DEALING WITH WARLORDS: TOUGH BUT DOABLE WORK

Erle Frayne Argonza

Warlordism is an extreme form of patron-client relations. In Manila this had all but disappeared, save for one city here whose mayor hails from a small town in the North and brought his tough-guy mindset to his city. But in the provinces it is still a trend, though already a declining one.

As a sociologist, economist and development expert, I thought all the while that warlordism would disappear with the advent of urbanization. As urbanization permeates every nook of a town, it creates a middle class in the process, a class that is not beholden to patrimonial interests. As it becomes transformed into a city, warlordism would die a natural death, having no electorate base to support it.

I did quite err in my conclusion about the matter. My own former home town of Tuguegarao is now a city, warlordism disappeared there for a while, but now this dark Medusa is back in the city. A baffling phenomenon somehow, this is one research stuff that political scientists would hardly want to touch at all.

Development practitioners though have a different perspective on the matter. A team of experts and specialists would often than not deal with local government stakeholders when doing any development engagement that has a spatial operational area (meaning, you implement it on the ground). Chances are that the team has to deal with at least one warlord in the area of operations.

Development engagements dealing with reforming policy and institutions at the national level don’t necessarily have to deal with warlords as the work is macro-oriented, like my last tasks on advocacy and public policy (1988-2007). Save for certain legislators who may be warlords, warlordism at the national level is an alien thing (inexistent).

It is tough dealing with warlords or warlords-in-the-making. I did have some brash with one such figure than, a mayor in Northern Cagayan, who came to my office one day and yelled at me right in front of my staff (c. 1982). He felt bad that my designation of a municipal staff in his town (Camalaniugan) didn’t pass his hands (mayors were expected to recommend protégés at that level).

Well, young as I was then, my temper got the hell of me and I equalized his yell with a counter-yell. The security guards got alarmed over the matter, and came in time for a rescue. It could have been a firing showdown there, had the mayor not chosen to leave the office.

Other towns there then also had warlord mayors, such as Tuao, Solana, Enrile and Piat. I had quite cordial relations with them, since they entertained development initiatives provided their town benefitted from them. They always had teams of goons along, but I never found it intimidating to chat and discuss with them since they were dynamic types of local execs.

But given that experience with a warlord who doesn’t understand development nor is observant of the autonomy of national agencies (I was with the Ministry of Human Settlements then), I decided to beef up my own security. I had to arm my office drivers (with Smith & Wesson 38) and brought along at least one security guard during my monitoring and speaking sorties among different towns.

Such warlords who sorely lack dynamism and who, by my account, sizes up people in terms of capability to shock and awe with guns, do not deserve to be in their place. But no one can just wish them away. Unless that they violate the law so badly, nobody can just recommend them to be fired from their jobs.

So the remedy for such a situation, most especially when a external development team has some brash with them, is to come to terms well and co-partner with them in projects. If that doesn’t work, then the remedial measures will include surreptitious implementation, whatever the form and process will take. But this entails certain risk, the big risk being ambushed by the warlord’s goons while executing a project.

It’s surely tough encountering warlords. But nothing is better than engagement. Of the couples of warlords I encountered than in Cagayan province, only one was belligerent. That was good enough, relations between my office and the rest of mayors (28 of 29) were very cordial and cooperative.

As always, there are remedies to tough situations no matter how challenging they could be. And the remedies may not be found in the text books, mind you. Intuit on them, use your wisdom, and you’ll get to the bottom of the challenge. This will brighten up your day at the end of all of the tasks.

[Writ 29 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]