By Ivygail Ong

Program Assistant, Synergeia Foundation

September 23, 2009

 

Watching Balanga Mayor Joet Garcia shake hands with his constituents, engage in conversations with them, and pose for photos is like enjoying a breath of fresh air.

 

When we arrived on August 13, 2009 in Balanga for its first Education Summit with parents, teachers, the DepEd Superintendent, Education Supervisors, District Supervisors, the City Council, and the governor of Bataan, I watched closely as the young mayor endeared his constituents with his attentiveness—a welcome change from politicians who are always in a rush from one handshake to the other. Truly, this mayor seemed to believe that making time for each Balangueño is of utmost importance.

 

More importantly, his vision for Balanga, Bataan speaks of his commitment to true service. Balanga will be a World Class University Town by 2020 by being “a community known for offering high quality education with complete educational facilities and amenities, supportive and conducive to learning and provides enhanced academic experience,” he enthused in his welcoming speech.

 

Balanga is the latest addition to the growing Synergeia family. There are two districts in Balanga with nine public elementary schools in each district. Given the sizeable number of parents in each district, both districts had to be split into two batches, resulting in two morning sessions and two afternoon sessions with around 600 participants in each session.

In the journey to Balanga, I found that the two main ingredients in the practice of good governance are simple but challenging: enabling each constituent to be heard and being open to all possible types of feedback.

 

"Kung papansinin niyo ang ginawa ng Synergeia ngayon, halos lahat ng napag-usapan natin ay nanggaling mula sa INYONG LAHAT. Hindi na bago yung mga narinig natin. Kung tutuusin, alam na natin itong mga hinaing na ito. Ngunit, nagawa nating mailabas mula sa isa't isa ang ating mga pangarap para sa ating mga anak at estudyante, at ang mga sagabal sa kanilang pagtagumpay," said City Consultant on Education Dr. Hilario Garcia.

So what's the importance of this statement?

At Synergeia, we highly value listening and ownership of ideas in any of the events we conduct. Parents and teachers write their ideas on index cards that are pasted on manila papers. This gives each participant a chance to be heard. The facilitators (Dapor, Mel, Ms. Annie, and myself) summarized the common answers and reported them at the final session.

In the Balanga Education Summit, Synergeia president and chief executive officer Milwida Guevara posed the following questions:

a) What are your dreams for your children/students?
b) Apart from poverty, what are the hindrances to the success of your children/students in education?
c) Who and what thing or program help your children/students the most when it comes to learning?
d) As a parent/teacher, what will you pledge to do right now for the success of your child/student?

Interestingly, the common answers for these questions were:

a) Makatapos ng pag-aaral, makaabot siya hanggang kolehiyo, matuto siya magbasa at magsulat, matuto ng magandang asal, makatapos nang may honors, makahanap ng magandang trabaho, magkaron ng relasyon sa Diyos.
b) Computer games, television, barkada, hindi magandang kapaligiran, bisyo, malayo ang paaralan, nakikipag-away sa ibang estudyante, baha, kakulangan sa silid aralan, problema sa pamilya, hindi napapansin ng mga guro, kalusugan, walang baon, katamaran, school facilities
c) Guro, magulang, mayor, instructional materials at games na maaaring mas maganda kesa sa computer games na nilalaro ng mga bata, aklat, scholarship
d) Maging magandang ehemplo sa Catechism, pag-aaral at pagsisikap; magbabayad ng buwis; lagyan ng oras ang paggamit ng TV, computer, paglalaro, at iba pang uri ng libangang media

Dr. Garcia and members of the City's DepEd said making the participants write their comments/perceptions, consolidating their inputs and reporting what they wrote is a new approach to them. It enabled them to know the situation and the perception of the people. DepEd was so fascinated with this type of workshop process that they promised to implement the same in their future events.

Not one of the government officials reacted violently. The mayor and the DepEd Superintendent intently listened to all the comments. In other areas, we have witnessed some Superintendents or DepEd officers who would grab the microphone once they hear a not-so-nice comment about lack of books or any problem related to education.

But LGU officials and the DepEd representatives in Bataan valued the inputs given and listened with open minds and hearts. The parents and teachers themselves were very truthful and actively participated all throughout the event. I witnessed how they felt that sense of importance since their leaders took the time to hear them out and respect what they had to say.

The magic of co-ownership and co-creation begins

So what are the lessons learned and what does this say about good governance 101?

* People value being heard.
* Having an open mind means accepting both positive and negative observations.
* When public servants and the people own the ideas, the battle is half-won.
* There are no boundaries when people come together, forget their "positions" and unite in the development of their hometown.