Tom Killip and why he is running for congress

Tom Killip was explaining to a group how he came to enter the congressional elections. The following is an excerpt. The full text can be found here.

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.

-THOMAS "CHAMPAG" KILLIP