TOUCHING LIVES

TOUCHING LIVES

Governance is all about touching people’s lives. This is something that I, as a political leader, have always believed in.

This philosophy in governance that I have embraced in all of the years that I was in government could be seen in the programs and projects that I initiated.

I coined the world W-L-R-L-P (water, light, road, livelihood and peace) to emphasize that focus should be given to the basic needs of the people in the communities.

It was because of this belief that I introduced innovations in governance.

Two of these innovations stood out because of their uniqueness and the impact they had on the lives of the people – the Cotabato Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Jobs for Economic Enhancement Program (JEEP).

The CHIP was a secondary health insurance program that covered the excess payables of Philhealth members, up to P75,000.

The JEEP, on the other hand, was a Jobs program that brought job seekers and placement agencies together in a jobs fair held in the province.

It was unique since in addition to just identifying job opportunities, the program had a P20-M seed fund from which the qualified job applicant could borrow money to pay for his/her placement fee thus freeing his/her from usurers.

Last month, while I was briefing our political leaders in Banisilan, one of the participants, Arlene Siadan, stood up and declared that she was a beneficiary of the JEEP.

Arlene testified that the JEEP changed her life. She was able to go abroad and work in France and that enabled her to send her children to college.

Today, she said all of her children have earned college degrees and one of them is now working in the United States.

For her part, Arlene was able to establish a ricemill in her village in Puting Bato and has been able to help her community.

Now, Arlene is one of the candidates for the municipal council in Banisilan.

I was overwhelmed by her revelation because it was then when I was able to appreciate the impact of these innovations in governance on the lives of the people of North Cotabato.

What makes me sad though is the fact that the CHIP and the JEEP and other innnovations in governance that I initiated have been stopped and scuttled.

In place of these programs which touch lives, we see green-colored multi-cabs given to barangays where political victories were scored in the last elections, including overpriced covered basketball courts.

In my consultations with the people now, I often pose the question: will the green multicab or the covered basketball court touch and change people’s lives as the JEEP did on Arlene Siadan’s?

Photo caption: Former JEEP beneficiary and now municipal council candidate Arlene Siadan (in white shirt) pose with other Pareng Gob leaders after a workshop.

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