Be liberated from money-based political patronage!

Not many of us remember, much less attach some significance to, October 20, 1944, the day Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to our country. Our present generation (aha, that includes me!) was not born yet then and most among those who walked this earth when MacArthur announced his return, have already crossed the great beyond. Maybe, this is a reason for our failing memories. So, aside from the Leytenos, who exert efforts to hold yearly activities to commemorate the event, it seems that the other regions in the country have forgotten the importance of this day.

If this historical fact is, somehow, lost to us, such that we do not anymore relate ourselves to the blood the Filipino and American soldiers shed for our country, so be it. It may now be unimportant to us that a commitment by someone, in this case, a general, to return to our shores and liberate us from a foreign conqueror, is a word to honor, but it is, I suggest, worth trying to give some significance to the term “liberation” that is written all over the event.

The most lasting impact the general left me when he waded the shores of Leyte that day 67 years ago, (never mind if there are some mischievous rumors written about it), is really associated with liberation.

Let us bring ourselves to a present scene and see if we can apply “liberation” to it. Of late, His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, announced that his administration: (a) is going to buy 4x4 vehicles for all barangay captains and (b) will give additional monetary incentives to barangay officials.

To be sure, the mayor made this announcement as a countervailing measure. Earlier, his predecessor, Hon. Tomas R. Osmeña, pledged to give computers to the village chiefs. The reactions of the intended beneficiaries seem to show their continued support for the former mayor. If only to mitigate the impact of this pledge, the sitting mayor counters it with something more substantial, monetarily speaking.

There is, thus, reason to conclude that the plan of Mayor Rama to give additional benefits to barangay officials is a political gambit. Acquiring a brand new off-road vehicle for the punong barangay can be justified. There is an abundance of budgetary language that can lay down the reason to appropriate P60 million. In going for the proverbial jugular, the mayor wants to round up the rest of the barangay officials to his side by proposing an allocation of P3,000 monthly or P36,000.00, yearly, additional honorarium to each barangay official. The total sum is a whooping P100 million. The mayor thinks that with such favors, these leaders will prop him up in 2013 against anybody, including his former patron.

Well, Mayor Rama may be correct and so, we cannot begrudge him for adopting survival measures. He must have observed, also correctly, that gratitude, roughly equated to “Maikog ta” or “gaba-an unya ta” reigns in the hearts of our race, not excluding barangay officials. He expects that out of the “kaikog” or the fear of “gaba”, these political frontiersmen will carry his future political load for him.

This is precisely the kind of thinking that we need to be liberated from. May the mayor cast off the idea that he can marshal good political leaders only when he previously does them favors. What is true is that if he lays out an achievable vision for the city and pursues it passionately, his leadership is then placed on a pedestal higher than what mercenaries can ever dream of. There will be more campaigners to support him achieve his vision than barangay captains and kagawads can ever imagine.

Also, may our barangay officials be liberated from the thought to use their positions to wiggle out various forms of personal benefits. It is nobler for them to address the needs of our people rather than corner perks and privileges out of holding government position. A simple demonstration on the part of the mayor to desist from this planned expense and the renunciation on the part of the barangay officials of these future benefits will show how liberated we are from the corroding influence of money-based politics.