After the controversial defeat that I suffered in the 2010 elections, the first since I entered politics in 1995, I told my family that I wanted to take a leave from public service.
That decision to take a sabbatical from politics was made for myriad reasons.
First, I was disappointed that some many people in our community were swayed by money and collaborated in what many believe was the greatest electoral heist in the history of the province of North Cotabato where a candidate who was leading 65-35% in pre-election surveys could lose by over 37,000 votes in the first computerized elections of the country.
Second, I was totally dismayed by the involvement of teachers in the cheating operations which included feeding pre-filled ballots into the PCOS machines.
Third, I was frustrated by the seeming hopelessness of my genuine effort to elevate the level of political awareness among our people where leaders who initiate and implement programs to uplift the conditions of the poor should be chosen over those who give out rice and money during the campaign just to fatten their pockets out of people’s money.
One classic case was the Blaan village of Bacung in Tulunan town, where the new barangay chairman graduated from college because he was my scholar. The village, neglected and abandoned before I became Governor, was the focus of our development efforts – road, water system, school building and rubber and coconut seedlings.
I lost heavily in the village after the barangay chairman was given money and rice by the other party. The same thing happened in another village in Arakan town, Napalico, which also was the focus of development efforts when I was Governor.
Fourth, I was financially drained. I owed many friends a lot of money and I felt I had to focus on my children’s future for a change.
Things changed when I started hearing stories about how the employees identified with me and former Gov. Jesus Sacdalan were being persecuted; how the Cotabato Health Insurance Program, unique secondary health insurance program for the poor which I designed was dismantled leaving the poor now scrounging for money to pay for their excess hospital bills; how the college scholarship program which was sending 1,000 poor students to school every year was polticized; how the roads in the villages were abandoned in a state of disrepair; how basic services were disregarded in favor of green multi-cabs and covered basketball courts; how blatant acts of corruption were committed with impunity; how the farmers were excluded in the list of priority groups with the prices of their products plummeting without even a word of concern from the provincial leaders and how the desire to realize a vision was changed to cheap strategies to win the next election.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back were the stories of how the incumbent Governor, in a fit of rage, forced an employee to devour 7 lechon lengua on Aug. 27, 2012 and how she whacked a Muslim employee with an umbrella in public in Central Malamote, Matalam.
That was the time, I told myself: Enough is enough!
That was when I decided I have to stand up again and offer an alternative leadership for the people of North Cotabato, a leadership with a vision for the future which truly cares for his people, especially the poor.
Today, severely handicapped by the lack of financial resources, my political opponents are saying that I cannot win the elections because I have no money to spend and that the PCOS machine could be manipulated because they have the resources to cheat again.
They are floating these lines in an attempt to dampen people’s enthusiasm to participate in the elections and hide the fact that in a recent survey which they themselves conducted, 70 percent of the people of North Cotabato would like to see them leave.
Money? Cheating? I fear neither.
What I am afraid of is the thought that when my time to face my Maker comes, I will not be able to answer Him when He asks:
“Did you listen to the cries of your people when they were in pain?”
“Did you stand up and defend them while they were being oppressed?”
“Did you have the courage to lead them when they were lost?”
To all of those questions, I would like to answer “Yes, my Lord.”
Then my life would have meaning and I would accept death with a smile on my face.
(photo caption: Talking to small groups of village leaders in Dado, Alamada late at night to explain the vision for the future. photo by John Pagaduan.)
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