In the coming days, more and more people will go hungry as lockdowns in varying degrees spread throughout the country. The challenge to feed the poorest of the poor, while ensuring that radical measures are taken to “flatten the curve” will be immense.
How we survive the CoViD-19 crisis largely depends on our humility to tap into the collective wisdom of experienced leaders and innovators around the country and the world. For Dumaguete, here are my wishes:
1. The Mayor and his team should radically change the way they communicate with the people. Right now, they are not maximizing social media to keep the people calm. Other Mayors are telling their people when relief goods will be distributed, and why the poorest of the poor are being prioritized. Their pages on Facebook are updated all day with inspiring stories of how the community is rallying behind their leader to fight against the paralyzing effects of Covid19. This administration’s Lupad Dumaguete website is largely in English, often badly-written, with very little useful information for the masang Pilipino.
2. Our Mayor should publicly reach out to the private sector. No local government unit can handle the challenges of CoViD-19 on its own. Now is the time for a leader to organize the limited resources of the government, and tap into the immense resources of the private sector. In other cities, private citizens donate straight to their mayors because they trust him/her. In Iloilo, some young children opened their piggy banks to donate to the efforts of the city government. Inspiring! There is unending supply of food, milk, and even beds and sheets for quarantine facilities. In Dumaguete, we have not reached the ideal point for visible, powerful, and dynamic collaboration between the government and private sector.
3. The Mayor and his team should constantly check what leading LGUs are doing. In the words of Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian, pwede ang kopyahan dito. When Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine, my sister and I decided to put up a website to track what LGUs are doing to respond to the crisis: https://sites.google.com/view/covid19ph/lgus-vs-covid-19 To date, so many LGUs have reached out to thank us because they are now copying what leading LGUs are doing. Every day, we scan the web for more examples, and post these on our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/covid19phresponse/
I truly believe that the Bayanihan spirit will carry us through despite our limited resources, and I pray for our local leaders to have the humility to support and harness the power of this virtue.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
