Listen Guv Spines

By Al S. Mendoza

“Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell…”  The Beatles

 

GUV Spines, as our Publisher-Editor loves to call Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr., has promised to be a “listening governor” of Pangasinan.

I like that.

You listen to those you govern, you will never go wrong.

You shelter yourself with a coterie of alalays, you will never go places.

But it’s easy to listen.  What’s hard is heeding what’s said to you.

Listening is one thing, heeding is another.

Guv Spines must listen, and then heed those that are “heedable.”  That’s the trick to good governance.

Listening is listening to everybody, not just to those you routinely ask to enter your office.

Choosing those you want to listen to is an indirect way of wanting to hear only the good things said to you.

Everybody ought to be heard.  Everybody has an idea.  Even a fool has something good to say.  Even a fool is equipped with a bright idea. 

For all we know, the fool on the hill thinks we are the fools and not he.

Sometimes, it’s better to listen to total strangers than to those you know. 

Because they have nothing to lose, strangers tell it like it is.

Because your acquaintances have everything to gain, they oftentimes tell tales-if not downright lies.

That was what happened to Marcos.

He began his reign splendidly-until he started listening only to those he wanted to listen to.

Erap aped Marcos and look what happened to Erap; he is the world’s only ex-president now in captivity on charges of plunder.

As one member of Erap’s Cabinet would disclose it after Erap’s downfall, “At Malacañang, I was the only sober guy at 2 in the morning, while Erap and his barkada drank to their heart’s content.”

In short, Marcos and Erap both fell from their perch of power because they started listening only   to those they wanted to listen to.

And while at it, I urge Guv Spines to put up “Listening Centers” in the entire breadth of Pangasinan. 

He can go visit these centers on scheduled trips.  He must be true to his word at all times, or else he’d just be an addition to the long list of “promising politicians” the country has been producing each election year.

I had suggested here a while back that for Guv Spines to simplify, if not centralize, his administration, he should establish monitoring teams for each of the six districts of Pangasinan.  He can call them “Pulse Centers” or, as I’ve said, “Listening Centers.”

Listen and you’ll be rewarded. Ignore the words of the people and you ignore the very   people you have sworn to serve.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/)

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