To PMA Class of 2021: Win the people’s hearts and minds
Thus far, your graduation ends the best part of your lives in the military. Soon, and for the next 10 years, you will find yourselves fielded to the farthest corners of our country, unless you are selected as an aide to your generals.
You will live with and among the poorest and least educated of our people. One or two will just want to kill you. They are the enemies of the state. Therefore, the first part of your job is to make sure you aren’t killed. Instead, kill him by aiming your rifle between the eyes, then squeeze the trigger. This will be the easiest part of your job.
The second part is very complex. It is “winning hearts and minds” of the people around you. By doing this, you will find that the engineering sciences and mathematics you studied are not useful at this stage. Your acumen in communicative skills and public relations will be useful in making dialogue with them. If you read the book “How To Win Friends & Influence People,” it will greatly help. Knowing their history and their culture will make them look at you as one of them.
Then the third part of your job is to continue winning their hearts and minds. That is to ask what they need most. I will suggest a few. Perhaps their school building is already dilapidated with a leaking roof. The road that leads to their school has been so eroded by the rains that it is now too muddy for even the tricycle to pass through. The midwife at the barrio clinic is gone as she has not been paid for months. The wood or bamboo bridge has been taken away by the floods or already dilapidated. They would love their water pump fixed so they can fetch water from it. Their electricity has been cut off for years due to nonpayment of arrears. Yes, they would love to have that Wi-Fi so they can watch and hear on their cell phones their President deliver his ribald but down-to-earth speeches.
The fourth and most important part of your job is to be their liaison representative. As a liaison rep, you possess the know-how and stature to help them solve their most pressing problems. You see, bureaucratic red tape is most
problematic to poor folk. Getting a title for a piece of land or transferring a title to an heir is full of red tape. It will take tons of paperwork and travel to imperial Manila to do this. Consider that the old man is too poor to take that travel, let alone to approach the proper office in imperial Manila. Yet that title is needed to make a loan to build a small house or perhaps send his daughter to Saudi Arabia.
You see, these people have been mired in ignorance, poverty, injustice, and disease for ages. Help them make a dent on these formidable issues, and you are on your way to winning their heart and minds.
Do these, and the folks will invite you to their dance party at fiesta. They will offer you the best food they can ever serve a friend. All these done, and you shall have won their hearts and minds. I can assure you that.
I wish you the best of luck.
LT. GEN. ANTONIO E. SOTELO (RET.)
Former Air Force Commanding General
