‘Barefoot councilor’ stands out in Zambo

COUNCILOR Rodolfo Bayot at home with his constant companion, a chocolate labrador. JULIE ALIPALA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Councilor Rodolfo Bayot has started roaming the city, barefoot, to remove his campaign materials.

Given the moniker “barefoot councilor” for walking around and going to work with no shoes or slippers, Bayot wasted no time removing his campaign materials—mostly sacks and tarpaulins with his name.

People who have known Bayot since he was an elementary school teacher here said they were not surprised by his initiative.

Raul Fernandez, 68, a retired forester, said he knew Bayot to be a stickler for cleanliness when the councilor was a teacher at the Cacao Elementary School here.

“He walks around with his brooms and garbage bins, unmindful of others,” said Fernandez.

The habit did not disappear when Bayot became village chair of Tumaga. “Until now, I can see him beautifying our streets,” said Fernandez.

Cesar Jimenez, lawyer and Bayot’s colleague at the Liberal Party, said he was impressed by the number of votes the councilor got—72,684 out of a total of 133,392.

Bayot, said Jimenez, did not even knock on doors to campaign. “What he did was just roam the city, barefoot and with a shovel in hand,” said Jimenez.

Fernandez said Bayot’s unpretentious way of campaigning could have endeared him to voters.

“He is known as the undertaker,” said Fernandez. “He is always there to help grieving families give their dead a decent burial,” Fernandez added. Bayot, he said, did not think twice about spending his own money for his constituents.

Some residents claim to owe debts of gratitude to Bayot. Charito Vicente said it was Bayot who helped her bury her husband.

Vicente said her family barely earned enough cleaning tombs. “We cannot afford to bury my husband,” said Vicente. Bayot, she said, “was there.”

Vicente said Bayot’s physical appearance sometimes led people to think he was a beggar. But he was there to help the poor, she said.

Asked about the positive feedback, Bayot said he just wanted to help. “These are very poor people and I cannot say no,” he said. “My siblings asked where I spent my salary and the money they sent me. I would not answer them,” he added.

His siblings, Bayot said, did not know he was spending nearly all his money to help his constituents. Bayot said he kept it a secret to his siblings for fear they would get angry.

“I owe P1.7 million in debt to funeral parlors, hospitals and friends,” said Bayot.

Every day, he said, he attended three to five funerals that he helped finance.

There was little that changed in the way Bayot lives. He stays in the same house which, though improved with the help of money sent by his siblings, he had called home for years.

Bayot, who was left by his wife several years ago, lives with a labrador named Toncho.

“He cracks jokes to make everyone happy,” Trifonio Salazar, retired general and husband of reelected Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco Salazar, said of Bayot.

When Bayot was elected councilor six years ago, several other councilors questioned his poor grooming and opposition to a proposed dress code in the city council.

But Bayot refused to toe the line on dressing up.

“I may look poor and very dirty, but I have good manners,” said Bayot.

“I was educated by Jesuit priests and I can still remember the pocketbook that we were forced to memorize, which says ‘you did not come to a Jesuit school to receive education but to educate yourself’,” he would often say.

Bayot said one must not be judged by how he looks.

He would often lecture his fellow councilors about living beyond their means.

“I dress according to how much I have in my pocket,” said Bayot. “I don’t want to dress in expensive clothes using people’s money,” he said. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao