Ni Ronquillo C. Tolentino
Remember SP For Its Humility, Avoidance of Vanity*
The valediction of Hon. Atty. Ronquillo Conanan Tolentino, Vice Governor, Province of Aklan on the occasion of the 18th Regular Session for CY 2007, 20 June 2007.
The Honorable Members of the Sang-guniang Panlalawigan of Aklan, ladies and gentlemen.
I rise today to deliver a valediction. A valediction is saying farewell, bidding farewell. It also means a speech or statement made at a time of leaving. It comes from the Latin word "validecere" meaning, to say farewell.
My valediction is not a statement from the last flickering gasp of a dying power. Power has its existence but it shall eventually vanish.
Power is temporary, evanescent. It fades so suddenly oftentimes as you immediately acquire or exercise it. The pains of power are real, the pleasures of power are more imaginary.
I am reminded of the English clergy, Caleb Colton who said: "Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. Power, like the diamond dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer, it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is low, exaltation!"
The exercise of power – whether political or economic – should always be interlinked, nay, closely associated with moral power which would mean the power of a life and character, the power of good and great purposes, the power which comes of length to reside in a man distinguished in some course of estimable or great conduct. No other power of man compares with this, and there is no individual who may not be measurably invested with it. Power, in a real sense, should be exercised for the greater glory of God.
I do not want to indulge in self-praise about our legislative outputs. Nor am I inclined at self-indulgence about our achievements. That would be an exercise into self-glorification.
This August Chamber can be remembered by those who may come after us as a provincial board that has aimed high for the development and progress of the province of Aklan.
While it is true that we have indulged in debates that are oftentimes heated and acrimonious, we have not allowed the debates to sunder or decimate our agenda for a better Aklan and for a better governance.
We have not make this chamber as a political grandstand like others do for political aggrandizement.
We have never allowed political intrigues to divide us unlike sinister disciples of Machiaville who day to day would telegraph their political intrigue punches, nay, text it through their cell phones as if cell phones are the best media to sow intrigues.
We have not countenanced this chamber to be a provincial legislative body of political scene stealers out to hug the limelight to advance political ambitions and future political plans.
This chamber has not resorted to political gobbledygook nor inclined to double talk. It has been instead frank and candid as well as transparent and receptive of justified criticism from the media and the Aklan inhabitants.
Verily, this chamber may be best remembered for its humility, for its avoidance of vanity.
We seem to have the collective thought that to exercise pride would lead us to nowhere, that to be vainglorious would lead one to his political self-atrophy.
It gives me a feeling of immeasurable exhilaration that I am part of this chamber. I shall cherish my membership to this legislative body from 1996-2004 as an indelible part of my life. And as your vice-governor and presiding officer for 2004 to June 2007.
It has been said, and rightly so, that for whom much is given, much is required. And for whom much is required, much is demanded.
Paraphrasing President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in his speech before the Massachusetts State Legislature on January 9, 1961, when the high court of history shall set in judgment on each of us – recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our services to the province of Aklan – our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:
First, were truly men of courage – with the courage to stand up to one’s enemies – and the courage to stand up, when necessary to one’s associates-the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed?
Secondly, were we truly men of judgment – with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past – of our own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others – with enough wisdom to know what we did not know, and enough candor to admit it?
Third, were we truly men of integrity – men who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed or the people who believed in us – men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?
Finally, were we truly men of dedication – with our honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the provincial interest?
Now. . . I am to leave political life. And for good. But I am not here to bid farewell to Aklan. For 63 years whether I was abroad or in the provinces and cities of our country – this has been my home. Aklan, the province that we all love so well, shall always remain my home.
I had always humbly asked God’s help in all my undertakings. I can say that what I did in public service for Aklan and her peace-loving and God fearing people were all done for the greater glory of God. /MP
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