Aguilar: Get involved

WHEN I got into the world of local politics, I always discouraged my friends and former students to ever run for public office or dip their hands into government activities in any forms of engagement. I have seen the game and I thought it’s not for the pure hearted souls and for the faint of hearts. For people with non-negotiable principles, such as myself, it’s almost impossible to last. One will either get eaten up by the system or be thrown out of it. While the game is about leadership in social services and development, it was designed to be an enterprise for political positioning and power manipulation.

I am not saying our local governance in general is a hopeless case. No, not at all. Otherwise how else can I explain why I am still very much in it. Contrary to that, it is still very much formable and moldable in a shape we want it to be. It can be navigated from within. And so I am changing tune as to discouraging my friends and students mainly because I have seen how power gets wasted even by brilliant politicians time and again.

I am not saying that our leaders do not have good hearts. Far from it. The fact that they won during elections simply means their goodness have been evident among the majority of voters. But being good does not also follow that one is a game changer. This is now where I’m coming in with this point. Being good leaders don’t just cut it anymore. In these times we need trailblazers and game changers, which is precisely why the Duterte politics have become phenomenal; we crave for someone who can make a significant dent in the old system however unpolished they may be on the edges.

Back to my point, wasted power has become the new norm. It should not be the case at all cost. There is tremendous power among local politicians from an SK councilor in a barangay to the mayor and governor in changing the landscape of local development if only those seated have the grasp of their immense power to create history and the political will to make it happen. I mean how many of them have a detailed plan of their visioned social transformation? How many of them have translated their plans into implementable and calibrated programs? And how many of them are seeing things through from inception to outputs and outcomes? Nah, after being exposed to all local government units in the entire Philippines, what I see are politicians wanting to please their barangays with infra projects such as roads and multipurpose centers. There are also those who love public consultations and media exposures. I am yet to see any of them involved in capacity development with intensive monitoring structure to ensure success. They have a list of beneficiaries of their social services, mostly their loyal voters, but as to how many of those have become financially independent after the series of activities they conducted is another story.

So yes, I am now encouraging the younger generation whose outlook are into inclusive development to take part in local governance. There are so many levels and points of engagements. The point is get into the system. Participate in governance processes such as public consultations or get involved in community projects. Run for office if you must or partner your organizations with local projects. Air out your concerns in social media. Make a noise. You cannot change the game if you are not in it, so get in by all means. And when you are inside, just never lose sight of why you got in in the first place. Otherwise, you will just be another statistics of those good leaders who wasted their power.

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