Endorsement for a fee?

Churchill Aguilar

AS politicians formally filed their certificates of candidacy, I found myself in much hesitation to either endorse or criticize any candidate for that matter. It is a different case when politicians are already holding office because I just challenge them to perfect their craft in public service as I take notice of their successful and/or failed programs. Thus I get to praise and criticize them issue per issue, no holds barred.

As a writer, I know it is my duty to help form public opinion but such privilege comes with the responsibility that I should only provide facts instead of hearsay. Because every issue or personality I tackle may lead voters to choose the right, or worse, the wrong person in office.

As election nears, a handful of politicians both from the national and local level asked me to endorse them in exchange for hefty fees. Some even provided me with terms on how I can get paid on a monthly basis. They say it’s how they work with media, and they have even standardized their engagements already. I am not even saying they are bad, because some of them are really good people, those that I would give my votes to, it is just that for them it’s how the system works. While such was tempting, my conscience could not bear the thought that I will be like Judas selling my readers to the Romans for a few silver coins.

I have always and will only be endorsing people whom in my judgment are the best people to be in public office, and I may not always be right. At least that will be my share in nation building. I may be this and that, but I always have a mind of my own.

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Last weekend, I was invited by Atty. Roswald Pague, the chief administrator of the Bureau of Customs in Region 10 to give a talk on values and leadership to the employees and officials of his bureau. Some 120 participants from rank and file to executive officers attended that two-day team building held at Duka Bay Resort Medina.

Prior to my talk, I made a quick research on the performance of the bureau in our country, and I found out that they were next to BIR in the highest collections of revenue but unlike the BIR their job exposes more risks and decadence-something that triggered my excitement to accept the invitation with the hope of igniting change.

My talk took only a couple of hours yet the participants were very attentive and participative all throughout. Quite a lot were very insightful and indeed leadership was visible even among the small groups. All in all I would say that the engagement was a fruitful one but I left them with the challenge that the true test of whether they learned something was if they could bring those lessons in their workplace and if they could reach if not surpass their target they set for their bureau.

If I were to share the gist of my talk, it would be that every service we render to the public as we do our functions very much reflects the leadership we have within. And the quality of our leadership depends fully on the values we hold. The big question would be what values are we holding? Because if our values are clear then decisions are easy to make.

I wish the bureau luck as they go back to work and toil to make a difference in our country through the collections they make that are ultimately translated to social services such as health care, education, safety and security and poverty reduction.

It was a pleasure to journey with your team even just for a couple of hours. Sa uulitin!