Planters association, coops back Robredo for president

MEMBERS of the Vicmico Planters' Association, Vicmico Planters' Multi-Purpose Cooperative, and VMC Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Negros Occidental have endorsed Vice President Leni Robredo for president in 2022.

On Thursday, October 7, 2021, Robredo filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for president in the 2022 elections as an independent candidate.

The groups, in a statement, said Robredo has been called a servant leader.

In fact, a book has been written about her titled “Servant Leader: Leni Robredo” by Professor Ed Garcia and was published by Anselmo Press, they said.

Portion of the book's introduction stated that "when the history of the Philippines is finally written, long after we had awakened from this nightmare when a pandemic crippled the economy, shut down factories and offices, closed schools and sports venues, and changed life overnight, there will probably be a footnote that would say: 'Sayang. If only we had more servant leaders who responded to the situation then, that would have made a huge difference.'"

This statement was excerpted by Danton Remoto, the editor of the book, in an opinion piece published in a national paper in November 2020.

For the association and cooperatives, the concept of servant leadership is best explained in an inverted pyramid with will, love, service, authority and leadership as components.

"Servant leadership begins with a person's will to serve. No one forced Leni to serve the people as vice president and no one will force her to serve when she becomes president," the groups said.

"When Leni serves, she wills to serve. Her rise in national leadership is not beholden to anyone or any ideology other than to serve the Filipino," they said.

They added that willingness to serve is one thing, but without love, even that cannot be sustained.

Robredo, they said, started serving the marginalized sector a long time ago. She called them “mga taong na sa laylayan” because Leni has been to the “laylayan” and there has stared poverty in the eye.

"That takes love, yung pagmamahal na ipinaglalaban ang minamahal," they added.

The statement further stated that service is the result of love.

"Leni's programs reveal her conviction that there is no better way to show love, to prove love, and to have that love felt, than to serve. And Leni has served, even with little or no budget, the Office of the Vice President continued programs that alleviated the plight of the marginalized," it said.

It said that "because Leni has served the people, the people now give her authority to lead them – all of them."

"By submitting her COC as an independent [candidate], Leni has unapologetically broken from the mold to say that she will be the president of all. We have seen the pointlessness of division. We now long for the abundant harvest of unity," it added.

The groups also said that all these -- her will, love, service and authority -- bring Robredo to the top of the pyramid, the moral high ground of leadership.

This is not for Robredo to bask in the glory of her work but for her to gain a vantage point from where she will see how much more work she needs to do and how much farther she needs to reach out, they said.

"Servant leadership is not easy. It is very hard. But it can be sustained if one decides that this is how life must be lived. For service. For others," it added.

The Vicmico Planters Association, moreover, is composed of about 11,500 members mostly agrarian reform beneficiaries plus their family dependents.