For outgoing Candon Councilor Joanne Valdez, service matters over credit

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MANILA, Philippines – Politicians typically measure their impact by the number of bills they passed, the structures they put up, or the times they’ve been reelected. For outgoing Candon, Ilocos Sur Councilor Joanne Valdez, there is much more to public service than such tallies.

Valdez, a 37-year-old legislator on her third term, reflects back on her stint being content with simply being able to amplify voices that don’t always have a platform. 

It wasn’t always easy, as she dove into the world of politics as a young woman choosing to be part of the minority bloc. The intersection of these led to some of her ordinances dying at first reading, or being uninvited to meetings on Women’s Month activities.

For this advocate of youth and agriculture, gender equality, and development, true public service is stepping up and taking up space, even if this space is sometimes where a woman is not welcome.

Documentarist to public servant

Valdez graduated from St. Paul University Quezon City in 2008 with a degree in communications. Communication graduates are stereotyped as not being able to keep their mouths shut, but in an interview with Rappler, Valdez first described herself as a listener.

Prior to entering politics, Valdez produced advocacy videos for a production firm based in Metro Manila. There she dipped her toes into the world of listening to stories from the ground and the communities behind them.

Valdez also taught at her alma mater and founded youth volunteerism organization Candon Youth for Empowerment Movement (CYM).

In CYM, Valdez led programs centered on youth in agriculture, with a vision of promoting farming as a noble and sustainable form of livelihood. She also led campaigns that aimed to remove stigma in talking about sexual and reproductive health, and raise awareness about gender diversity. 

Her father Aris Valdez, who was finishing his term as Candon councilor, invited her to take his place in the 2016 election. 

“I was half-hearted because I loved what I was doing at the time. [But] that’s when I said that if the call to service is calling me, how can I turn my back against it?” she said.

Prior to her first run in 2016, Valdez did her homework. She assessed that in Candon, gender issues were not much of a priority, and people were disempowered, as dreams stopped at frustrated conversations. It did not help that at the time, the Sangguniang Kabataan was on a three-year break.

She also conducted a “community scan,” consulting with the children of farmers.

“I met people who were strong advocates of youth and women’s rights. I saw how both young and old were looking for avenues to direct their energies to better their communities. So you see that you’re not only one who has the drive to actually change their communities,” she said.

ADVOCACY. Councilor Joanne Valdez with local farmers in Candon City, Ilocos Sur, in a photo posted on February 2, 2022. Courtesy of Joanne Valdez/Facebook

The political risk of independence

Valdez is part of the fourth generation of a family involved in local politics. While her last name was an advantage, she still says that campaigning was an uphill battle.

Her father was politically affiliated with the administration, and Valdez could have taken the easy path of joining a majority party to secure support and resources. But she wanted to stand on her own, which required her to campaign house-to-house.

“The difficulty was out of my own decision to run as an independent. When you’re a group, you bring together resources or you have big political support from the party. I think I just didn’t want to be indebted to somebody else, because you really cannot actually say what you want to say,” she said.

During her first term at the age of 28, Valdez endured feeling out of place, and even an experience where, during a photo opp, her older male colleagues were audibly “betting” how much she would “cost.”

“I felt violated,” she said, recalling the experience. But as she spent more years in the service, she gained her colleagues’ respect, perhaps because they saw that she means business, she thinks.

But it was especially difficult for Valdez to run for her final term in 2022, since she supported then-vice president Leni Robredo in Ilocos, the bailiwick of Robredo’s rival and then-presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

She also had to deal with supporters unable to openly stand with her. This was manifested through encounters like taking photos together, but the voters were uncomfortable to post them. One said they could be removed from a list of scholarship beneficiaries; another said their mother might lose her job as a barangay health worker.

“That’s heartbreaking, but later on, I became more understanding of people’s realities,” she said.

As councilor, Valdez always took advantage of privilege hour at the session hall, when members are allotted time to speak about issues that matter to them, and call on their colleagues to act.

As she is part of the minority, she did not have as much success in pushing for measures on issues like gender rights and health. However, she was co-author of the adolescent pregnancy prevention ordinance, as well as the Mental Health Code.

She is also still working on passing a library ordinance, which would institutionalize a body tackling library operations in the city.

PROJECT BUKLAT. Councilor Joanne Valdez at a reading program for children at Candon City South Central School on August 30, 2019. Courtesy of Councilor Joanne Valdez/Facebook

Taking up space

Valdez may not have her name on many ordinances, but for her, her biggest contribution in her nine years as councilor is being present as a minority.

“Even if your measures are not welcome, and if you spoke your mind through the privilege hour, it’s being addressed. Sometimes they would pick it up, and later on they would issue an executive order addressing that issue. It may not be attributed to me, but at least, you were able to voice out the needs of the community,” she said.

“So, sa akin, okay na ‘yun (For me, that’s already enough),” she added.

In a society where women in politics are subjected to misogynistic attacks and being perceived as arrogant when speaking out, Valdez’s advice to young women is to keep focused.

The end goal is to be able to help the community or sector one wants to champion. This requires not just thinking out of the box, but to act like there is no box, Valdez said.

After finishing her term, Valdez is looking forward to remaining in community organizing, especially with the Agkaykaysa Coalition of youth and youth-serving organizations in Ilocos. She is also not turning her back to rejoining politics in the future.

Addressing young women who are considering joining politics, she said: “I hope that you take up space. I know we have space out there, as we are born to lead as women.” – Rappler.com