An applause for the city vet

It is not always that we find heartwarming news items emanating from government offices. We rarely find them in our daily papers. I do not know if reporters deliberately seek out the negative things at the government front because they presume that bad news is or can be translated to good business or there is just a dearth of quantifiable positive deeds achieved by public servants.

Because of this mentality, a great majority of the good things that our officials do in their assigned tasks (and there are not few of them actually) do not normally see print. It is regrettable that we are rather deluged by the reports about the bungling of our leaders. We seem to be manacled by negativism.

But, if we were to build up our national pride, I suppose that we should find time to feature these positive reports. The efforts of these “good-doers” in government should be highlighted, every now and then, in the hope that if indeed they are few in number, as suggested by the paucity of reports about them, they rub on other officers to do similarly.

I happen to know of such a bunch of government officers. The veterinary department of the city, led by Dr. Alice Utlang, has to be commended for dedication to duty. Here is what I know.

A farmer in a far flung barangay was panicky. He was terribly worried that a cattle under his care would not touch the usual feeds he prepared for it. The food variety that the farmer resorted to did not do any better. It was the first time that the cow refused to eat at all. The signs of an ailing animal depressed him. He had to reach for some help.

When Dr. Utlang heard of this situation, she wasted no time. It was a rainy Friday noon when news reached her of the farmer’s problem. The foul weather would mean a very difficult travel along muddy terrain and it would have given her enough reason to hold her people back. She did not think twice.

Unlike many government officials I know, the city veterinarian felt the anxiety of the farmer. Moreover, she thought that one sick cattle could be contagious. It had to be addressed quickly and with resoluteness. Despite the heavy rains and the still darkening clouds, she pulled three of her dependable men out of a routine work and sent them to where they were more needed. Dr. Zamora, Jong Romero and Mr. Bebat left as quickly as they learned of the farmer’s plea.

How many of our government officials have the kind of dedication to public duties Dr. Utlang, Dr.Zamora, Jong Romero and Mr. Bebat possess? It mattered to them so much that an ordinary farmer, a person they do not personally know, an individual who has no pretence to wealth, fame and connection, be immediately served. These government officials understood the helplessness of the mountain man and so it behooved upon them to relieve of his anxiety in a manner not many officers in the government would.

This attitude of our people in the city veterinarian’s office is worth emulating. They show the true essence of government service. When they take care of the needs of a lowly citizen of this country, they demonstrate that ideal fiber of sensitiveness public servants are supposed to wrap around them with. The way I look at it, Dr. Utlang et al, do not even think that they are paid by people’s money. That they are in the position to help assuage someone’s dread is remarkably manifest. To them, that’s what matters most.

The net effect of this kind of devotion to duty is a felt degree of assurance on the part of our people that government is there where they need it. For this reason, I hope that other departments of the city (and of the whole government machinery) should replicate what the city vet is doing. It is not difficult to imagine how fast can our nation progress if the public and the private sectors cooperate in that degree shown by Dr. Utlang and company in relation with the farmer.