Politics come and go but the "ili" stays

From Tom Killip:

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Before everything let me greet all of you a Happy Prosperous New Year! I wish to deeply thank all of you for committing your support for my political campaign. I know that this campaign will be difficult- an uphill fight so to speak but at the same time it is worth the challenge for all of us because what is at stake in here is not Champag but the cause that he represents which I would like to spell out in a separate paper. In fact I do not consider myself to be the best representative for this cause because I am aware of my limitations and the great task and responsibility that all these entail. There could have been far better candidates than myself who should be running but they have their reasons for not running at this time so I have to take up the cudgels in this coming political exercise.

To begin with I do not consider myself as an outstanding politician. Far from it I am just an ordinary person like many of our constituents in the province. On the other hand I have some track record and experiences to offer in my almost 18 years as an elected public servant in our small municipality of Sagada, Mt. Prov. which I believe should be one of the main reasons why I accepted the challenge to run in this coming elections. I believe that the capacity to do something good, to create or conceptualize something noble and useful specially for the majority of the people is a God-given trait that has no bounds. Rich and poor, literate or illiterate, young or old, male or female- they have this infinite capacity and potential to create and pursue noble visions for their communities.

After serving for three terms as vice-mayor starting after the EDSA Revolution of 1986 and another three terms as mayor of my small town until 2010 I swore to myself that that was enough politics for me. I can already feel the stress in my bones and in my mind. But immediately after my last term as mayor of Sagada, then Cabinet Secretary Teresita Ging Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) employed my services as a consultant for the peace processes in the Cordillera Administrative Region because of my experience in helping to initiate the peace initiatives in Sagada and in the province. Shortly thereafter Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Afable III endorsed me to become the presidential assistant for CAR which is the equivalent of an assistant secretary.

Although I was intimidated by the position and the stature that it carries I was nevertheless honored that such a position was conferred to me in a silver platter. I accepted the position with a trembling heart just as a small fish from a small pond is suddenly thrown into the vast uncharted seas.

As a background, my political career began when I was chosen and appointed by the Cory administration as OIC vice-mayor of Sagada immediately after the EDSA Revolution of 1986. In fact many sectors thought that I should be appointed as mayor because previously and for many years I had been consistently involved in the fight against the conjugal-dictatorsh ip of President Marcos and Imelda which was one basic rule for selecting OIC's at all levels of that transition government. But because some members of our elder sectors of the town like the late Ex-mayor Bartolome Daoas were interested to become mayor I did not assert that basis of choice for OIC's at that time. Being aware of the values of the "ili" I gave my respects to an elder like Bartolime Daoas and accepted the post of OIC vice-mayor instead. Thus began my political career which spans a period of 18 years from 1986 to 2005.

In 1987 when national and local elections resumed I was elected vice-mayor which for me was a vote of confidence and a community mandate. I would like to consider that part of my significant achievements even before my elected term as vice-mayor is my advocacy for a peaceful, non-violent and democratic elections in my small town which I thought was our small contribution to enriching our democracy which was lost under a previous regime. Locally we have experienced in Sagada a political conflict that spanned two generations among families involved. For such a small community, elections was a divisive exercise and social relations break up each election time. Can you imagine what elections can generate each time it takes place every three years. In probably 4 elections we can see neighbors, relatives, friends, and kakailians go after each others' necks. Thus we conceived of a campaign practice and style where candidates not only campaigned for themselves but for a peaceful and non-violent elections where all candidates should be involved and all candidates are held accountable for the conduct of their leaders. God knows that elections in Sagada ever since I became vice-mayor and then mayor for a total of 18 years had been very peaceful, democratic, and fair for all parties in different political camps. I wish that this legacy could be maintained for as long as the community exists because as the elders point out, "Politics come and go but the 'ili' stays"!

