“’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!
