Amazing Grace

That was the nickname given to her by former Senator Jovito Salonga, and amazing indeed Isabela Governor Grace Padaca is. Hers was one of the most memorable forays by a political neophyte into the turbulent world of local politics.

By her own account, her advantage in 2004 was that her opponents "did not take me seriously because they knew I had no machinery, I had no money... So I was left much to myself." This time around, as she seeks re-election, she has become the person to beat, and things could get ugly even as the province has been marked by the Comelec as an election hot spot.

But Padaca insists that she will "be a big factor in maintaining peace and order in Isabela" because "with me, one half of the equation is taken away, meaning I will not be part of any violence." She adds, "I don’t have guns, I don’t have goons."

What she does have is courage (she was one of 82 nominees in the worldwide search for the first International Women of Courage awards initiated by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice), determination, and a strong faith. "When the Lord wants you to do something, He will provide the means by which you will do it," she says unequivocally, adding, "I know that for a fact."

Recently, before the official campaign period for local candidates began, Padaca took the time to answer some questions, albeit via email, about her first term as governor, her physical handicap, her Gratitude Journal, and her 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Q. You’re running for re-election; how is the campaign coming along?

A: Personally, I’ve always wished that somebody else would do this, because I did not plan for this. I think I have other deep wishes in my heart, but my personal considerations and my personal happiness have long taken a back seat because of the bigger role that I have assumed in the life of our dear apo Isabelinos. So when I am asked about my plans, I always say, gagawin ko kung ano ang kailangan. It may not necessarily mean it will make me truly happy, because my real happiness does not come with power, or with fame, or with so many people around me, with others at my beck and call.

My real happiness is in quiet and solitude, with my books, with music and films and my jigsaw puzzle.I wish I had more time to indulge in them, but it would be very selfish if I just think about myself. So I will do whatever is necessary, especially now that–modesty aside–I have touched the lives of not only Isabelinos but also other Filipinos who ask me to share with them the Isabela experience of hope, of faith, of not getting tired of doing good, for in time you will reap your harvest if you do not give up.

Q: How do you start a day? Describe your typical day as a governor.

A: I start my day, everyday, with my quiet time. I live in the Governor’s House. It is actually a very new building. The former governor had it built months before the elections. I think even during the campaign period, work was in progress on this house. Maybe they planned, for greater impact, to move into the house when they begin their new term as governor of the province. But things turned out differently, so the former governor was never able to live in this house.

I think one of the rooms was intended for his close-in bodyguards, but I turned it to a prayer room where every morning when I wake up, I go to read my Daily Bread, to read the Bible suggested reading for that day while listening to music. I think I’ve completed my collection of the Lauds Series of the Jesuits and also the CDs of Fr. Arnel Aquino. I have also been receiving CDs from anonymous Christians, which I play during my quiet time when I do my Gratitude Journal, which I learned from Oprah Winfrey.

Before, in my first days as governor, I was so overwhelmed. I was so burdened by everything that’s been happening all at once in my life that I couldn’t get to No. 3 in my Gratitude Journal because there were so many pains, many challenges, many problems, many adjustments, issues.

But I switched to thinking that perhaps, my Gratitude Journal should be a list not of the things I have to be thankful for that were done to me or happened to me, but a list of the things that I have done that people feel thankful for. I made that switch because I thought that it should not be people who please me, who make me happy, who make me thankful, but I now have a life that is meant more to make people happy, to serve them, to give them something to be thankful for. So when I made that switch, it was easy to work on my daily Gratitude Journal.

Sometimes for variety, on mornings when I just don’t feel like reading because my mind is full already, I work on my favorite hobby, jigsaw puzzle. I do 1,000 pieces. I give myself one hour of quiet time everyday. So I have to wake up very early, to be able not to miss it despite my schedule.

After that, I work the whole day. A lot of meetings, a lot of people wanting to talk with me. Meetings, speeches, barangay visits, project visits. When I say speeches, it’s not only for the people of Isabela, but I get invited by different groups that would like to listen to the Isabela experience. What I do is to lump all these invitations in two or three days. It’s stressful I know, but it is one way of maximizing my time whenever I am out of the province. That’s why when people invite me for speaking engagements, I ask them to please work around my schedule, so I can do two or three speeches a day.

By six or seven o’clock, I get so tired that when I take dinner, I watch the news and I often find myself sleeping, not being able to finish the news. Then I usually wake up around 10 pm or 12 midnight and I get up and work–sign checks, feedbacks to manage, decisions to make, all of these things. It usually takes me until 3 am, and I have to wake up again in a few hours.

That’s a typical day for me. So can you blame me if I wish I were no longer here? But again, it’s not me alone that I have to think of. It’s just not me alone. It’s something that I have to do for our people and, hopefully, to glorify God in the process.

Q: Describe your experience as a first-time governor. Have things turned out as expected, or is your experience a tale of surprises?

A: Of course, I knew that this would not be a walk in the park. There are so many references to my physical handicap, like walk my talk, it’s not a walk in the park, I ran in the elections even if I could hardly walk, and also that no one expected me to hit the ground running. I knew this–I knew this from the very day of my proclamation and even before that, when I was finally proclaimed by the (Comelec) Division of Garciliano and the others, who were the first anyway to withhold my proclamation for one whole month so that I even had to go to Manila.

I knew that there would be other problems. I said a thousand problems; I was wrong, it was a million problems. So it was very difficult, of course, during the first days, or even months. And even these days, there are still issues that I have to deal with. It’s a learning process everyday. I have learned so much. I have dealt with so much. And as I said, there was a total change. There was a 360-degree turn from my life as the one being taken cared of, to the one taking care of others. I am the Ate in the family, but because of my physical handicap, I was such a baby to all of them. So I had to deal with that also.

But you see, anyone who took over as governor after the dynasty (the Dy family had run the province for many years) would not have found it a walk in the park, because there were just so many things to sort out, so many things to reform, so many people to change. Even if I were not the governor who came after them, it would still have been very difficult.

But by the grace of God–nothing but by the grace of God–I was able to go through all of these and was able to report to our people the gains that we have made in my one hour, 42-minute State of the Province Address (delivered last January 31), which people said was a sincere, honest-to-goodness, detailed State of the Province that was presented to them.

After two-and-a-half years, my report included the money that we were able to pay our creditors, mostly arising from projects that were hastily bidded out and implemented a few months before the elections of 2004. There were hundreds of millions of those kinds of contracts and just a tiny, tiny percentage of them were paid before I came in as governor.

In other words, the bulk of those loans had to be paid during my administration, not to mention the P700 million plus in loans with DBP, PNB and Land Bank. We have no choice but pay them because our Internal Revenue Allotment had been earmarked for them, anyway. But with the careful fiscal management that I’ve been trying to implement in the Capitol, we were even able to come up with a savings of P130 million and we are about to embark on major infrastructure projects that will cost about P70 million pesos–and we don’t have to borrow money from banks for this.

The Lord is good because even if I inherited debts of almost a billion pesos, things like the monetization of the Internal Revenue Allotment came during my administration. Things like the portion of the IRA which had been withheld, I think during the time of President Erap Estrada, have been given to local governments. These all came during my administration. So this is just another proof that when the Lord wants you to do something, He will provide the means by which you will do them. When the Lord wants you to do something, just say ‘Yes’ and He will take care of you. I know that for a fact.

It’s a continuing struggle but I am more confident now of God’s provision. I don’t want to insult my God by doubting Him after all the things that He has done to take care of me and the people of Isabela.