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.

When the Truth Hurts

So here’s the picture,  everybody’s  reacting to some of my tweets quoting some of our councilors during their Sangguniang Bayan’s regular session. As  of what I am hearing from our common friends, they say that what I am doing is “paninira sa kapwa”,  which includes tweets on which I quoted a councilor mentioning “styrophone” on his privilege speech. 

It has been somehow a habit to watch the Sangguniang Bayan sessions every Wednesday primarily to check on how our councilors had been doing their job and sometimes, to lobby some issues that they had been so deaf that they we’re not able to hear it from the different sectors of the society. To maximize technology and my friend’s BBM, I log on to twitter every time we watch the SB session. I post updates as to how things are going around the session so that even the ordinary people who have lost interest in participating in the government and has decided to tweet and use facebook all day long, would have had been informed of how the people they elected has been functioning.

Who among you knows that a resolution has already been passed authorizing our Municipal Mayor to enter in to a loan agreement with land bank for the purpose of constructing a new public market?

Who among you knows that the tents we see in front of the public market are temporary and was loaned for Php7.5 Million?

Who among you knows that it has already been broadcast in print adds and radios that our municipality is already implementing an anti-plastic campaign, though according to the committee on environment, it is still under further study?

I too would have not known that if I did not spent time, energy and resources to be able to watch a session.

According to the LGC, sessions are supposed to be publicized and approved resolutions and ordinances must be available to the eyes of the public. In fact, there are areas in the Philippines where  Sangguniang Bayan sessions are aired live on TV. Now I’m starting to get bothered why on earth does these councilors are making a so-big-deal when they are quoted during their ‘public sessions’.

My dear councilors, my point here is that, regardless of how you deliver, whether it be on the right grammar or not, the people has to know the things you’ve been talking about. The thing is that, because the people has to know, they are as well  hoping that you devote extra time to review and analyze things first before standing before them in the podium. We are as much as eager to hear from you the things that you had been doing since in all possible ways, it affect us.

I myself do not have a perfect grammar, but please, when you’re not so sure of what you’re going to say, speak in the language you are comfortable with. The aim here is to let the people understand the things you’d been talking about and not to impress us with the English language.

Again, my sincerest apologies if my tweets, quoting what you’ve said had somehow caused some negative impact to your so-protected and beloved names. I just realized that really, most of the time, the truth hurts.

What You Do and What We Do

Yesterday, as we watched the Sangguniang Bayan session and as the issue of the passage of the 170 Million loan becomes so pressing, I received comments from the side of the administration who are in favor of the loan, that me and my group (Angat Taytay) are anti-development. They were shouting, ‘Puro kayo tutol! Puro kayo aral!’ pertaining to our position that a feasibility study should be presented first before the council proceed with the loan agreement.

Once and for all, let me remind you of our position:

We are not against the construction of the market. We know and we see that the market vendors and stall owners need a better place to continue and grow their businesses. What we want is for our dear councilors to present to us first a FEASIBILITY study before entering into a loan agreement. We need to know if the 3 storey market they are proposing would be beneficial to the vendors. We need to know if the addition of hundreds, maybe thousands of stalls, would be able to maintain a healthy competition within the market. We need to know how much will be the rent if this new market takes place. Would the ambulant vendors be able to avail it? Would an ordinary vendor be able to pay the rent?

To our legislators whom should be accountable to the people, maybe, you really just need to focus on what the people really need rather than putting all your eyes on the loan. As we speak with the market vendors, we heard them say that they are for the repair of the market, since it would surely be less costly to our municipality. Have you ever consider that idea dear councilors? Does it ever cross your mind that, ‘Oh, maybe they are right’.

These are the vendors who are speaking. These are the people who will be first hand affected into whatever your decisions would be.

The ballooning local debt 

The municipality of Taytay already has at least 342 million worth of loan excluding its interest. Adding the 170 million, that would be around 512 million, placing us on the top spot of the municipalities with the highest local debt in the country.

People from the administration keep on saying that Taytay is a highly developed municipality. I once quoted our municipal mayor in his State of the Municipality Address last 2009 saying, “Dapat nga matuwa tayo na nangungutang tayo. Ibig sabihin nito, kaya nating magbayad sa Land Bank.”

Clearly, this is his concept of development. He did not even thought about the fact that even after he could have been re-elected thrice as mayor, we are still paying this debt— that an innocent child of today would have had to carry the burden of paying for this loan in the next 15 to 20 years.

If we are really thinking of development, we should have just invested on projects that will promote livelihood, projects that will generate income for the municipality or projects that are far more sustainable and agreed upon by the people.

Why loan more?

Look at this picture, the Sangguniang Bayan recently loaned 7.5 Million for the temporary tents in the public market. Surprisingly, in one of the newsletter issued by the municipality, it has been projected that the budget of the mayor’s office alone is 171 million. Why do we have to loan the 7.5 million? Did it really helped in solving the problem?

Do we really have to loan and let the interest alone deduct at least 20-30 million to our annual budget?

