I STILL get amused each time I look at the photograph of me in a pink shirt and pink face mask that was taken by my youngest son, Jose, a few weeks back. In that photo, he made me wear a clip-on earring, para choy tan-awon, Tay, he told me. So I obliged.
I posted the photo on Facebook and even made it my profile picture. I am quite proud of wearing that color because for me it was, and still is, an expression of sincerity and integrity. Of course, we all know that for the 2022 presidential elections, pink is the color with which presidential aspirant Busy Leni Robredo is identified.
During my professional journey in life since my first serious employment as secretary to the head of engineering of the electric distribution company of this part of Mindanao, I learned to coin a one-liner that has since then become one of my guiding stars in my pursuit of things.
Make the job, don’t be made by the job. Yes, this phrase speaks well of how I made the decision to choose pink over the other political colors.
I have seen how national leaders have been made by their positions. There are those who are made by the name of their ancestors. And there are those who were made by their reputation of being tough but sadly not by the real norms of local governance nor of justice. But don’t get me wrong, there are those who also make the job.
A person who makes the job rather than being made by the job is one who will truly deliver the best results and outcomes that are expected of the office which she seeks to assume. And her reputation as a sincere and effective worker with integrity is fast spreading like wildfire that consumes communities by a storm.
The current office of The Busy has been receiving minimal budgetary allocations compared to what other offices have received, though inept they may be. The perceived and probably the real reason for that could be to make The Busy fail and ineffective. But fail she did not and effective she still is.
The Busy deserves to be chosen because of what she is and what she has done. She is not a product of fake credentials, not the making of fake news. She is what we see and what we as a nation deserve to have ― a conciliatory leader, among other traits.
I won’t begrudge those who do not agree with me because each one of us has our own freedom of choice. Others may choose to be led by other means that could include deceit or violence or false pretenses or drummed up a reputation but I could only hope this country will be brought back to the glory that the Filipinos deserve.
For me, the choice is The Busy Leni.
