DILG Secretary Joey Lina’s way

Is there a more reassuring sight during protest rallies than Joey Lina marching in your midst? Although a veteran street parliamentarian since the Martial Law years, he did not always deliver the fieriest speeches or draw the biggest crowds. Instead, Lina’s presence bolstered shaky convictions simply because he Possessed the tenacity of a pit bull. You just knew he would scratch and bite and fight until only one was left standing.

The current Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) was the fourth of 12 children–six boys and six girls. His late father was a public elementary school teacher while his mother is what he calls a "house manager". A consistent honor student, Lina graduated in 1975 from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Economics. He proceeded to law school and graduated among the top ten of his class at the University of the Philippines. Lina passed the Bar in 1980.

"I owe (my success) to the basic training my grandparents and parents gave us," he says, still sounding like the PMT Corps Commander he was in 1968. "They encouraged us to study hard and to devote our time to productive activities and not just to joining our barkadas and whiling away our time. Hard work and discipline was key to our personal growth and development. I had a strict but pleasant upbringing. Our parents were not the type to check on us all the time–we were given a lot of leeway."

In high school, Lina’s Journalism teachers discovered his talent for writing in both Filipino and English. He was made Editor-in-Chief of the unfortunately named High School Organ, a newsletter that surely spawned a hundred prurient jokes. Although Lina claims he was merely a "functional writer", he won nationwide journalism contests. At UP, he became associate and managing editor of the Philippine Collegian.

"I was working and studying at the same time," he says. "One of the things I did was put up a company newsletter. Other associations then asked me to put up newsletters for them. That helped me get through the College of Law."

In 1986, after the first EDSA revolution, Lina took over as Governor of the Metro Manila Commission from former First Lady Imelda Marcos–he was just 34 years old. "It was a huge bureaucracy. We were about 17,000 all in all. And I had no formal training in public administration. It helped me gain experience."

The following year, he was elected the youngest senator ever at the age of 35. Re-elected in 1992, he became Assistant Majority Leader. Lina was the principal author of 144 bills and co-author of 194 more, including the much-maligned Urban Development & Housing Act. While he is acknowledged as an ardent advocate of the urban poor’s right to decent housing, infuriated landowners have since labeled it "that stupid Lina law". The law dictates that titled owners pay squatters a "disturbance fee", as well as ensuring they are provided relocation sites. Even the most egalitarian property owner squawked at the sudden entitlements bestowed on their illegitimate tenants. It would not be the last time Lina’s beliefs generated controversy.

After serving out his second senatorial term, Lina handily won the gubernatorial race in Laguna and promptly added the Outstanding Governor of the Philippines award to his list of accomplishments. "That completed my training," he admits. "When I got to the DILG I was able to bank on my experience as a legislator and as an executive."

Lina inherited the most expansive department in the government, succeeding the larger-than-life figure of Alfredo Lim. Fortunately, Lina’s own impeccable credentials conquered any residual loyalty in the department to the irascible Dirty Harry. "I was like a duck thrown into water," Lina says. "I immediately warmed up to the staff and vice-versa. I already had extensive dealings with the DILG. Even the policemen, the firemen and the jailguards knew me as Governor of Laguna and were happy with my appointment. For the last eight months, I think I’ve worked hard enough to earn their respect."

The DILG mandate appears simple enough: to promote peace and order, ensure public safety and further strengthen local government capability aimed towards the effective delivery of basic services to the citizenry. Naturally, the particulars are infinitely more involved than one sentence could ever convey. The DILG oversees Local Government Units (lgus), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC). Lina’s job is a mine-field–each crumbling institution threatens to detonate under the weight of its own inefficiencies. Too many bucks stop at the DILG Secretary’s desk.

"The department is really big. It’s the most complicated and most diverse department, supervising on behalf of the President practically 1.3 million local officials. Many times, barangay problems reach the DILG, especially when there are conflicts between barangay officials that require the legal opinion of the DILG legal service.

