Governance Is About Giving Life

In the whole hot mess surrounding the killing of Kian Delos Santos and the smuggling of billions of pesos worth of shabu at the Bureau of Customs, it comforts me to know that our country still has leaders who spent their lives demonstrating that good governance is about giving life.

One of those leaders is my former boss, Senator Dick Gordon.

I'll save the detailed recounting of his success stories of how he gave life to so many things (Olongapo, Subic, Wow Philippines, automated elections, the Philippine Red Cross, and others) for a future post.

I wasn't there when he was said to have turned Olongapo from being a no man's land into a model city. I wasn't there either when he led his town mates to protect and transform the massive Subic Bay military complex into SBMA, but I was there many times to experience it at its peak.

I was with Gordon when he launched Wow Philippines and revived Intramuros with the Best of the Regions. I was also with him when we started piloting models for what would become the country's automated election system which revived our country's faith in the electoral process. 

All through those times I was with him, what he said and what he did taught me about what good governance is about.

It's believing the best in people, drawing it out and putting it to good use. It is showing people that they can lift themselves out of dire circumstances and make a future for themselves. 

Hopefully, in the next few weeks and months I'll be able to write more about Senator Gordon as I follow him up close.