Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
IT WAS WAS WITH BATED BREATH that we waited for Jesse Robredo of Naga City, one of the ablest mayors this country ever had, to finally be sworn in as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). His name had been one of the first to be mentioned for a cabinet post. And then everybody was sworn in except him.
Robredo was handed the DILG post last week and he accepted. What a relief.
Robredo, as many of us know, was the Ramon Magsaysay (RM) Awardee for Government Service in 2000. He was 42 years old then and had been mayor for three terms. I had the privilege of being assigned to write about him at that time.
Robredo shared ``the story of a small, faceless but inspired community which got better by continuously trying to better itself.’’ When he took over in 1988, Naga was ``in bad shape’’ economically, service delivery was bad and political patronage was the order of the day.
Mere words wouldn’t have worked for a cynical citizenry. But leadership in action proved irresistible and couldn’t be ignored. Still a little creative gimmickry went a long way to make people ``hit the ground running.’’ Symbols and slogans were among the secret ingredients.
Robredo, had to offer his constituents a dream they could visualize and aim for--a place where they could live happily. “Ang Maogmang Lugar” (the happy place) became a catch phrase to describe the Naga dream, along with slogans:``Kauswagan kan Naga, kung bako ngonian, nuarin pa?’’ (Progress for Naga, if not now when?) And the busy ant, that does not work alone but in community, became the mascot. These, Robredo called his ``communications strategy.’’
Robredo said ``participative visioning’’ was a key. This involved three essential elements: a core development perspective, a mechanism for updating the corporate vision/mission from time to time, and a strategy for communicating that vision. But before all these, he said, one had to do ``environmental scanning’’ in order to know what Naga and its people was all about.
Robredo, a mechanical and industrial engineering graduate of De La Salle University and who finished an MBA at the University of the Philippines, was a San Miguel executive in Manila until he heeded the call of former President Corazon Aquino for young people to help build People Power at the grassroots level. He packed his bags and headed for home. He was 32.
Robredo used corporate jargon to describe his strategies but, more than that, he was a hands-on leader in touch with non-government and people’s organizations in the grassroots.
Said France Clavecilla, a community organizing veteran who had worked in Naga: ``He delivered fast. Housing for the poor was among his priorities.’’
``Growth with equity’’ was at the core of Robredo’s administration’s philosophy. This meant that every constituent was a partner-beneficiary in the city’s development.
``Given the circumstances,’’ he said in 2000, ``almost no one believed us when we said that Naga would reclaim its reputation as the premier city of Bicol before the end of my first term in 1992, more so when we envisioned Naga establishing its niche as one of the best managed local governments in the country.’’
But first, Robredo said, there had to be confidence building. There had to confidence in the leadership, the bureaucracy and the citizenry as a whole. ``Leadership must be bold and inspiring, energizing, enabling and ennobling.” To show this concretely, Robredo described how he curbed illegal gambling, corruption, prostitution and drugs. ``Our message was: your government not only works, it always does things better.’’ He put in long work hours.
The city hall bureaucracy got the message: this guy meant business and they must do the same. ``Everyone was given the opportunity to prove his worth,’’ Robredo recalled, ``but it also became clear to everyone that a no-nonsense leadership was at the helm.’’ Soon the efforts paid off.
But the constituency had to be included. ``The leadership must not only be empowering, it must be inclusive,’’ Robredo stressed. ``It is precisely for this reason that very early on, we reached out to the city’s NGO-PO community instead of simply confining deliberation within a group of elected officials.’’
``The Empowerment Ordinance of Naga City’’ was a landmark and revolutionary legislation that forged a partnership between the city government and people of Naga. The Naga City People’s Council was the result of this ordinance which enabled people’s representatives to participate and vote in deliberations and even propose legislation.
Naga City had, by then, garnered a string of international and national awards, among them, the plum RM Award, which Robredo said, was rightfully deserved by the Naguenos. The only award, Naga had not won, Robredo said in jest, was the one from Clean and Green.
Robredo did not stop learning. After his term ended in 1998, he attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
After three terms or almost 10 years as mayor, Robredo left government service even though he could have run for another public post. It was important, he said, that he spent more time with his wife and children.
In no time, Robredo was back at the helm for nine more years. And the rest is Naga history.
Now he is in the shortlist of the World Mayor Prize.
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