“Public service is about holding families together, keeping faith with institutions, and leaving the country a little more rooted than we found it”
Some meetings arrive like scheduled appointments. Others arrive like moments—quiet, unannounced, but lingering long after the handshake is over.
Last Jan. 28, I sat down with former Philippine National Police chief — now Metropolitan Manila Development Authority General Manager — Gen. Nicolas Torre III, together with book author Jerry A. Quibilan and Rotary Club of Pasig President Roy Quejada, and past president John Javier.
Through the kindness of Manong Jerry and former MMDA General Manager Coratec Jimenez who served during the stint of then MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino, I got to meet up close and personal with “the People’s General.” RC Pasig officers were there to invite General Torre as Rotary speaker on Feb. 26.
I was there with my daughter Me-Anne and Green Media Events Manager Jenny Lumba to seek support for A Run for a Million Trees on April 11, an advocacy close to my heart through the Million Trees Foundation.
Gen. Torre was quick to express support—not as a favor, but as a conviction. Environmental protection, he said, is no longer peripheral to governance. It is central to public safety, urban resilience, and the quality of life in our cities. Floods, heat, congestion—these are not abstract problems. They are lived realities that government must confront head-on.
As a gesture of support, he obliged to do a video endorsement of the Million Trees Fun Run in time for the Earth Day celebration on April 11.
But what stayed with me most from that meeting was not policy talk or event planning. It was something deeply human.
Gen. Torre shared how moved he was during a recent interview with Cheryl Cosim of TV5 who asked whether he had political plans in 2028.
The veteran journalist, known for her composure, became visibly emotional when Gen. Torre spoke about the quiet sacrifices of service—particularly the difficulty of finding quality time with his children while still wearing the uniform.
“Ask my wife and personally I wouldn’t plunge myself into an unknown territory even quoting the late Comedy King Dolphy who once said, “Kung ako ay papasok sa pulitika, isa lang ang ikinatatakot ko, dahil kapag nandun na ako, baka mapahiya lang ako kasi hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko, at sayang lang ang pagboto ng mga tao sa akin.”
He cited instances of picking up his family in a bus station in Batangas on a Sunday just for them to have brief family meeting and meal.
It was not a rehearsed moment. It was an unguarded one.
For those in uniform—whether military or police—the badge does not come off neatly at the end of the day.
Duty bleeds into family time, birthdays are missed, school events go unattended, and conversations are often reduced to hurried calls. We praise courage and discipline, but we rarely acknowledge the personal cost behind them.
That moment of candor reminded me that leadership is not only measured by decisiveness in crisis, but by honesty in vulnerability.
Our conversation naturally drifted to more current and controversial issues.
We touched briefly on the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy and on matters involving former President Rodrigo Duterte. Gen. Torre was careful, as expected of a seasoned lawman now turned metropolitan administrator. Institutions must act based on law and evidence, he emphasized—not emotion, not politics, not personalities.
It was a timely reminder. In a climate where public discourse is often inflamed and polarized, restraint becomes a form of leadership.
Upholding due process is not weakness; it is the spine of democracy.
What struck me was the continuity in Gen. Torre’s world view—from policing to urban governance.
Whether dealing with crime, traffic, flooding, or environmental degradation, the principle remains the same: authority must be exercised with accountability, and power must be bounded by law and conscience.
Our meeting ended where it began—with shared purpose. Supporting A Run for a Million Trees is, in many ways, symbolic.
Trees take years to grow. Institutions take even longer to build. Both require patience, stewardship, and people willing to think beyond their term of office.
That afternoon, I saw not just a former PNP chief or a sitting MMDA general manager, but a public servant aware of the weight of his role—and the price it exacts. In a time when loudness often passes for leadership, moments of quiet honesty are worth noting.
Public service, after all, is not only about commanding roads, arresting suspects, or enforcing rules. It is about holding families together, keeping faith with institutions, and leaving the country a little more rooted than we found it.
And sometimes, it begins with a simple meeting—and a reminder that behind every uniform is a human story.
(The writer, president/chief executive officer of Media Touchstone Ventures, Inc. and president/executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc., a non-government outfit advocating tree-planting and environmental protection, is the official biographer of President Fidel V. Ramos.)
