Among Ed

GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano

Like most Filipinos, I had first heard of Fr. Ed Panlilio when his candidacy for governor of Pampanga was announced. From then on, it was hard to avoid noticing him, his campaign, and his almost miraculous victory over rival candidates who were fully loaded with the necessary ingredients to win over a traditional campaign and electoral exercise. But early on, Fr. Ed's candidacy showed the classical look of a populist movement as he seemed to excite all sectors of Pampanga society.

Mutual friends connected with the Ateneo School of Governance who were helping Fr. Ed and also helping Gawad Kalinga kept me abreast of the dynamics of his campaign. Another unusual candidate, one of three in the senatorial race, also caught my attention, a Dr. Martin Bautista who returned to the Philippines despite a flourishing medical career in Oklahoma in order to offer his services to a motherland he never stopped loving. Martin Bautista seemed to me like many heroic Fil-Am doctors who were sacrificing personal time and resources to build their Gawad Kalinga villages for poor Filipino families here.

When Fr. Ed began his term as governor, he immediately exposed what smells like a scam and looks like a classic case of plunder. By simply doing his job and protecting the interests of his constituents, Fr. Ed saw to it that the province would collect quarry fees correctly and then submit the same in full to the provincial treasury. Collecting quarry fees is not a heroic act, it is a simple duty of officials who are elected to perform normal duties in accordance with their position. What is heroic and patriotic is to resist pocketing quarry fees and enriching oneself by depriving the constituents of one's province of their just benefits.

An honest act in a dishonest environment reverberates like a strong wind to push away foul smell, like a flood which cleanses an estero. Fr. Ed, in becoming Governor Ed, simply continued to live out his set of values, social, cultural and religious. He did not have to stop being honest and sincere and dedicated in the shift from active priesthood to active provincial governance. He is showing that an honest and sincere and dedicated Filipino citizen can remain so even in public service, proving that a man can stay clean even if others are not. Fr. Ed the governor serves as an example to other Filipinos who may be interested in public service but afraid of surrendering to corruption.

News reports said in several screaming headlines that the one month collection of quarry fees by Fr. Ed, also known as Among Ed to Kapampangans, exceeded the annual collection of quarry fees by at least two of his predecessors, a father and son tandem with a name once famous for chicharon but now also for missing quarry fees. As a result of these reports, the Internet had been flooded with derisive jokes about how arithmetic is mangled by dishonesty, how plunder is committed by a day-to-day commission of theft which runs to hundreds of million annually. By simply being honest, Fr. Ed exposed a can of worms which a national government claiming it wants to fight corruption appears reluctant to investigate.

Collecting quarry fees correctly and honestly is not the only simple act of dutiful public service by Among Ed. He also is trying to stop illegal gambling, the most famous of which is jueteng, a local numbers game. Stopping illegal gambling is an ordinary duty of public officials, like stopping illegal recruitment or anything illegal. But applying the law can suddenly be a heroic act in an environment that defies the law. Among Ed again becomes heroic with an ordinary act. He simply wants to be a dedicated public official who has not even gone out of his way to do something extraordinary. He just stays honest even when many other public officials are not.

If we can accept that collecting the right amount of quarry fees and trying to stop illegal gambling are good acts and part of a public official's executive duty, then those who are trying to make Among Ed's administration a difficult one look like they are the enemies of law and order. They may even be enemies of honest, transparent and dedicated service. They may even be traitors who sell public interest for some personal gain, or for some perverted personal value. It should be an interesting future in Pampanga. When honesty becomes the standard and not the exception in Pampanga society, those who betrayed the Kapampangans can be caught, exposed for their crimes, and made to pay for them.

But strange and dirty acts are committed everywhere, not just in Pampanga. Among Ed must have shocked when he went to Malacañang and was given a package as he left. When he opened the package, it contained P500,000. The simple, honest man that he is, he public asked where the money came from, what it was for, and how he was supposed to account for it. Again, it was not a heroic act, just a simple question from a public official who is called on by law to account for monies received. There was deafening silence for a long while before some funny explanation was finally given. Up to now, Among Ed does not know how to treat the P500,000 and give an accounting for it.

Ordinary acts become heroic when these acts are honest, sincere and dutiful in a public context of corruption. Among Ed is delivering a message to ordinary Filipinos - be heroes by simply being good people. It does not take much to be a hero in the Philippines, it does not require awesome feats and deeds of great courage. Just be a person of faith, believe in a God and take His side in the battle between right and wrong, be a citizen who loves country and fellowman and will not step on them just to earn extra but dirty money. Just make Juan de la Cruz a happy and simple honest man who does not sell his soul and his family's honor for thirty pieces of silver.

Filipinos have much to thank Among Ed for. In his simplicity, he has become heroic. He affirms that heroism is possible in the most ordinary way. All it needs is extraordinary love for God and country. Love is always extraordinary; just have it, just show it, just give it. And when evil comes and tries to take over our lives, just hold on to love and it will conquer all. ***