#4 Governance 101! Effective Governance Needs Decisive Action, Innovation

Governance is like a basketball game where you set a goal and you play within the perimeters allowed by law using whatever strategy and innovations to score points.

A leader must be decisive in times of crisis and must be ready to face the consequences of his decision which if proven right, would benefit his people or take the fall, if proven wrong.

Para sa akin, ito ang pamantayan which defines a leader as against a traditional politician.

Poverty reduction was the goal that I set when I started my 9-year stint as Governor of North Cotabato in 1998.

The Poverty Incidence Per Family in the provice in 1998 was at 52% and we were lumped up in the ignominious group of 10 Poorest Provinces in the Philippine.

To improve the province’s economy and reduce the poverty incidence, I had to address the very serious security situation.

For so long, North Cotabato was a name which struck fear in the hearts of many who had heard of the prsence of the New People’s Army, the armed secessionist groups, kidnap-for-ransom groups, terrorists and even big-time criminals.

Bombings perpetrated by extortionists claimed the lives of many of our people.

(I was also a target of a failed bombing attempt in June 2003 which was averted because of the red ripe fruits of a tomato but this story I will share later.)

I was young aggressive and restless.

Together with my young staff, I emphasized the need to protect the environment by scaling Mt. Apo 14 times, leading the clean-up drive and the planting of endemic trees at the base.

Carrying my own tent, I spent weekends in the remotest villages of the province to talk to people which greatly helped me identify their needs.

When my term ended in 2007, North Cotabato’s poverty incidence was reduced to only 29% from 52% in 1998.

In the last year of my 9-year term as Governor of North Cotabato, I produced a video documentation of the transformation of my province from a poor conflict area into one of the most progressive in the whole country.

Thinking outside of the box, I was able to design programs which I felt addressed the needs of my province to achieve peace and prosperity.

1. Operation Manhunt – Led by the Police Provincial Director, Col. Alex Paul Monteagudo, now the Director-General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the police retrieved all Warrants of Arrests which gathered dust in the courtrooms and served these with corresponding rewards from the Peace and Order Funds for every criminal arrested. Monteagudo received a national award as Outstanding Policeman and Civil Servant;

2. A fleet of road building equipment was procured fielded to the different remote areas of the province with instructions not to leave until the roads are completed under the Task Force Kalsada Program;

3. A modern truck-mounted water drilling rig was procured to provide water systems to remote villages of the province;

4. Inclusive governance was implemented with the institutionalization of the Council of Muslim Elders and Council of Tribal Elders whose heads served as technical assistants to the Governor;

5. To address the lack of teachers, the provincial government hired hundreds of unemployed teachers who received honoria under the Magtutudlo sa Barangay Program;

6. The Plant-Now-Pay-Later Program which offered planting materials to farmers payable upon harvest, an idea started by my predecessor, was expanded focusing on high-value crops;

7. The Plow-Now-Pay-Later Program was also introduced offering tractor services payable upon harvest to support farmers;

8. Linking farmers to the market was a concept I introduced as Governor by staging the Cotabato Fruit Festival in SM Megamall n Metro Manila and SM Cebu, a program which resulted in engagements between our farmers and buyers which continue until today;

9. The Study-Now-Pay-Later Program was expanded sending to school thousands of young students with special slots for tribal and indigenous Maguindanao and Iranun students.

10. The Children of Peace Program where the brightest students graduating from high school representing the Bangsamoro, Tribal and Christian groups were brought together to develop a bond among them.

This is just the initial listing of all of the innovations in governance which I introduced as Governor.

In future posts, I will include the award-wnning Governance innovations which I implemented as a young leader of my province.

This video was produced in 2007 and divided into three parts, all of which will be posted here later.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!