country asking students to stand up and fight the evil of corruption in government and advance the ideals of good governance in our country. God knows we need this. His cause is very noble. I myself had my share in this fight against corruption, some quite high profile, others not. I continue to study, learn and look for solutions on how to fight corruption in the system and the best governance practices (not just good) in our country.

The danger is when people who do not know how to govern at all, much more be good at it become leaders of a noble cause. Consider carefully their track record, not mere popularity. If high popularity is seen as an important factor for the popularization of the cause, I think it will make a lot of sense and will add credibility if you begin with knowing how popular potential leaders are in their own locality, before anywhere else.

Panlilio’s only claim to fame is the increase of quarry collection that he managed to rake in for the province in the first few months of his term, but even this has consistently and sadly been going down.

If my intentions for writing this piece is, for one reason or another, doubtful to Mr. Keh, I seriously suggest that he personally visit the province, stay awhile, talk to our Kabalens, the civil society groups, the Capitol employees and other elected officials here. We can’t all be wrong.

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