Imagine if the (at least) 50 million pesos we pay annually for our debt be used to improve our emergency hospital who could not provide you with any service unless you pay them fifty pesos. Imagine if this 50 million be used to send children to school. How many lives they would have changed?

Personal attacks deserve a personal response

Just when I was about to go to sleep, a dummy account messaged me on facebook. He said, “puro ka daldal!!!”. A poser account on twitter also once asked me, “Puro ka pag kontra! Ano na bang nagawa mo?”. I actually don’t want to post the things me and my group have already done, since it might be a little boastful to some. But for the sake of answering their questions and for the purpose of inviting more people to join our cause, let me tell you:

Our group, though with limited resources has been able to touch lives. Unlike the government, we do not have a regular budget. Most of the time, our own pockets do the job, but still, we managed to make a difference.

We had conducted medical missions that had already reached more than a thousand people in the municipality. We had educated hundreds of mothers with regard to proper parenting and proper health care. We had conducted leadership trainings that had inspired and empowered hundreds of youth inside and outside of the municipality. We had inspired thousands of elementary children by providing them school supplies and life inspirations. We had expressed love to the special children by giving them attention and support. We had been able to lobby laws in the congress that affected the lives not just of the people of the municipality but of the whole country. We had represented the town and the country in many local and international gatherings. We had planted at least a thousand trees with the sincerest heart of reducing our own carbon foot prints. We had restored the life of two rivers by just igniting the spirit of bayanihan among the people around the area. In times of calamities, we had reached hundreds of affected families by simply encouraging others to help and do the same. We have stand against executive orders that will remove the rights of the people in Lupang Arenda and other areas in floodway. We had cleaned at least 20 streets voluntarily. We had helped a number of women and children who were abused to find hope and gain strength. We have changed the lives of 4 elementary students and 6 college students who are our scholars. Most especially, we are slowly but surely changing the culture of indifference, cynicism and apathy among the people by advocating and exemplifying genuine service and ethical and empowering leadership.

We all made these possible without the cross intentions of running for a public post or of impressing the people.

We do it with heart, with passion— with dedication. We do it to bring the message that everyone else should do it as well.

Hope I had been able to show these skeptics that we are not just objecting, why we wanted to study things first and why do we do what we do. We really don’t care if you don’t appreciate us and what we do. At the end of the day, it has never been between you and us. It has always been between us and HIM.

To my beloved Angat Taytay comrades, PADAYON! 

Going Against the Flow

My Flyers Which I Got for Free

“Tobit, sikat ka na, may mga flyers na kumakalat sa munisipyo na naka-print screen ang facebook profile mo.”

Those words were my friends’ morning greeting to me when I entered our office. I actually don’t know what to feel since the scenario was still so vague as it also made  me  think if I had done anything wrong, since my conscience clearly says that there is none. They then explained to me that it was about my facebook post saying “Joric, humanda ka. Nakikita mo ba tong mga papel na to? Para sa’yo to. It’s Payback time” while flashing an angry face and a bunch of papers on my hand. I then started to become conscious of how I looked on that picture more than the thought of ‘what’s the big deal out of that post?’ It is simply because, I know that what I posted was the truth. The ‘bunch of papers’ on my hand is the compilation of all the administrative complaints filed by the people against our municipal mayor and that indeed is really, ‘payback time’.

I apologize if the language I used in that post is in anyway foul or obscene. I was angry then, very much angry. And who would not be?

The Complaints that gained Complaints

Earlier that day, I was tasked to compile all the complaint materials to be filed by our barangay against the municipal mayor. It was a task I’d been wanting to do for so long since what we had experienced from the municipal mayor is something that we should not be quiet about. As I gather them and as I stare at these facts, I began to feel this anger.

Here are the lists of the complaints and I want you to judge as objective as you can, if the actions done by the municipal mayor was morally right or wrong,  politically correct or wrong or simply, just or unjust.

a.) The Taking Over of the Liga ng mga Barangay Office at the Municipal Hall

Having been elected as the Liga president, Barangay Chairperson Joselito Calderon, a known oppositionist, becomes an automatic ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Bayan. Immediately after the election for the said post dated December 7, 2010, Mayor Gacula, through the building administrator Eleno Tolentino, declared that the ABC office would now be used by the Municipal Health Clinic. This became an issue in the Sangguniang Bayan as Vice Mayor Janet Mercado stated in one of her privilege speeches, the unfairness of this act as she also questioned the grounds for this decision. The Sangguniang Barangay also wrote a letter to Mayor Gacula and to Mr. Tolentino to ask for the ABC office’s ownership. The office of the mayor through Mr. Tolentino reiterated their decision of not having the ABC office in the municipal hall.

