Leni leads  

What does one do upon losing the highest post in the land?

Lick one’s wounds and hunker down? Hide in one’s man cave, and curse the rotten world out there? Propagate a Big Lie, and launch a Stop the Steal Movement? After running for president, and failing to convince enough voters to cast their votes for you, what does a losing presidential candidate do?

Candidate Ping Lacson, whose name had been tainted by allegations of extra-judicial killings in the Kuratong Baleleng case (remember that?), tweeted that he was going home. It was time to serve his family for a change, he said. “Enjoying peace and quiet in these challenging times will probably be my life’s greatest reward.”

Candidate Isko Moreno Domagoso conceded early, a concession quickly welcomed by the Junior’s campaign. In a message to his supporters, probably a sign of what Isko himself would also do, he asked them not to get involved in any trouble, or scandals, or disagreements. A signal he wasn’t going to give any trouble to the new administration?

Boxer Manny Pacquiao, used to competing in either win or lose matches, came in third at the presidential elections. Pacquiao threw in the towel early as well, conceding his loss and announcing he would go home to rest with his family. But, he also said he would continue loving “the poor people”.

Vice President Leni Robredo, on the other hand, didn’t sulk in her powder room or retire from the madding crowd. As she has been doing since even before she took her position as vice president, she focused on public service.

In the post-election rally held Friday night at the Ateneo de Manila campus grounds, Leni announced a continuation of her initiatives via the creation of a new NGO, Angat Buhay (Uplift Life is my possibly crude translation).

Angat Buhay is envisioned to house volunteers of all stripes and sizes, and would aim to help the populace in a non-partisan manner --another reminder to her core supporters that service to the public shouldn’t be conditioned on political loyalties. As she said: “We will establish the widest volunteer network in our country. We will continue to help those in the margins for our society”.

What a way to harness all that eagerness and energy that she unleashed during her seven-month or so campaign. The ordinary housewives who got off their butts and made house-to-house campaigns, the students who painted murals and videoed their choreographed dances and sang their songs, the actors, models, and celebrities who staked their names and fame for her, all those would go to naught if allowed to just fizzle out after the elections.

If Leni Robredo had won decisively, all these supporters, Leni-libbers, and converts would have surged to government offices, eager to make a difference in society. They would have been clamoring to uproot all the civil servants who ordinarily can’t be bothered to render real public service, and they would have cheerfully sat at the underused desks to kick butt. But because the victory they had all been hoping for didn’t materialize, that scenario is out of the picture.

What would have been the alternative? Perhaps like the candidates themselves, the newly-juiced electorate would have contemplated just going back home, tails between their legs, all dejected and feeling like the worst break-up ever (the words of not just one friend, but surprisingly, of quite a handful).

Leni Robredo is not allowing this force to be spent, or to go to waste. By announcing this vehicle, she has pointed a way forward to her followers. She redirects all that pent-up energy towards a positive direction, exactly what a leader should be doing with her followers. As she said, “This day is not an ending, but the start of a new chapter. And we will be together in writing it. Let’s all light each other’s path.”

Of course, one can criticize and observe that this is the usual bombast we see when new initiatives are launched. All those lofty ambitions and bold words. Well, Leni Robredo’s term as vice president ends on June 30, and so the first of July is the date that Angat Buhay will spring into action.

We shall see.