M fits the shoe

When it comes to our leaders, friends, lovers and other strangers, the idiom “comfortable as an old shoe” is a rule rather than an exception.
We would rather be with someone nice, familiar or comfortable no matter who he is or who does he think he is. We prefer one who deals with people kindly, in an agreeably unpretentious or unrestrained manner, pleasant and relaxed, not pretentious, stiff, strict or too polite, easy to talk and work with.
From among those vying to be the city’s head honcho, I would choose the candidate who fits the description to a “T”– Morris!
The guy has character. At one time or another, our paths crossed, sometimes against each other on law or other matters but at the end he was always humble. He never viewed himself as more important than other people and treated everyone with the same respect, whether king or pauper. He has an honest desire to serve.
So, we asked ourselves, why come back now at this age and time? The answer is why not, at least to my mind for a last time.
“If it ain’t broken, why fix it?” is a well taken rhetoric but the reverse too is true. It is broken, so time to fix it by no other than the person who best ran it.
The reality out there is good governance is never beyond politics and this motto of Ping Lacson brought him a two percent kulelat survey rating, and expect him and his ilk na “pupulutin na lang sa kangkungan.”
Good governance is never a one-man rule and comes into play when your government allows “people” as its agenda as well as bringing them in, in the policymaking process. It is and never was a one-man-rule and the extent to which democratic participation is encouraged determines whether or not governance exists.
Google says the inclination and interest of people toward anything is based on the fact that we are inherently “social.”
Unlike other species, humans rely on social interactions to survive. Politics is born out of these social interactions.
Politics has been defined by Heywood as an activity that involves the interaction of people, whose relationship is characterized by conflict and cooperation, and who come together to solve such disagreements through binding solutions. Politics, though, is no utopian solution. There are disagreements that remain and that become the challenge.
So, governance is always a political one. It would be the height of stupidity to go around and ask people to vote for you and declare that you are not a politician.
The art of government involves public affairs, compromise, consensus, power, and distribution of resources. All these are always politics.
This is where Morris comes into play because he is people-oriented. Very important to our people is accessibility to the powers-at-be. One does not need to fill up a form stating the purpose of a visit to his office. His training as a lawyer makes him listen to both sides and many times over.
While the law is black and white, there is no rule that one can humanize it, and this he does with gusto.
Some pundits and the usual bashers will make “taas-kilay” with this judgment call, especially those who knew the hurt and pain we went through the last time around, yet the greater good overrides the emotions.
And speaking of the past elections where I myself was part of the political frenzy, the highest number I ever obtained from Baguio’s voters was 54,400, more or less which is a mean feat.
If the believers are still around plus more, maybe, just maybe, I now call on them this time, not for myself but for dear Baguio to put the one that fits the shoe for mayor – Morris.
Sigh!