MANILA, Philippines—She has walked the talk—despite her disability.
For years, she spoke out as a radio broadcaster against the excesses of the political dynasty which ruled Isabela for four decades. In her turn to govern the province, Gov. Grace Padaca not only turned the cash-strapped government she inherited into one able to support the livelihood and health care of her people, she also empowered them to believe in democracy.
She has the power of the media to thank for this.
“I believe a great factor [in our success] is my opportunity to speak before our people through the media,” Padaca told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview, walking with crutches she has long considered a symbol of strength rather than as an excuse to expect help from others.
“The media itself is power,” she added.
Padaca worked as a hard-hitting radio broadcaster at the Bombo Radyo (dzNC) before she shot into national prominence after defeating Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. in the 2004 elections despite her lack of money and machinery.
She won a fresh term in 2007.
“The power of the media should be in the hands of those who will not use it for selfish interests. The same is true with the power of government. It should be in the hands of those who deserve it,” Padaca said.
Strong mind and heart
She suffered from polio when she was 3 years old, but where her legs failed, her mind and heart did not. She graduated at the top of her class from elementary to college. She found strength in knowing that no one was excused from doing something for society.
“When I was young, I expected there would be many able-bodied people to take care of people like me,” Padaca recalled.
Instead, she found out there were able-bodied people who only took care of themselves and there were people like her who could no longer keep quiet.
“When I was enlightened, I learned to take care of others,” Padaca said.
She used the influence media had given her in educating her listeners about everything that had gone wrong in the province. She believed the problems were just symptoms of a bigger issue—the political dynasty that had stunted the growth of the province.
“This is not what I had been taught democracy should be,” she said.
Empowering voters
What she and her people have learned in Isabela, she hopes to share with the entire country.
“For our victory in Isabela to be truly meaningful, it needs to be replicated in other parts of the country,” Padaca said during her speech accepting the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service last week.
She said this advice was timely especially with the approaching 2010 national elections, when the country will again choose its new president.
“Four years after we, Isabelinos, freed ourselves from an oppressive political structure, we are happy that the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation once more brings to focus what we dared do and succeeded in doing—make democracy work, especially in the matter of using wisely our right to elect our leaders,” Padaca also said in her acceptance speech.
In giving her the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize for government service this year, the RMAF cited her “empowering voters (in Isabela) to reclaim their democratic right to elect leaders of their own choosing and to contribute as full partners in their development.”
Greatness of spirit
Her rise to the top meant overcoming numerous challengers, but her success came with an even bigger burden.
“Amazing victories are actually very fragile and need to be protected,” she said. “Please don’t just be happy for us. Please continue to be supportive and encouraging.”
In 2001, Padaca ran for Congress but lost to Faustino Dy III. It was painful: She said she was robbed not only of the position, but of the chance to send her message to as many people as possible.
It was a chance she finally got during the awarding ceremony at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last week. Before her fellow awardees, who were recognized for their “greatness of spirit,” she gave one short message of hope and gratefulness: “All glory and honor is yours, almighty Father!”
