AS THE pressure builds up for our local leaders to ensure the safety of their constituents in this Covid-19 war, I saw three kinds of leaders: a carrot, an egg and a coffee bean.
1. A carrot leader -- a carrot is hard, but when placed in a boiling water, it slowly softens. Carrot leaders are those leaders who at the start of this war were so full of energy, very well directed, principled, they say the best words in public. Yet at the height of this pandemic they softened. Now some of them are nowhere to be found. When placed under a lot of pressure, they snapped, became soft and weak. They got consumed by fear and they ran. To cite, some of our senators and congressmen are nowhere to be found and have not been heard of by their constituents recently. I'm sure there are also local officials who went missing. Where are you people? Why did you suddenly abandon us?
2. An egg leader -- an egg is very fragile. These are leaders who look so sweet and charming at the start, but when placed under a boiling water, like eggs they hardened. They became tyrants.
"No one breaks the law! No excuses! Ipakulong lahat ng violators!" This becomes the tune in administration. You see, in all situations there are always exempting, justifying, and mitigating circumstances the the law recognizes. One size does not fit all. The egg leader is insensitive to individual context. I am sure they are easy to spot in your LGUs. Kamay bakal na mali naman pagka apply.
3. A coffee bean leader -- a coffee bean is neither very hard nor very soft but when placed under fire, it would surely emit its aroma. It becomes very infectious. The coffee bean leader would be that person who handles pressure well. When placed on a difficult situation, this person emits his/her aroma and the best of him/her comes out. Such is the leader we need now, the kind that says "What's the latest situation? Let's design intervention and contingency plans. If they don't work, let's go back to the drawing board and plan again. What is urgent and important? Let us do that first."
Coffee bean leaders shine bright in times of crisis. They don't always have the perfect solution but they have the aura that we can depend on them and that they will be there for us no matter what. Yung tipong "di rin ako sure nito pero sabay tayong mananalo o matatalo."
You see, we are in a war. The world is. And from the looks of it, no one really knows if we will win this. We are fighting the enemy blind, but the most important thing now is we keep on fighting, and leadership plays a very big role in our winning.