Philippine Independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898—the day the Philippine flag was first raised and the anthem was first sung as one Filipino nation and the Constitution with a Bill of Rights (the first in Asia, so historians have affirmed) was signed by the Founding Fathers of this nation.

One hundred and thirteen years later, just what have been the assaults lately against the very idea of human rights and the moral foundation of independent democratic governance? Curiously, this year’s Independence Day theme is “Kalayaan: Paninindigan ng Bayan.” Rather than ask what is it that our nation must commit to regarding our democracy, shouldn’t we now ask how our nation and every citizen must commit to democratic governance.

In the face of the apparent intensifying tensions on the proposed reproductive-health (RH) bill and the divorce bill, and the seemingly endless list of charges and hearings in aid of legislation against bureaucracy/business corruption, how can servant leaders lead a fresh new commitment—paninindigan ng bayan sa kalayaan? Let me highlight two ways.

First, be the half-minute servant leader. Engage stakeholders in the half-minute behavior contract. I learned this first when I was taking my master’s at the Asian Institute of Management. Whenever we begin a module, we were asked to make explicit our learning contract. It had two parts: what we wanted to learn and how we wanted to learn. Since we were all experienced managers, it was easy for us to critique each other looking for the “what,” with a tendency to hurt and insult each other beyond coming out with something productive: “I don’t agree with that analysis—if you call that analysis,” “That’s old hat,” “Cut the dramatics, just tell us what next,” etc. The half-minute behavior- contracting method wanted us to balance this with “how” we want to draw out other points of view that we were blindsided about, and win over stakeholders on our side. And the task was, after filling up the “what I want to learn from this module/project,” a manager-leader must also write down a phrase that can be said in half a minute to capture “how I want to learn from this module/project.” The guide was to write down how I want to be asked by my peer about my idea or plan. How I want to be asked is also my behavioral contract with others I want to ask about how to get right things done right. This is the intra- and interpersonal dimension of servant leadership. This half-minute “verbal cue” opens what is called a “strategic conversation,” rather than a debate, with a peer or a professor, a stranger who may be later “converted” to be a significant stakeholder or avid supporter or key player. Some examples: “I like how you challenge my solution to this problem. How can we then improve this solution?” “I appreciate how you are looking at this problem from a viewpoint that I did not consider: Can you please describe more how this addresses long-term objectives?” “I did not think of that. Can you give me an example of why that is important?” Try it and see how it broadens the perspective of the discussion and actionable solutions to our apparently chronic issues of democratic governance.

Second, look up to a servant leader who has actively reshaped commitment to the democratic life—Blessed Pope John Paul II.

To be continued

For comments/feedback: e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; for donations to Caritas Manila: 563-9311; and for inquiries: 563-9308 and 563-9298;  Fax:  563-9306.