Tsinelas Leadership and our Mayor’s Leather Shoes

Secretary Jesse’s death opened the eyes of the many to the most humble way of leading others. Spreading online are his pictures walking barefoot during a Peñafrancia parade, sitting on the streets with the masses, roaming around Naga with no security guards and wearing shorts and t-shirt, as if he was no one special. This, according to DOE Sec. Almendras, is what we call the Tsinelas type of leadership.

As he described its metaphorical characteristics, I was shaking my head, imagining clearly the opposite of what he’s been saying-- I pictured our municipal Mayor wearing a shiny black leather shoes.

Going where you normally don’t go

Tsinelas leadership, Sec. Almendras defined, “is to be willing to go where you normally do not go—to the remote areas, just to be with the most disadvantaged people.”

Ever since I’d been an active community leader, I have heard lots of stories from the people, particularly the marginalized, saying “hindi man lang kami mapuntahan ni Mayor dito”. I usually hear those sentiments in times of calamity and disasters. Yes, he sends relief, and yes he sends some of his people to distribute the relief. And recently, he sends his wife too not just in reliefs but in many other social gatherings where she can introduce herself as Mayora, the Mayor’s wife. But where is he? On my term as SK, I only saw the Mayor in Lupang Arenda (a depressed area in our barangay) whenever the governor is arriving or if a VIP would go visit. But since I’m not omniscient, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, that maybe, without me knowing, he did some visits and spent time to listen and talk to the people there. And I really hope he did.

Breaking the barriers

The second characteristic of Tsinelas leadership is being able to break down barriers between the leaders and the people they serve.

The municipal hall is supposedly the place where people can go freely, where they are welcomed and where they can communicate and consult with their public officials. It is supposed to be a neutral ground. Year 2009, the Mayor transferred the municipal hall inside a private subdivision where no public transportations were available. It’s either you bring a private vehicle, or you walk. Sadly, the decision of putting the public hall in that area wasn’t the people’s decision too. It was not consulted and neither a feasibility study was presented. This act did not just hinder the ordinary people to go to the municipality-- it also impeded a lot of people into participating in the decision making process of the government, thinking that our officials won’t listen to them anyway and that those in power will just do whatever they think is right.

A casual leader

A tsinelas leader according to Sec. Almendras “must be casual with the people they serve so that they can listen, hear, and empathize with the people they serve.”  

When I started being aware of the politics here in our place, I’m always happy to see public figures walking around our neighbourhood, riding a motorcycle, wearing big farmer’s hat. It is only when this current municipal mayor sat in position that I was able to see a public official with security guards around him, in front of his house and even at his office. When he goes out, his vehicles have convoys. No wonder why his 2009 COA report shows that his budget for security is a lot bigger than the budget allocated for the local Emergency Hospital.

And speaking of this COA report, it also projects that the Mayor is paying for seven cellphone lines that he uses. That is more than the number of networks here in the country.

Addressing the grassroots

Tsinelas Leadership is about addressing the base of the pyramid or what Sec. Almendras called the base-level transformation.

After graduating college, I worked for our barangay, and in this work that I realized the importance of the grassroots in the bigger picture of nation building. It also makes the load of the municipal mayor lighter since barangays are autonomous themselves, but it is also where I witnessed how the head of the LGU may use its power to manipulate, to take control, to threaten and to weaken barangays by his authority and by the people working for him.

This is the kind of attack our leader has been doing in the grassroots, especially if you do not agree to what he wants-- if you’re an oppositionist. For him, those who are at the base of the pyramid are puppets. (See related story here:)

Working with the basics

Lastly, Sec. Almendras described his metaphor of Tsinelas Leadership as “working with the basics—no frills, no kaartehan.”

I really admire how Sec. Jesse told his family that he doesn’t want to get used to the frills of his position because he is fully aware that it might ignite this greedy feeling of staying in position and having power. He rides the bus if possible, he doesn’t wear signature clothes and he’s not particularly comfortable with fine dining. In short, he lived a simple life.

Then I remember again, the number of cars our mayor have, how no one ever saw him riding public transpos, how he’s always seen having lunch at luxurious restaurants and how he travels to Las Vegas every time Manny Paquiao has a fight, while the rest of us feels contented to be watching on a big screen on a jam packed gym.

I’m not saying that he’s always like that or that he has not done any good. I do not see his every move and I am not as well aware of the purity of his intentions. But as a conscious and involved constituent, this is what I see and this is what I hear from the ordinary people who speak of how they feel neglected by their government.

May Sec. Jesse’s example of Tsinelas leadership be a model to our politicians, not for PR’s sake, but for them to really get a feel of being one with the people that they serve. You cannot empathize with a man whose wearing slippers or no slippers at all while you’re comfortable with your socks and your shiny leather shoes.

Dear Mayor, take off your shoes; get a feel of the same ground majority of us are stepping on.