SUPER SANGUINITY

I AM (ALSO) AN EA

I am (also) an EA in a political world. I attend meetings, take down notes, organize files, propose budgets, make reports, set appointments, arrange schedules, coordinate conferences, facilitate seminars, talk to VIPs, establish networks, read at least 5 letters and 5 emails a day, draft memos, presentations, emails and letters, answer phone calls, discuss important text messages and respond to them… and serve water.

Doing this in more than a year makes me want to believe… I’m a Super Woman—seems like I can do anything you may ask from me. Sometimes I even feel no different from my boss. I practice a little of negotiation, a bit of recommendation, some sort of representation and some kind of leadership.

I feel like mentored to becoming a big time leader like my boss. I learn a lot everyday when I talk to different people—an indigent to a socialite, nuisance to significant.

Bottom line: I know what it takes to be an EA and nobody appreciates my job more than I do.

But while I can do certain things that ‘somehow’ help make politics go round and while I believe that joining politics in 10 years time isn’t impossible in the Philippines, I know I wouldn’t make it in a national post ‘first time-big time’ especially if I’m no social media superstar and if there’s no revolutionary clamor for an EA like me. 

While I can do almost anything my employer would ask me to, there’s certain things that only my boss can do. First on the list is this: DECIDE. There’s so many things I can’t decide on my own. I may have accomplished a lot of things but most of them would not happen if I didn’t get orders and I can’t consider them done unless approved.

So if given the chance to go mainstream politics someday, I would start where I can start making decisions… ON MY OWN. I would start where I can speak for myself then maybe I can go up to where I can speak for my people. Don’t think I’m playing “the expert” because I have to go a loooong way before I become one. I just know that if EAs like me fall in love with the idea that we can be what our bosses are, we must be able to endure what they have endured.

If I shall say I want to serve, I should understand that servants are never on top. 

I know… YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT HERE. In a few hours, we’re set to choose a new set of players on TV. Ooopppss, sorry… senators in congress. And I bet you know by this time that I do not recommend an EA (like me) in Senate.

Don’t get me wrong. EAs, for me, are heroes too. But when we are entitled to be the “BOSSES” of our country, we don’t want a servant who’s used to another boss’ decision. If we are the bosses, then let’s have our newbies take their training, let’s promote those who have served enough and let’s take on board the real skilled ones. We can’t let our company sink just because we failed to put the right persons at the right positions.

Think not just twice. Go over all the names again when you get your ballot just as you want your resume scanned when there are too many applicants in a job post. Don’t look at the tricky names. Try to recall who these people are. What they’ve been doing before the campaign period is what they’ll do after the elections. What you’ll take from them is what they’ll take from you in the next 6 years. 

This ain’t a black propaganda or something. This is purely my opinion and I write this not because my boss told me to… But because I am one of the bosses of this nation. I should be responsible for whatever damage my decisions may cause.