By Niña Terol

I CONSIDER myself fortunate to be one of the radio anchors of Lider Totoo, the Saturday-morning program on Radyo Veritas that tackles servant leadership through the experience of real leaders working in different fields and different parts of the country. There are few things I enjoy better than listening to great minds sharing their experiences, challenges, and aspirations, and working on this program makes it worthwhile for me to wake up early on a Saturday morning and trek all the way to North Avenue. (And I live in Pasay, so you can get the picture.)

My first interview, held on 11 October, was with Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo who started public service at the age of 29 and introduced many innovations in government service, including running a website where Nagueños could log in to learn anything about their government and the services that they needed.

Through the website, the people of Naga could look into ordinances and executive orders, view public biddings and government transactions, and gain free access to information that they, the public, had the right to know.

In 2000, Mayor Robredo won the highly prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, where this citation was presented:

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By Harvey Keh

TUGUEGARAO City, Cagayan — “I am confident that the recall elections will not succeed because the people of Pampanga want good governance to continue and they will not allow the return of patronage and jueteng politics in our province.”

This was the answer of Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio when he was asked during the open forum by one of the participants here at St. Paul University, Tuguegarao City about the pending recall petition filed by the group KAMBILAN at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

Panlilio is in Tuguegarao City as part of Kaya Natin’s Caravan of Good Governance and to also join the birthday celebration of fellow Kaya Natin leader Governor Grace Padaca in Ilagan, Isabela.

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