Danao City mayor’s visionary leadership

On my way to church last Sunday to sing with the All Men Praise, the Redemptorist choir in the 9 o’clock Sunday morning mass, I read from the internet the news about the groundbreaking ceremony of the first-ever waste-to-energy plant in the country in Barangay Dunggoan, Danao City. Awesome! It was reported that in collaboration with the Integrated Green Technology (IGT) Visayas Inc., the city will soon realize the highly anticipated Ultramodern Solid Waste Management and Disposal Plant. This project will make Danao City as a pioneer in innovative waste management solutions much ahead of Cebu City which does not even have a landfill of its own. I doff my hat to the Honorable Danao City Mayor Thomas Mark Durano, who I was told, is more of a doer than a talker, for this visionary project. 

While I was reading excitedly the development in Danao City under Mayor Durano, there came a signal of an incoming call from a popular politician. I took the call but I heard a very indignant official. His voice sounded like an enraged master of olden times scolding a lowly slave. To be sure, I am not a slave (of either the aliping sangigilid or aliping mamamahay kind). So, I thought the call was wrongly placed. The caller though might himself be considered a Cebu City master. To his credit, his language sounded high falutin and this time, he was less loquacious and more direct to the point. But when he said “I thought we are friends” or angry words to that effect. I realized that it was I whom he was mad at for writing an opinion that did not sit well with him. To disconnect the official’s gush of unexpected fury and vitriol, I said bye to cut our conversation. 

Before I scrolled at the Danao City news, I came upon an FB post of this remarkable woman named Pamela Baricuatro. We are really not that close as friends, but her advocacy for good governance is worth emulating. Pam quoted Seth Berkeley’s “Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power.” Honestly, I have not read any work of Berkeley but Pam’s quoting him was timely. It came in rather providentially. Pam did not even probably think that she posted it on a day a leader in Mayor Durano, would put forth a solid foundation of his vision for his city, not in sloganeering, not in verbose pronouncements, and certainly not in demonstration of power bordering on demagoguery but in visible and responsible action. 

I admit not being techy (is this spelling correct?) but my simple understanding of the Danao City project of Mayor Durano, reveals two, maybe three, ideal ends. First, there will be massive effort to collect the city’s garbage. It has to done because the waste is needed in order to make the system to convert waste to energy functional. The contractor Integrated Green Technology (IGT) Visayas Inc. will do this job at the least cost to Danao City. The end result is a clean Danao City. Second, by using modern technology, the collected garbage is not just going to be dumped somewhere to even further degrade the environment because it will be converted to energy. This system really helps environment. Third there will be employment generation and multiplier economic activities.

In fine, Pam’s quoting Berkeley points to Mayor Durano of Danao City, as a visionary leader.