I am not going to list down my achievements and accomplishments in this posting because I meant this more as an introduction to my candidacy. Just the same, I will still have to write about what I may regard as my major accomplishments or achievements in another posting as well as my political platforms and programs. But I would like to further explain how I entered this present political contest when sometime in the past I thought I would leave politics forever. In 2009 a steady stream of requests via text and by personal contacts and visits to my office have been growing asking me to seriously consider running for congress in the coming 2010 elections. My ready answer was a firm NO because I was not prepared in a million ways to run for that position. In April 2009 during the town fiesta of Natonin where I was the official guest a group of folks approached me to ask the same question. As usual I told them I don't have the means to run. I don't have money. "Dakami ngamin nga tatta-o ti kuwartam"! was their remark. These are lowly but well-meaning folks. That night I couldn't sleep. My mind started to debate by itself. On one hand I can hear very sound and practical advices from relatives and some friends, "Ay waday siping mo is itaray mo"? (Do you have money to run?) As I reflected deeper into the subject I began to question myself. There is something basically wrong here. Why should we begin by asking if one has the money to run or not! The first and correct question should be, "Ay kayam nan trabahon di congressman? (Are you able to perform the work of a congressman? ) Because if we begin by asking, "Do you have money to run for politics"? this will lead to a flawed logic and dire consequences. It will always lead us to think, then to accept, and later to believe that only the moneyed people can run for politics. Then this will further lead us to a higher level of vicious cycle where we allow politicians to use money and later in their term of office collect their "return on investment" because what politician in his right mind would want to throw away his money during elections and not recover them afterward. The bigger money he spends the bigger the payback he demands. This leads to an endless cycle of graft and corruption. Thus the next day I told myself that I would run.

When I filed my certificate of candidacy in Bontoc on November 29, I was alone by myself. It was a Sunday and there was one registrar who registered my certificate of candidacy. As he looked into my papers he looked surprised and said, "Apay sika gayam ti Thomas Killip? Ayan ngay ti escorts mo'? I asked why the need for escorts and he recalled that the day before, two candidates filed, one candidate had fifty cars accompanying him and the other had supporters march from the streets to the Comelec office. I told him, "Apay inassiw da diay certificate of candidacy da ta baka piman nadagsen ket masapol ti addu nga mangbaggat"? He laughed and agreed that these practices should go. The truth is that friends were going to organize groups that would accompany my filing of candidacy but I discouraged the move as a practice that does not contribute to a good and healthy electoral exercise. Thus I filed as an independent candidate so that I will be accountable primarily to the people of Mountain Province and not to any political party.

Of the four candidates vying for the congressional seat of Mt. Prov. the others like Gov. Max Dalog, Ex-Mayor Jupiter Dominguez, and even Mayor Franklin Odsey had already ran at the provincial level thus their names and persons have been projected far and wide in different corners of the province. My drawback is that I am running at the provincial level for the first time and therefore I have to project myself more. But I can observe very positive and encouraging signs each time I visit a place and speak to different people. Allow me to elaborate this point in this manner. During the last elections, Governor Chavit Singson of Ilocos Sur run for senator under the administration slate which was dubbed as "Team Unity". Being super-rich he travelled far and wide in the country to campaign and his posters appeared in all corners of the country from up-north Batanes to down south in Sulu. But he lost. The post election analysis of why he lost was plain and simple. "The more you know him, the more you will not vote for him". I can very well say that the reverse is true in my case despite my shortcomings- that the more I sit down and talk with people and the more they come to know me, the more they commit not only their votes but their support.

To my friends and supporters, I have accepted this challenge and my heart trembles to even imagine what all these means for us. I am not only thinking about us and myself. I am thinking about the whole sense of my running. Is this worth all our efforts, our time, and the resources involved because I am running not from my pockets but from the support of friends and supporters. Still I draw courage from the voices that speak from the depths of our traditional values and senses, that there is a kind of politics and governance that is rooted in the ways of our elders when they always emphasize to us the interest of the community and the "sapasap". How often have our political leaders lose sight of these principles once they are elected into an office of public trust? It is sad that even in our province, the highest positions in government have become private mining concessions. Nothing can stop this problem except the people themselves, you and us.

I would say that this is my initial introduction. Since this is a forum, I will still have the opportunity to interact with all of you. I must end here by expressing once again my heartfelt gratitude for your show of support!

Very sincerely yours,

THOMAS "CHAMPAG" KILLIP