By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
END WEEK of December 2024, I got a chance to travel to Iloilo city.
By chance, I met with James Conlu, the twin brother of Jeck, my friend who is now the assistant regional director of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Region 6 (Western Visayas).
James is the sitting village chief of Bo. Obrero, billed previously as a “haven of hold uppers.”
Talking to James in a serious manner, I learned so many things how he made a lot of changes in the barangay in just more than a year of leadership.
Leading one of the most populous barangays in the “City of Love” – over 20,000 residents nestled in 2,634 households with 50% informal settlers – is no joke. More so that Bo. Obrero was also previously widely known as the “fave refuge” of bad elements in society – thieves, hold-uppers, snatchers, pickpockets, and even drug personalities.
James, 42, an accidental politician, instituted notable and astonishing reforms one after another, transforming Bo. Obrero ala a “Municipality within a City”.
For more than a year now in the helm, James, the captain, simply dwelled on three basic priorities in his beloved village – discipline, peace and order, and accessibility.
WAR ON DRUGS
But what struck my attention among James’ many revelations was his “war on drugs” on silent mode.
Though patterned after the “toktok” and “hangyu” of then-president Rodrigo Duterte, there’s no extrajudicial killings (EJKs).
James also allows himself to be [always] accessible to more than 50 identified drug personalities in Bo. Obrero. He talks to them like a brother, a friend, a very best friend, or part of a barkada.
He even gives them money for their “plete” for their daily jobs, or to buy rice for the day (they’re malas with their daily indulgence on the streets).
This sincerest act of knowing drug personalities in the barangay (one by one), and addressing their very concerns one at a time led James to have a peaceful community. Though he cannot claim yet that Bo. Obrero is totally drug-free, he can feel that it is leading to it. Hailable, hence!
FEAR NOT
James said everyone should not fear entering Bo. Obrero during night time.
Why?
Because Bo. Obrero now seems to be the “CCTV Capital” of Iloilo City.
James installed 50 CCTVs (closed-circuit televisions) in almost all strategic nooks and corners of their barangay.
This year, he is planning to add another 50 CCTVs to saturate the entire Bo. Obrero.
With CCTVs, James and his council members and the tanods will have no problem tracing every crime and perpetrator in their barangay.
ALTERNATE ROAD
Meanwhile, as he begins his second year of captainship, James is brewing another something good – an alternate road.
Bo. Obrero badly needs this alternate road, especially during emergency cases.
“This is the reason why I am working hard for an alternate road, and in God’s time, it will be given to us soonest,” he said.
Negotiations with private lot owners are now underway.
FAST LEARNER
James, a businessman, has a lot of hesitations before entering public service, more so, politics. But he is more than inspired by the beauty of public service – serving the common tao “beyond honorarium”.
After a year in public service, he had learned a lot of things that opened his eyes to so many realities and impossibilities. This has helped him balance or weigh things amid uncertainties and challenges. James, so to speak, is a “fast learner” in politics and public service.
But what’s admirable about James is his genuine initiatives – treating people with candidness. James, therefore, has earns the respect of his constituents more than what he expects – a fact, and not a myth to celebrate./PN