The Sangguniang Barangay went to the MLGOO-DILG officer, Ms. Myrnalyn Tomas to seek assistance regarding this case. She told us that Mayor Gacula called to inform her that he  will be transferring the DILG office  to the supposedly office of the ABC. She said that she declined the offer, only to find out the following day that they are already transferring their things to the said office.

b.) The Forced Take Over of the Barangay Health Center

A few days after the first incidence, December 23, 2010, Municipal Health Officer Dr. Gerardo Camba together with at least 20 police swat headed by Taytay PNP Chief Col. Arthuro Masungsong went to the barangay to get the supplies, equipments, furniture and medicines without prior notice or even a letter to the barangay that they will be doing such act. The team, headed by Dr. Camba said that it was an order coming from Mayor Gacula and that they have the right to collect those properties since the health center itself belongs to the “municipality”. Concerned citizens of the barangay barricaded the truck that contains the collected properties as a sign of their protest for this action, but due to the police swat that was present, Dr. Camba’s team proceeded with the command to get all these properties (See amateur video documentation of the incident at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSi-gSSFSEc&feature=player_embedded).

To date it has been found out that these properties were transferred after a month, at the vicinity of Benjamin B. Esguerra Memorial National High School. The municipal government said that it is now the location for the new barangay health center, which gained criticisms from the people since the new location is not easily accessible and is not physically conducive for proper health care service. A lot of complaints also arise due to the fact that this new health center was not able to provide vaccination to some children.

To date, the Sangguniang Barangay has been able to provide quality health care services through the outpouring help of volunteer nurses and doctors.

c.) Forceful Take Over of Purok Halls and Barangay Annexes and Issues of Political Harassment

Early January of this year, Mayor Gacula issued certifications in the area of Lupang Arenda of this barangay, stating that certain properties such as the basketball court, day care center and barangay outpost and annexes are owned by the municipal government of Taytay since it was constructed under his administration. This certifications disabled the barangay employees to enter their work places since majority of these offices were padlocked.

Due to this claim, an incident happened on the 25th day of the same month wherein the Secretary of the barangay, Mr. Danilo Paz was forcefully arrested while he was inside the halls of Purok 1, Lupang Arenda. Sec Danny is already 65 years old and he was accused and initially charged with trespassing, resisting arrest and insubordination among others for being inside a hall that the municipal mayor claims to be his.

d.) The Establishment of a Questionable Executive Order: An Abuse of Authority

The Sangguniang Baragay received a letter dated May 25 of this year to inform the barangay of an executive order he had ordered to create the TASK FORCE ALARM (Alliance of Lupang Arenda Reinforcement Movers) and CDPSO (Community Development and Public Safety Office). The EO has been created, according to Mayor Gacula, “to act as the enforcement arm of the municipality’s peace keeping power” in the area, thus duplicating the task of the barangay’s security enforcement in Lupang Arenda as it also becomes disadvantageous to the municipal government since the appointment of their assigned people would require budget for honorariums and other physical structures needed. More importantly, this act has created social boundaries and confusion among the citizens in Lupang Arenda. According to the purok chairpersons assigned at Lupang Arenda, the task force ALARM also enabled Mayor Gacula to assign Purok Chairpersons, by-passing their roles as assigned by the barangay. ALARM appointed Chairperson Avelino De Las Alas also assigned these certain “Coordinators” per purok that duplicates the duties of the purok Chairpersons assigned by the barangay.

In the same letter dated May 25, Mayor Gacula demanded that the barangay should vacate the Arenda extension hall so that it may be used by the Task Force ALARM. He even claimed in the same letter that that barangay extension hall is the property of the “municipality”. The Sangguniang Barangay immediately responded to oppose the demand letter with evidences that the barangay has been paying for the electricity bill of the said extension hall for the past years. To date, the barangay has not yet received any response from the side of the Mayor.

———

For once may I remind you, our dear public officials, that  the municipality you are referring to is not just you— it includes US, the people you are supposed to be serving. The money used to build those government properties were hard earned money of the tax payers and you have no right to claim it and name it after yourselves.

These are just few of the many things Barangay Sta. Ana has been hurdling in its less than a year of service. This is what you get when you go against the flow, when you try so hard to stick with your principle and when you value the truth more than the frills you may have if you dared to live with lies.

A lot of people are telling me to stop doing this— to stop throwing statements against the administration, to stop tweeting against them, to stop telling these things to the people. I actually thought that they do not believe me but it surprised me when they told me that they are just afraid of the possible consequences of stating the truth and so they choose to remain silent about it.

I was not born yet when martial law was imposed in this country but we had been discussing it since grade school. My elementary teachers also told us that “History repeats itself”, I did not understand it then not until now that I see history happening again. This time, I hope that we won’t be needing a Ninoy to offer his life to break the chain, I am simply just hoping, for all good people to come together, to speak out, to be vigilant and to do something for the better good.

 Sawa na akong marinig sa mga tao na, “naiipit ako”, “natatakot akong mawalan ng trabaho”, “wala akong magawa”, “hayaan na lang natin sila” and so on and so forth. If you know what is right, then you shall do your best to do it. No what if’s, No buts.

“For evil to triumph is for the good people to do nothing.”