I Tumbl, Therefore I Am.

ON APRIL 9, I was invited by Noy-Mar volunteer Espie Aparis to join and witness the motorcade and rally of Sen. Noynoy Aquino and party in Davao City.

Curious at how the Davao people would welcome them and curious at seeing and hearing a potential president up close, I joined.

The motorcade was impressive, with crowds throughout the whole route so massive that the motorcade crawled and took three hours to maneuver the 17-kilometer route.

At the reception at the Marco Polo attended by select Noy-Mar supporters after the motorcade, I heard Sen. Noynoy deliver a speech for the first time. I must confess that before that, I haven’t heard him give a speech or answer impromptu questions, not even on TV. So my preconceived idea of him at that point is what the opposition says: a man of integrity but not much in terms of intellect, track record and plan of action.

In his short speech (due to time constraints) , he mentioned four of his priorities: jobs creation, education, universal health and reforming the justice system. So far so good, in terms of delivery and substance. “But it’s easy to deliver prepared speeches,” I thought.

During the open forum that followed, I raised an issue for his comment. Presidential adviser Joey Salceda has been quoted in the papers as being baffled at the fact that despite nine years of continuous economic growth during the Arroyo administration, the percentage of the population considered as poor and hungry has continued to grow bigger. In the same vein, he says that 74% of the country’s poor are in the rural areas. (Interpolating, it is apparent to me that most of Arroyo’s projects benefited urbanized areas, not the poor barrio folks—IDT).

I then said that logical thinking would dictate that if we want to make real progress in alleviating poverty nationwide, we have to have a massive rural development program, to uplift the rural poor. But, I said that the four major programs he mentioned in his speech seemed to me as urban-centric. So where does rural development come into play in his scheme of things?

His impromptu reply was what impressed me most and gave me a new picture of what the real Noynoy is, or what has become of late. He says that the four he mentioned are just some of his major programs but he has a much wider 16-point agenda that includes addressing rural development.

He went on to give a short but incisive discourse of what ails the rural sector and what he plans to do to address them. He even discussed about irrigation development (which has been largely undercapitalized by the government in the last 10-15 years — IDT) and which has a huge potential of alleviating the plight of the multitude of rural farmers and, at the same time, giving food security to all Filipinos.

He obviously has done his homework. No great battle was ever won without a well-thought out plan; notwithstanding the fact that no plan is ever implemented perfectly. And he surely showed high intellect and sharpness in the process.

In a previous column here, I wrote, “In our less than perfect world, honesty and integrity should be the most important consideration in the selection. For running the government efficiently can also be achieved by hiring the right professionals and delegating the job to them. But you can’t delegate honesty and integrity.”

After that encounter with Sen. Noynoy, I just thought that the country finally has the chance to have a leader with integrity, honesty and competence to run the government, all in one person.

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The writer, Engr. Ismael Tabije (AIM-MBM), is an international consultant of the UN, WB, EU and JICA. His expertise areas are in rural development, civil engineering and irrigation. Email feedback to: idtabije@gmail.com. Visit his website: Woodridge Management Articles.