Senior is mayor for one week

DAYANDANTE as mayor: First-time jitters as public speaker. PHOTO COURTESY OF OSCA

She may look like your ordinary grandmother, but this 67-year-old managed to do something not very many people her age can do: Become city mayor for one week.

“I felt like I had a huge responsibility on my shoulders. It was too much for me,” Mayana Dayandante said as she recalled her stint as Caloocan’s chief executive during the commemoration of Elderly Filipino Week earlier this month.

A resident of Barangay 74, Dayandante and several other senior citizens of the city were among those selected to “assume” posts as  local government officials for one week.

The annual celebration, marked every year since 1996 through a proclamation issued by then President Fidel Ramos,  aims to highlight the crucial role of people 60 years old and more in nation-building..

For this year, the theme was “Nakatatanda: Gabay, Tulay, Kaagapay at Bantay Tungo sa Kaunlaran.”

“The celebration is meant for senior citizens so they can feel that they are still special people. It aims to dispel the common notion that only the youth have a role in nation-building,” Lourdes Depanes, the local Office of the Senior Citizens’ Affairs (Osca) head, told the Inquirer.

While the city has been celebrating the event annually since its official declaration, Depanes said that it was only in 2006 when Caloocan began fielding selected people to key positions in government.

This was after the city council passed Ordinance 0402 Series of 2006 under Mayor Enrico Echiverri.

“It was the mayor who thought of the concept. He wanted the senior citizens to have first-hand experiences in government,” Depanes said.

Of the 54 candidates endorsed by senior citizens’ organizations at the barangay level,  40 were selected to fill in the shoes of department heads and other high-ranking officials, ranging from the councilors to the mayor.

Dayandante was chosen to take on the position of local chief executive based on the biodata she submitted.

“A basic criterion was that they all had to be morally upright citizens,” Depanes said.

Although the mother of three was excited upon learning the good news, she admitted she was overcome with fear later.

“I was thrilled to know that I got the position. I never really expected it. At the same, I didn’t know what to expect, so I was scared,” she said.

Once she got the hang of it, however, things began to run smoothly.

She recounted how she would report to the Mayor’s Office at 9 a.m., wearing her “Senior Mayor” sash and formal clothes, and how practically everyone at city hall, even the security guards, would warmly greet her as soon as they saw her.

“Every time I would pass by, people would always greet me, ‘Good morning, Mayor!’” she laughed out loud.

She would then proceed to make the rounds, and, with her “senior-citizen secretary,” observe how the  employees go about their daily tasks and see  how affairs were run at city hall.

Even her case of stage fright had to take a back seat after she was forced to talk in front of many people as soon as she “took over.”

But before she knew it, her “term” was over, and the grandmother was back tending to her two grandchildren.

So does she consider running for mayor in the future?

“At my age, I don’t think so!” she said.