Bringing ordinary workers into focus

MANILA, Philippines - Approached by public and private road workers, street sweepers and the unemployed to help them find a respectable place in the society, Ka Jun Ebdane ignored their pleas at the start to run in next year’s presidential elections.

But the persistence of these groups eventually convinced him to try his luck in the 2010 presidential elections.

Ka Jun said the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka (PMM) succeeded in persuading him to run in next year’s elections. “The party that drafted me has no sufficient logistics – we only have what we can raise to enable us to move from one place to another,” he told The STAR.

With a smile, the bespectacled former PNP and DPWH chief said, “our fellow lowly workers now call me Ka Jun Kalsada Ebdane, which is alright. At 17, I was already working, doing menial jobs just to earn.”

With a career in public service spanning four decades, Ka Jun said he has been privileged to serve and lead especially in promoting peace and order, national security, as well as public works which are the pillars of the country’s growth and development.

“In my 40 years in public service, it’s always a 24/7 job.I realized that although I have helped to do much for our country, there is much more to be done, ‘’Ebdane hinted.

In a conversation with the PMM, Ebdane said the pillars of growth are the workers themselves led by individuals who performed their duties and responsibilities honestly.

Ebdane’s party believes in reliving the ideals of our national heroes which signifies the equitable distribution of wealth, democracy, good governance, peace and unity, infrastructure development, food production, labor and employment, and the preservation of the environment.

Asked what makes him different from the other candidates, Ebdane answered, firstly, he’s not a politician, “lingkod-bayan lang po,” secondly, he has no funding support and thirdly, “aksyon po, hindi pangako ang sangkalan ng aking plataporma.