Gov. Dennis "Delta" Pineda: Man of the Year

 

“’PAYBACK TIME’…I don’t know this guy. I don't know what his politics are. But this is the kind of thing that people – Batangueños, Caviteños, helpless-feeling Filipinos everywhere – need to hear at this time. That someone cares, that someone who can marshal resources is doing something. A message that imparts not just what he's doing but also the solidarity that's driving him.”

Thus, Pampanga Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda in a social media influencer’s articulation of the expressions of awe and gratitude posted by hundreds, aye, thousands in the web for his initiative in mobilizing a 50-vehicle convoy of relief and rescue within a day of the Taal Volcano eruptions at the start of 2020.

Pineda’s motivation for prompt action drawn deep from Pampanga’s own volcanic ordeal: “Payback time po ito. Ito po ay ating pasasalamat dahil noon pong pumutok ang Bulkang Pinatubo, marami po ang tumulong sa atin para iligtas tayo at muling makabangon.”

Straight from Pampanga, the governor and his team of doctors, nurses, medics, search and rescue personnel and social workers set up a field command post at the Batangas Sports Complex in Barangay Bolbok and went about the task they came for.

 

Modern Day Hero. Gov. Dennis Pineda of Pampanga. Isang araw matapos pumutok ang bulkan, si Gov ay nagpunta sa Batangas dala ang kanyang rescue team, fleet of trucks and heavy equipment plus tons of relief goods

Ang grupo nila ay nagtayo ng mga tent sa sports complex kung saan siya ay tumitigil. Tuwing umaga umaalis sila dala ang mga relief goods na truck-truck, ini-isa isa nila ang mga evacuation center habang ang mga heavy equipment naman na dala nila ay naglilinis sa mga bayang apektado ng ashfall. Hapon na sila bumabalik, magpapahinga, tutulog sa mga tent, at kinabukasan ganoon na naman.

Salute to Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda. -- Genaro Cabral, former provincial attorney of Batangas/former municipal administrator of Lemery, Jan. 18, 2020

 In the five days that Pineda personally directed rescue and relief operations, 27,792 families were served with a total of P8,697,636 in assistance extended to the victims, including five kilos of rice, cans of corned beef and sardines, a tray of eggs as well as rubber slippers and sets of underwear for each family. The Pampanga medical team treated a total of 2,099 patients in different evacuation centers, dispensing 56,750 medicines for various kinds of ailment.

It was not the end of the governor’s relief mission, as in four days after leaving, he returned to Batangas with more than 200 volunteers bringing 9,509 food packs, 17,843 packs of dry goods, 9,086 water containers, and 23,000 face masks to areas ravaged by the continuing volcanic activity.

"Gaya ng aking ipinangako, narito ulit kami upang maghatid pa ng karagdagang tulong sa ating mga kababayan na lubhang naapektuhan ng pagputok ng bulkan," Pineda said.

The inrush of relief and aid initiated by the governor stirred local government units and the private sector in Pampanga to give their share of assistance, many of the executives personally delivering them, notably Mabalacat City Mayor Cris Garbo with P1.7 million in relief goods and P1 million in cash; Mexico Mayor Teddy Tumang with P1 million in cash; the League of Municipalities of Pampanga with P1.7 million for rehabilitation of schools; the Bridges of Benevolent Initiatives Foundation and the World Medical Relief Inc. Phil., at the initiative of Dr. Irineo “Bong” Alvaro with an initial P500,000; the Federation of Small Scale Quarry Operators with over P300,000; and Pampanga ICT mogul Dennis Anthony Uy with a P5-million check he personally handed to Batangas Gov. Hermilando "Dodo" Mandanas.

From a grateful Mandanas: "Kami ay taus-pusong nagpapasalamat dahil hindi lang nakikita, kundi amin ding nadarama ang kanilang pagtulong sa amin."

Typhoon Ulysses

A reprisal of role played in Taal for Pineda at the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses in November 2020, taking this time a 15-vehicle convoy of relief goods contributed by Kapampangans to worst devastated Cagayan.

