Friday, June 13, 2008 Valdehuesa: A priest to clean up politics By Manuel Valdehuesa Street Talk
SOME people wonder whether it's a good idea for a priest to run for public office. Why not if they're qualified? They're citizens too, and public servants in a purer sense. They can certainly clean up the public service better than traditional politicians -- especially if they're nominated by civil society like Fr. Ed Panlilio, now governor, of Pampanga.
Months before the elections last year, no Capampangan dared to challenge the money and might of two opposing trapos, one an incumbent governor and son of an undereducated senator, the other an incumbent board member and spouse of a reputed drug lord. In an effort to find a decent alternative for their province, civil society looked high and low but found none, at least no one who dared to think he had a fighting chance.
So they turned to a priest who had gained renown for his work among the poor, notably at the height of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption when lahar flooded the area's barangays. They asked him to champion the cause of decency and good governance and assured him they would launch a campaign never before seen in the province.
It wasn't easy to have him accede to their entreaty. He was a priest, loved being a priest, was deeply committed to his apostolate. Abandon his vocation for the siren call of politics? Wade into the jueteng-tainted, big-money politics of Pampanga? Please naman, Sir, Ma'am -- not so fast! But the civic leaders were persistent, eventually driving him to go on retreat to discern and to seek "higher" guidance on such a momentous decision.
As the deadline for filing neared, events conspired to lead him into the ring. His colleagues, including his bishop, saw how the extraordinary situation called for an exceptional response and signaled a "no objection." The civic leaders kept urgently urging him on, joined by no less than Ate Glo's older sister.
The intimate details of this story is told in a handsome book scheduled for launching this afternoon at the Little Theater of Xavier University. Fr. Ed Panlilio will be on hand.
I urge the reader to go and meet this remarkable Filipino in the mold of Mahatma Gandhi -- down to his sandals and self-effacing manner. Trust me on this, Sandy.
Given the continued deterioration of our national politics, we would do well to take a close look at this priest-on-leave. The parties are hopeless, their leaders worse. How can we trust them to rescue this country from the throes of corruption? Every one them played a part in earning this country the vile honor of being the most corrupt in Asia. And there's not one party that did not dip its hairy hands into the national treasury.
Like Pampanga in the grip of venality and corruption before last year's elections, the Philippines could use an Ed Panlilio. What People Power did for politics in his province, it can do nationwide in 2010.
Perhaps then we can begin to get rid of trapos that incubate the culture of corruption. Right, Fr. Nathan?
Manny is a former UN executive, diplomat, and book publisher. Now he is the national convenor of Gising Barangay Movement.
