ASoG holds Virtual Kapihan on the topic “How to Run for Office and Not Lose Your Soul"

The Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) held a Virtual Kapihan sa ASoG on the topic “How to Run for Office and Not Lose Your Soul” with Former Senator Orlando S. Mercado, PhD last December 2021. In his lecture, Senator Mercado shared his reflections on Havel’s “Anti-political Politics,” and on his experience of running as an assemblyman in Quezon City in the context of the then authoritarian government. “Elections are all about power, compromise, and what you believe in,” Sen. Mercado shared.

Meanwhile, in the live and exclusive QnA Kapihan event with the ASoG students and faculty, Sen. Mercado was joined in the panel by ASoG Master in Public Management (MPM) alumni who were also local government officials at the time, namely: Councilor Benjamin “BG” Guingona IV, MPM, of District 1 of Zamboanga; and Mayor Maria Lourdes Respicio-Saguban, MPM, of the Municipality of Reina Mercedes in Isabela. The two MPM alumni shared about the ethical principles and values that they apply as seen in their local policies, in fulfilling their roles as public servants. 

In the said QnA, Sen. Mercado highlighted that the two most critical values for those running in office are: 1) the public servant’s ability to listen and 2) their track record. Sen. Mercado stressed that it is only through a leader’s initiative to adapt to their people’s needs and desires, to truly listen to them, that foresight can be gained by leaders. Then, the most important legacy of a leader, according to Sen. Mercado, is the one that public servants build from day 1 in their career in politics, and not the edifices with their names towards the end of their years in service.

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