A CANDIDATE’S DIARY: DAY 1; A DYING MAN’S WISH GRANTED

The 44-day campaign started last Saturday very quietly.

There was no noisy parade or grand proclamation rally as it was Black Saturday and people were still in a meditative mood.

My first day of the campaign started with an early morning powwow with several tribal leaders who came to my farm house, followed by a visit to a fallen friend, Datu Marino Icdang of Kidapawan City, and a short pep talk with several political leaders.

After a two-hour caucus with the public market vendors of Midsayap town, my first engagement was held in the mountain village of Palau in Libungan town, a village which is one of the memorable places during my 9-year tenure as Governor of North Cotabato from 1998 to 2007.

It was during my term when the road leading to Palau and the neighboring village of Kitubud was built. I slept in my tent in that village which somehow endeared me to the people.

Addressing a group of about 500 village people, I noticed a woman seated right in front of me who was continuously wiping her tears and holding a pocket calendar with my picture in it.

When I mentioned the sad state of the Dr. Amado Diaz District Hospital in Midsayap which has become notoriously mismanaged and very dirty, the woman voiced her agreement.

When I mentioned the sad state of the Dr. Amado Diaz District Hospital in Midsayap which has become notoriously mismanaged and very dirty, the woman nodded her head adding that what I said was true.

Genita Ambacan, a resident of Barangay Kitubod then blurted out something which left me dumbfounded.

“I left my dead husband in our home just to come and see you. I have never seen you in person and I would like to look at Manny Pinol,” she said.

Holding up my pocket calendar she added: “He told me you gave this to him and he asked me before he died to show this to you in case something happened to him.”

I found out later that her husband, Warlito Ambacan was a loyal supporter who would go wherever I was in Libungan and would listen to me by the sidelines as I spoke.

It was then when I realized that for Warlito Ambacan, I became a symbol of his hope for a better life and in his sickbed I was his consolation.

I was so touched that I almost shed a tear listening to Genita Ambacan’s account of her husband’s last wish which she relayed to me.

After the caucus in Palau, I decided to change my schedule of activities and paid my respects to Warlito Ambacan in Barangay Kitubod.

There I found him in a simple coffin surrounded by his relatives and friends who were all so amazed and proud to see that the Governor that Warlito idolized was around to pay his last respects.

I left Barangay Kitubod with a happy heart knowing that I have granted a dying man’s wish.

But at the same time, I felt I added another load on my shoulder knowing that people like Warlito Ambacan expect so much from me that even in their death bed, they look at me as their comforter and deliverer of their simple dreams and aspirations.

This realization all the more strengthened my resolve to win this political battle because so many poor people have hitched their stars on me and I cannot fail them.

(photo caption: Genita Ambacan, widow of my ardent supporter in light blue shirt, wipes her tears as she relates to me her husband’s wish.)