Saup Cagayan brought 21,500 relief packs each comprising five kilos of rice, four cans of sardines, four cans of corned beef, hygiene kits, slippers, and sleeping mats to the capital of Tuguegarao.  

This, notwithstanding that Pampanga itself was inundated with floods wrought by the supertyphoon that led to an anonymous group to launch a fund-raising drive in the net dubbed #PAMPANGANEEDSHELP.

Pineda’s response to the drive earned even greater admiration for him, not only among the Kapampangan but to the flood victims of Cagayan --

 “Act of kindness and sympathy to those in very badly needed situations…leader for all and not for personal gain. Sana ganyan lahat ang mga pulitikong nasa pamunuan…

A man with a golden heart and a province of generous charitable people. Thanks to you. God bless Pampanga more…

Tama ang governor niyo. Alam nila ang kapasidad at kakayanan ng provincial government niyo. Isipin na lang muna natin yung ibang mas higit na nangangailangan…

I'm from Alcala, Cagayan, nag-goose bumps ako after reading this. I feel the act of your sympathy.”

Just four of the hundreds of comments of gratitude and good wishes to the governor and the Kapampangan people for their altruism.

Pineda had the utmost all-is-well confidence to leave a flooded Pampanga to bring much needed aid to deluged Cagayan.

Relief packs had already been pre-positioned as early as two typhoons before Ulysses and relief distribution had been ongoing in the inundated towns of Candaba, Masantol, Macabebe, San Simon, and Apalit days prior to his convoy’s departure. Not to mention that the relief to Cagayan came from the contributions of his cabalens.

Covid-19

Tried in the Taal eruption, tested in Typhoon Ulysses – and rising above both tragedies, Pineda’s characteristic leadership in times of crisis has been forged further and continues to be honed in the crucible of the coronavirus pandemic.

No disparagement of anyone now, but at the time Malacanang’s response to the then still emerging Covid-19 was the haughty “Sampalin ko pa ang veerus na yan,” Pineda was already starting the mobilization of health resources, staff and facilities, and barangay health workers, and has not stopped since: moving on to administrative measures as the suspension of classes, work schedules, declaration of a state of calamity, to the provision of goods by the time of the lockdowns.

When LGUs recoiled at the prospect of welcoming home the first Filipino repatriates from China which was then the only country afflicted with the coronavirus disease, with a number even coming up with sanggunian resolutions shutting their boundaries to their countrymen, Pineda opened Pampanga as quarantine area to the repats.

To thunderous applause of thousands of barangay health workers in an assembly in early February 2020, the governor declared: “Kadugo po natin sila kaya bukas po ang Pampanga para sa kanila…They are hailed as heroes so they should be helped when they’re in need of help. I see this as a call of duty.”

It was no bombastic rhetoric, Pineda having much earlier coordinated with DOH on health facilities in Pampanga meeting up to the needs of quarantine; and Clark freeport and airport authorities on preparation for landing the repatriates.

And subsequently dispatching a 40-foot container van converted into and fitted by the provincial government as an isolation chamber, along with two mini-buses fitted as containment transport to the Clark International Airport, ready for the repatriates.

A wing of the Athlete’s Village and the New Government Administrative Center in New Clark City and the ASEAN Convention Center at Fontana in Clark Freeport were commissioned by the provincial government for use as its quarantine facilities.

Balik Pinas, Balik Pampanga

The sense of kapwa, the virtue of malasakit in Governor Pineda has been institutionalized in the Balik Pinas, Balik Pampanga program he brain-trusted with Vice Gov. Lilia “Nanay” G. Pineda and the provincial board.

“A milestone…that is really commendable para mapabilis ang sistema natin particularly in Luzon” enthused Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año of the program.  

Using an app to track and assist all returning overseas Kapampangans, whether workers or already citizens of other countries, the program aims to bring them home safely to their homes and help the national government decongest arrivals in Metro Manila.

Teams from the provincial government attend to the repatriate upon arrival, ensure they undertake Covid-19 protocols and tests, take them to quarantine facilities until the end of the prescribed period, and give them a warm send-off home.