"Then you have the public safety sector numbering about 150,000 employees–and the local government academy and the PPSC. Very few people know that there is an academy that is the machinery for training local officials. The ppsc is the school for those in the police, jails and fire bureaus. But time management and being able to organize a team to divide the responsibilities to see to it that the organization is moving efficiently has helped us in the tasks involved in handling the department," he says.

The hours can be brutal. "I wake up before 6 am, earlier when I have a plane to catch for the provinces. Sometimes members of the media awaken me at 2 or 4 in the morning when there is some emergency wherein I have to explain what the government is doing. I’m an early riser and I also go to bed quite late–sometimes at 11, sometimes at 2 am. Generally, six hours of sleep is enough for me."

The PNP is under the administrative control of the National Police Commission, of which Lina is the chairman. Despite having known PNP Chief Leandro Mendoza only since EDSA 2, their relationship has flourished. "We have become very close professionally. We practically talk to each other everyday, sometimes ten times a day. I’ve also become quite close to the other officers of the PNP because we have to work as a team," he reveals.

A discernible frustration creeps into the Secretary’s voice when confronted by the public’s cynicism over the peace and order situation–or the lack of it. "Even if the police are able to affect arrests and are able to file a corresponding complaint before the fiscal, we have to process that complaint and find out if there’s probable cause," he says. "So if we are stopped at the prosecution level–for example, if something went wrong despite clear evidence–then our crime prevention program suffers. The arrest is not enough; we also have to prosecute. Assuming you pass the early levels of the court and reach even up to the Supreme Court, then you have (the problems) of rehabilitation and correction. What if the convict is able to escape?"

Lina’s dissatisfaction over the inherent weaknesses of the justice and corrections system has, surprisingly, not altered his long-held Position against the death penalty. "I have not changed my basic belief that crimes cannot be deterred by the imPOsition of severe and even inhuman penalties. What will deter crime is the certainty of arrest and punishment."

His pro-life stance–he has also promoted the Billings Method and other natural contraceptive methods–also indicates a heavy Roman Catholic orthodoxy influence on his convictions. While still in the Senate, Lina formed a Bible-sharing group comPOsed of senators and congressmen. Initially, he was able to attract around 15 members–presumably, the rest had grown satisfied with the evolution of their consciences. He recounts, "The number dwindled to only two senators and we would reflect on the passages of the Bible. We would pick them randomly and pray about the passage. We would share our reflections and it was very exhilarating. It helped us a lot in clearing our minds and minds."

Lina clears the physical cobwebs by exercising on the treadmill every morning for 30 minutes. But it is by singing that he escapes from the humdrum of his duties, crooning in a very creditable baritone. "I sing a lot," he says shyly. "Nowadays, it’s becoming a regular feature of my speaking engagements. After I speak, someone in the audience who had heard me sing before will go around the audience to ask them to request me to sing. I like ballads."

One development worth singing about is that, under the Local Government Code, non-government and private organizations can apply for financial and technical assistance from the government in the task of nation-building. "If their registration with the local governments is approved, they can go into joint venture programs with the government in the implementation of community projects. For example, they can help in giving additional assistance to inmates. They can give assistance to children who are exploited or abused. The DILG has been giving a lot of workshops to NGOs and POs to forge a closer relationship between them and local government units," he says.

Local Government Units can also look forward to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s promise that their Internal Revenue Allotment will be automatically released in 2002. Not long ago, LGUs all over the country threatened a four-day shutdown over this perennial source of conflict. Considering all the problems facing the DILG, the last thing Lina needs is a discontented group of local officials wondering why their backs are not being scratched in return.

Secretary Joey Lina, though, takes it all in stride. Being an ace administrator has not prevented him from employing a more metaphysical approach to dealing with crises. "Let us look at the Positive side so we don’t get our psyche affected," he says calmly. "Yes I know there are problems but, ultimately, there will be solutions to these problems. We should be in the world but out of this world. We should be grappling with the solutions but we should always have time to be detached from what is happening in this world so we can look at it more objectively. There is, after all, one greater force. Greater than all of us."