Respect and Confidence in Bohol Leadership Apparent CHATTO SPEAKS BEFORE OMBUDSMEN IN REGION-WIDE CONVENTION Respect is earned they say and a lot of it has been earned through the years by the Boholano leader who has led Bohol through hard times and helped it emerge from a tragedy that almost toppled a people and leave everyone in despair. His brand of leadership made people realize that despair and defeat could not, and never could be, a part of a race aiming not only for timeless survival but also for everything which true humanity stands for: compassion, honesty and truth. Seeing the man for what he truly is, that is, someone with whom true public service could be synonymous with, the Office of the Ombudsman drew on Gov. Edgar M. Chatto of Bohol to speak during its 12th Visayas-wide Annual Convention held in Cebu City from August 11-13 this week. The three-day annual event brought together regional and local chief executives and resident ombudsmen in the Visayas region to tackle and discuss timely and vital issues pertinent to public service like honesty, integrity, accountability and efficiency in public service, and graft and corruption. Republic Act (RA 6770) or the Ombudsman Act of 1989 which created the Office of the Ombudsman remains a pivotal role in ensuring integrity and deterring corruption in the public sector. It is premised in the declaration of policy that the State shall maintain honesty and integrity in public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption. Public office is a public trust; therefore, public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, efficiency, act with patriotism and justice and lead modest lives. Hence, the Office (of the Ombudsman) believes that the Governor of Bohol is an authority when it comes to enhancing the participants knowledge involving matters on socio-political stability, economic growth and public trust. Therefore, Gov. Chatto was tasked to take on Channeling Power Towards Socio-Political Stability and Economic Growth, a topic which the Office of the Ombudsman feels the multi-faceted Boholano leader could expound on most proficiently, connecting and tying it up with the widely-acclaimed Bohol Experience, both before and after the October 15 earthquake. The Peoples Governor began by saying that all freedoms are enshrined in the freedoms of a person; and that the Constitution states that sovereignty resides in the people and all authority emanates from them. Democracies resolve social conflict through non-violent political solutions, he said; therefore, democratic regimes tend to be more politically resilient as opposed to authoritarian ones where stability is often short lived and violently managed. The Bohol Governor strongly believes in, and advocates for, shared leadership because democracy is measured by citizenship participation, electoral competition and civil liberties. But while it is true, he clarified, that economic development often precipitates democracy, still, democracy does not automatically lead to economic development. This is why, Chatto explained, that socio-political stability is needed for economic growth and vice versa for it has been observed over the years that nations that have been able to create political stability have been able to grow much faster. It has also been established that socio-political stability and economic growth are further linked through democracys emphasis on the provision of literacy, education, and communication through human capital development; and this is why the government exercises the Principles of Local Autonomy through Decentralization of Power by abdicating its political power in favor of local government units (LGUs). The Chatto-Lim Administration believes that good governance is related to effective public government institutions and that the delivery of public services must be prompt and adequate to the citizens needs. At the local level, this involves the development of partnerships between top-down government initiatives and bottom-up local institutions and policies. In Bohol, the great success of the Countryside Development Program-Purok Power Movement (CDP-PPM) has pertinently proven this concept, has effectively and promptly delivered the needs of the people down to the grass roots level and now, is widely-accepted and recognized by the national government, its partners, the private sector, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders. Through proper implementation and guidance, Boholanos have unconsciously, within and among themselves, developed a norm of shared vision, values, principles and a kind of leadership where puroks and communities as a whole, are very much included and taken into account when deciding over significant and crucial issues even within the family. This way, transparency, accountability and public participation are equally and consequently promoted where everyone watches over everyone elses back and creating a bond of brotherhood quite impossible to break; thereby creating a people who are a power unto themselves, enjoying a stable socio-political environment and a sustainable economic growth. These very qualities, everyone says, have been the fighting forces that drove Boholanos to utmost resilience that made them ward off adversities and come out victorious as a people. Considering all these, Gov. Chatto is quite confident that come the ASEAN Integration in 2015, Boholanos would not come shy as regards to our peoples capacity and capability to compete and merge with our ASEAN neighbors. (jlv/EDCom)
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:54:16 +0000
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