As of Jan. 30, 2021, a total of 3,233 returning overseas Kapampangans have availed themselves of the program, of whom 3,229 have reunited with their families and four remaining in quarantine.

 Of Balik Pinas, Balik Pampanga, no less than National Action Plan against Covid-19 chief implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr. enthused: “That is a gesture na nakikita naming puedeng gayahin ng mga LGUs.”

Benchmark

More than the template for local government executives in this time of the pandemic as Galvez may have offered him to be, Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda has become the very benchmark of leadership in all types of crisis. Being right there – leading, inspiring, rallying – at the frontline, indeed at the ground zero of the disasters that defined 2020.

As our socmed influencer that opened this story precisely perceived of him "…Especially in a time of crisis, it's not enough to lead – you have to show that you're leading. That's what leaders do in a time of crisis, they provide the anchor to which people cling to steady themselves against buffeting winds and roiling waters. They become the beacon that tell the people that, yes, there is a light and yes, it's showing us the way.”

Luid ya ing Capampangan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glory to the House

DOMUS GLORIAE. Thinking that my Latin-spouting frater had reached some sort of epiphany out of admiring the masterpieces of ecclesiastical art at the Betis Galleria, I responded, in the solemnity of the moment: “Amen, amen. ‘Tis indeed a house of glory this little sanctuary. May he who built it, Willy Layug, ever blessed be.”

He gave me that quizzical look: “What have you been sniffing lately?” and hastened to the shaded yard downstairs the galleria where brunch was being served.

So, what did I do? I merely responded in kind to your ejaculatory delight over Maestro Willy’s works, I told him.

It turned out there was nothing spiritual but everything secular in the House of Glory he referenced – Congress stands to house anew former President, former Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

It was my turn to ask, in all sarcasm, if he inhaled something stronger than mosquito coil earlier that day.

“Believe you me! GMA will run for congressman of the second district again!” So much he spoke with more certainty than the prophets of old.

So, what have you been hearing lately, I asked Guagua Mayor Dante Torres, who led the ribbon-cutting rites opening the galleria along with Bacolor Mayor Diman Datu.

Both hizzoners had not heard so much a whiff of a rumor of a GMA congressional run, but admitted that the possibility would always be there, knowing full well that, yes, indeed, politics is the art of the possible.

I can’t remember distinctly now if it was the Maestro himself or some other guest, who, out of inspired revelation perhaps, said Nanay too is making a go for Congress.

But, our Nanay, former governor now Vice. Gov. Lilia “Baby” Pineda is, like GMA, domiciled in Lubao, of the second district. No way the beloved Nanay go up against her esteemed Ateng.

It’s the partylist, stupid. Sneered someone at our disbelief.

Nanay Partylist, imaged in the likeness of Pampanga’s favorite mother, by itself already makes a formidable political force to reckon with. On that basis alone, one congressional seat is readily assured.

As surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, yes, we agreed.  

Factor in the hundreds, aye, thousands, who received Nanay’s unparalleled TLC from the time she was Lubao mayor, through her three terms as governor, and ongoing till today, deeply felt not only in Pampanga but in the whole of Central Luzon and sensed practically in all regions. Toss in the multiplier effect. A second House seat there, easily, as the late Gov. Bren Z. Guiao was wont to say. Not to count pa, the bloc-voting you-know-what.

Again, affirmative.

But it has been whispered loud and clear that Nanay is retiring at the end of her vice gubernatorial term next year.

Our someone would not hear of it, thus:  

Retirement? “A mother’s work is never done.” A cliché that has become a truism, most specially for Nanay.

Motherhood is not only a call of duty to Nanay. It is the very essence of Nanay’s whole being, aye, the be-all and end-all of her life that is best expressed, indeed, lived and fulfilled, in the service of her children – us, her constituents. Never shall she turn her back to us.

So, I supposed someone’s next line would be “A mother’s place is in the House.”

Great, that’s one befittingly felicitous slogan for the Nanay Partylist.

Got to find what someone has been sniffing. Heady thoughts there he’s got.

I am inhaling the wrong stuff. It only makes me giddy. Wow, man, wow. I’m on a freak out, yeah, yeah, yeah.