BENCHWARMER

Keep those “polyetos”
by Ramon Dacawi

Some of the platforms I’ve read from the “polyetos” from the recent polls were similar to what I had read in previous elections. The promises they contained were no different from the recent past, as the issues remain the same: greater focus on environmental conservation, heightened sports and youth programs, promotion of tourism, social housing, livelihood generation, peace and order, and so forth.

Some of the credentials were impressive: civic and community leader, sportsman, pro-poor, pro-youth, pro-elderly, pro-people, tested public servant, environmentalist, planner and whatever. Some were quite wanting, not grounded, reflective of discrepancy and disunity between theory and practice.

Self-proclamations based on a one-shot involvement in sports doesn’t help a kid become another world boxing champ. Obviously, in the same token, a fighter’s heart and popularity doesn’t necessarily make him fit for political service. Pronouncements of what one thinks of himself do not make a tree grow. In a similar vein, having a gadget to measure the rate of pollution doesn’t mean we can reduce smog within our urban midst.

So I voted for those who consistently walked the talk, whether they were, are still in or still out of the city council. Some in my personal list made it, like re-electionist Erdolfo Balajadia, a dyed-in-the wool environmental worker who took over the leadership of the Baguio Regreening Movement when Bishop Ernesto Salgado, the pioneer chair, was reassigned to the Diocese in Laoag.

Some didn’t, like lawyer Ronaldo Perez who quietly but effectively served us as citysecretary for years. If it’s any blessing, I failed to join that winner-take-all betting on who could predict the 12 incoming honorables in the city council. I would have lost.

Winners or losers, I’m hopeful most of those carried in my ballot would pursue their platforms, be it in their elective, civic or personal capacity. Their track records in and out of government are enough reason for this optimism. They’ve been doing development programs long before they were drafted to the party or independent slates. Elected or not, they’ll still implement community projects within their givens.

That’s why I voted for punong barangay Edita Ibarra of Middle Quezon Hill. She’s out of the Magic 12 as I write this. Still, she’s one good reason for that poll ruling that candidates need not resign their present elective posts. She’ll go back to serving her community which, under her leadership, prides of having the city’s best multi-purpose center and barangay clinic. She can resume guiding the barangay in developing its nature park, maintaining peace and strengthening its sense of community. For one, one need not be elected city, municipal orprovincial legislator to help push quality legislation.

The late secretary to the mayor and newsman Willie Cacdac failed in his try for thesanggunian, yet he drafted some of the substantial resolutions and ordinances. The late feature writer Freddie Mayo also did bring his own legislative agenda by having a councilor sponsor measures he fashioned out for the community’s good.

Both helped shape policy directions the city should take by molding some of the best speeches that did justice to then mayor Luis Lardizabal’s brilliance in oratory and administration, in form and substance.

One need not be elected to be able to tend to a growing tree or support a promising kid develop his or her potentials in wushu. Dr. Julie Camdas-Cabato never sought a city council seat yet she remains one of Baguio ’s top environmental guideposts, aside from being a respected medical practitioner.

Neither did Dr. Charles Cheng run in politics just so he and other dyed-in-the-wool sportsmen could discover and help Michael Calpito and Eden Banta become national marathon champions.

Good governance, whatever that means, is not limited to those in government. Governance is not government, as process is distinguished from structure.

Governance, as we are told, is the sharing of power, resources, authority, responsibility and duty among those in government and out of it, to jointly address problems and issues that would bring community closer to what it should be.

In fact, getting elected can be limiting, or reason to be limited. Over the years, some of those who had served in some city, provincial and municipal councils found themselves limited in their work. They would file resolutions and ordinances that tended to duplicate laws and statutes already existing.

Reminded of this by their peers, they would find their proposals reduced to letters reminding those in the executive to implement particular laws previously passed.

Others would go beyond legislation, dipping their hands into executive functions and derailing plans and programs that department heads had prepared and which the sanggunian itself had previously approved.

Winners or losers, some eventually forgot their platforms. That’s why we need to keep those “polyetos”, not for the best photographic smiles, but to help us to gauge performance based on what the wannabes promised to do. That would make easier the citizen’s task of choosing who should be in or out three years from now. (e-mail: rdacawi@yahoo.com for comments)