MISSING THE ACTION by: Kiko Ortelano

This column have shown total support to the administration of Governor Ed Panlilio.

Our loyalty is to the ADVOCACY and not to the person.

We have made it clear with the governor that our loyalty to him is basically based on our pursuit of common goals based on the advocacy of Good Governance and Responsble Citizenship.

That being stated, we would like to point out a few things in his administration which we did not agree with and what has tanspired to date.

1. The time during his first year as governor that he committed to defend the capitol's budget at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and backed-out at the last minute. We were still affiliated with Kapampangan Marangal, Inc. (KMI) at that time, and we went to KMI's headquarters to voice out our concern on this turn-around.

So what if it was going to be the first time a governor will be defending his capitol's budget at the SP? First times are not really bad.

A LEADER is firm. A LEADER is a proponent of change.

The governor has gone to the SP a few times as of this time to defend his budget requests at the SP.

2. The start of Among Ed's term as governor was phenominally similar to that of then President Corazon Aquino. There was so much euphoria. There was so much freedom to talk about anything, including things that happened during past administrations.

However, even the inner circle of the gov was afflicted by this. Some of them did not exercise much self control to reign in information that only they should know. We were learning and hearing things from some of them even before the gov made the announcements. There was also in-fighting and the creation of factions. The past year had mended most of these problems. There were the celebrated parting of ways, and then there were the more somber and professional goodbyes. We would have been more firm if it were us. But we are not the governor. To date, we still get comments that the gov should show more teeth in his administration., but the gov have been consistent.

A LEADER is COMPASSIONATE.

Even when some of the former members of the governor has "gone over to the other side", the gov has kept peace with their departure and always wished them well. Even when political foes, specially those that are being controlled by the powers at the Pasig river, have done everything to bring him down, the gov is keeping on.

3. There are also issues of incompetence and biases. We are also personally privy to this as we had been a "victim" to some of these problems. As we write this, this is still going on.

We have seen some actions from the gov to address this. However, government service will always be tainted. This is where, monitoring programs must be implemented. This is also where civil society palys a big role. We must be vigilant in our responsibilities of being watch dogs for our people. We must always work hard to help govrnment in delivering services to our people.

A Good LEADER is a Good Follower.

Civil Society Leaders must always set correct examples specially in following Good Leaders. Then we can also be GOOD LEADERS.

KASAUP is trying very hard to do these.

LUID KA!