Integrity is foremost for a leader – Poe

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – Presidential front runner Senator Mary Grace Poe exhorts supporters here that in the three traits a leader should possess, integrity is primordial than intelligence and energy.

ALL4GP Movement. Senator Poe exhorts last Tuesday the members of ALL4GP Movement or Alyansa at Laban ng mga Lahi para sa Ganap na Pagbabago who meet for their Northern Luzon's coordinator conference. They are graced by Poe at the Regency Hotel in Calasiao, Pangasinan. Guest of honours from left: Calasiao Mayor and Nationalist People’s Coalition vice gubernatorial bet Mark Roy Macanlalay, Abono Party –list Chairman and Samahan ng Industriya at Agrikultura’s Chairman Rosendo So, former Board Member and proprietor of Regency Dop Fernandez, and the chairman of ALL4GP Movement. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

“Doon sa tatlong binanggit ko intelligence, energy, and integrity ang pinaka importante integrity. Ang pinaka delikado iyong wala kang integridad pero may enerhiya dahil ikaw ay matalino pero sa kasamaan mo ginagamit. (Iyan) ang lalong masahol (In the three traits like intelligence, energy, and integrity the most important is integrity. The most dangerous that can gobble a leader is he lost his integrity despite his intelligence and energy that he used them in his nefarious activity. That is the worst that can happen to a leader),” she stressed.

Her statement can be a broadside to presidential rival Vice President Jejomar Binay who is enmeshed with corruption charges. Binay in the latest survey commissioned by big business groups had been trailing Poe by four points.

The senator was here last Tuesday to sworn into their posts officers and members of ALL4GP Movement or Alyansa at Laban ng mga Lahi para sa Ganap na Pagbabago, attended a town hall meeting in a perennially flood stricken village here, and graced the graduation ceremony of the University of Luzon at the nearby Dagupan City.

Poe cited these three traits after a renowned businessman that she did not mention the name said that aside from integrity one needs loyalty and firm resolves to stand and fights for ones belief without flip flopping.

“You need intelligence to decide a solution after you hear problems that beset the people. But you need energy to yourself to make your presence felt by the people in the different parts of the country because it is an archipelago. Nobody has the monopoly of truth in this country," she said at the hotel here that was used by her father when he campaigned for the presidency in 2004.

She cited that her incessant visits to the various parts of the country have been learning experiences for her because she saw firsthand for example the problems of the farmers where she learned how to solve them.