“A government that does not feel the pulse of people living in the social and geographical edges, does not know their simple dreams and aspirations and does not care to listen to the voices most faint will never be able to build a cohesive and united nation.”
Next week, I will set out on a 3-day land journey which will take me from Davao City to the Southern tip of Davao Oriental Province and back up North to Surigao City passing through the Mindanao Pacific Rim.
Along the way, I will meet briefly with local leaders to check on how President Rody Duterte could help them through the Mindanao Development Authority.
Most of all, I would like to meet the people living in the edges of Mindanao and ask them whether they feel that there is a government which cares for them.
My life as a public servant has been marked with endless interactions with people engaging them face to face to really know their desires, dreams and aspirations.
When I was elected Governor of North Cotabato, I started my Governance by conducting a province wide consultation to ask people what their expectations were.
Two more province-wide caucuses were held in both times I was reelected to ask people whether the programs helped.
In between, I spent nights in the remote villages sharing “Tuba,” Tanduay, White Castle and even Sio Hoc Tong with people and listening to their stories.
I continued this learning and listening journey when I was named Agriculture Secretary through a program called “Biyaheng Bukid.”
The Biyaheng Bukid brought me to places unvisited by any Cabinet officer in the past yet there so many other areas which I failed to reach.
Those interactions resulted in the design of programs like the SURE Loaning Program, the PLEA Loaning, the Solar-Powered Irrigation System (SPIS), FB Pagbabago Fishing Boat Program, TienDA and many other innovations.
Today, as MinDA Chairman, I will continue the journey to listen to voices and feel the pulse.
As I undertake the journey, I will come up with programs and projects which will directly address the problems and concerns I gathered along the way.
This much I learned in my years in public service – there is no such thing as a generic solution to the woes of our people in the different regions of this country.
Most of all, we in government who believe that we have the answers and the silver bullet for our people’s problems because we have PhDs are grossly mistaken.
The people themselves have the best answers to their problems.
What we need to do is listen, learn and design the solution based on their dreams, aspirations and needs.
We can never go wrong with this formula.
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