FROM HONGKONG TO KABACAN, THEY COME TO LISTEN…

It was a long and tiresome journey home from Hongkong to Cotabato yesterday but fatigue and the lack of sleep did not stop me from appearing in the many engagements already arranged by my leaders before my foreign trip.

Arriving at Clark International Airport in Pampanga at about 1 a.m. yesterday, I took a long trip to the NAIA 3 Terminal in Pasay City for the 5 a.m. flight to Davao City.

After a quick shower and breakfast, I gave my wife a kiss and proceeded to North Cotabato, without even seeing my children, to catch up with the 11 a.m. radio program aired over two radio stations, DXND and DXMS.

From there, I appeared in three more engagements which ended at 10 o’clock last night.

In New Esperanza, M’lang, I talked to the people about the jobs and business opportunities waiting for them with the expected opening of an Oil Palm Mill whose construction will start this year.

The Oil Mill which will serve the Oil Palm planters of North Cotabato and will produce Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is a project of my brother, Col. Pat and his Malaysian partner, Siew King Han.

It is expected to serve about 6,000 to 8,000 hectares of Oil Palm farms in North Cotabato and employ about 300 workers.

In Malamote, Kabacan, a crowd of about 200 listened and applauded loudly when I talked about bringing back peace and security to this troubled town where one of the victims of the endless killings was Vice Mayor Pol Dulay himself.

In Gayola, Kidapawan City, I met with the leaders of the three barangays which benefited from the two irrigation systems that I started but where I lost in the last elections.

The leaders themselves admitted they made the wrong choice in the last elections and were committed to go back to the path of governance which I laid down for the people of North Cotabato where the programs and projects were based on the basic question: “Will this project uplift the lives of the people of North Cotabato?”

Was I tired? Yes, I was dead tired. Ordinarily, I would have dropped my old body in bed and go into a deep slumber.

But these days, I could not afford to waste any moment.

I have to reach out to so many people and travel to so many places to share with them the very important issues involved in the 2013 elections not only for the leadership of North Cotabato but for the senatorial elections as well.

The elections of 2013 are very critical for North Cotabato. Unless we change course, we will have another three years of misguided governance where instead of giving the people the projects they need to improve their lives, they are swamped with green multicabs, green slippers, green caps, green t-shirts, green umbrellas and a few kilos of rice and a few hundred pesos, especially during election time.

As I move around, including during the trip to Hongkong, I saw in the faces of my people the desire to change course and move back to the right path of governance where the the people’s welfare is placed on top of everything else.

I am tired but I have to move on for there are many more places to visit, many more minds to enlighten and many more hearts to touch.