Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Speak out: Seeds of change in Compostela By Gilbert Wagas
THE indolent tyrant wastes his resources, confident in the illusion that power begets power.
But the sower knows where the soil is good and where it is not and thus has the greater chance of reaping the fruits of his labor.
Sometime before the year ends, seeds will be planted in Compostela’s barangays, in the coastal plain or up in the mountains.
The endeavor will have far-reaching impact on the lives of thousands of townspeople.
--Peace officers. To each barangay will be assigned, embedded, a person trained in martial arts (arnis), has knowledge of legal procedures surrounding citizen arrests (paralegal) and endowed with skills in group dynamics.
This peace officer will be the first line of defense in police matters.
A cop who is not a cop but keeps the peace nevertheless in his sitio or neighborhood.
Weird idea? Think again.
This has been successfully done in many parts of the world.
--Education. This concept is highly effective in India and elsewhere.
A teaching method that emphasizes hands-on learning more than lectures.
This will be started in daycare centers in Compostela.
It is simply bringing back to the basics the business of educating the youth: A student, a teacher and the lesson.
It shifts the focus back to quality in education by concentrating the bulk of funds from the Special Education Fund towards enhancing the skills of the teacher and the student closer to the lesson.
The money will boost the software more than the hardware, so to speak.
Money for school buildings and classroom will be drawn instead from the Development Fund.
--Health. To each barangay, or more correctly each cluster of homes, will be assigned a health worker with special emphasis on basic nutrition, emergency medical care and first aid treatment.
The barangay health worker is accountable to his neighbors in the sitio.
Another first line of defense.
--Business. Where can Compostela run to for jobs?
The answer is obvious: its biggest strength is in its people.
The town will not be the site of pollutant-emitting factories.
Instead it will compete for brainpower in the information technology and business outsourcing sector.
An LGU-sponsored scholarship program will require scholar-graduates to serve the community for a period of years prior to deployment in lucrative positions abroad or elsewhere.
The local government will look at public funds as investable resource rather than expendable items.
Thus, compostela will allocate a substantial portion of its tax-generated funds for the purpose, assuring continuity of socio-economic projects.
--Sports, which will be really grassroots. At least two major sports events per year are being envisioned for such sports as football, basketball and volleyball.
Manned, planned and managed by the Sangguniang Kabataan, the sports program requires barangay involvement in human resource management.
Of course, there are myriad plans as there are pregnant minds.
But if you look closely at these projects, they are doable and profound.
“Dili lisud,” says Compostela Mayor Ritchie Wagas. “They can be implemented rather quickly because they are not grandiose. They are not meant to be strutted about. Dili ipanghambug, pero bug-at ug lawom kaayo ang impact.”
But what will be the linchpin of all of these?
“We have to move towards harnessing our greatest natural resource: water,” says Mayor Ritchie. “We need the water to nourish the seeds we have sown.”
