Listening To Faint Voices!

Traveling to the remotest areas to reach out to people who otherwise would not have access to officials in government is not new to me.

I had been doing this since I joined public service as Mayor of M’lang, Cotabato in 1995 and later as Governor of Cotabato from 1998 to 2007.

As Governor, I would pitch me tent in remote villages where I would engage people in a no-holds-barred dialogue, often over bottles of Tanduay, White Castle and even Tuba.

It was through those engagements that I was able to craft programs and innovations in governance which were strategic and surgically precise to address people’s concerns.

Ang Special Area for Agricultural Development or SAAD, isang rural development strategy, was one of the programs which I personally designed because of those face-to-face engagements when I was Governor.

I introduced SAAD as a rural development and poverty alleviation strategy when I was appointed Secretary of Agriculture and the program now covers about 40 provinces all over the country.

The SAAD, which started in Magpet, North Cotabato, had been identified by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as having contributed immensely to the reduction of poverty incidence levels in the provinces which are covered by the program.

This is what I am doing again now as I prepare for a bigger responsibility, God willing, as a member of the Philippine Senate.

Engaging ordinary people directly gives me an extra-ordinary opportunity of really determining what they need and what interventions should be delivered.

#touchthegroundfeelthepulse!

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

(This video was taken during my dialogue with farmer leaders of San Fernando, Camarines Sur by the Media Team of Biyaheng Senado.).