Dr. Esperanza Cabral, GMANews.TV’s Public Servant of the Year

It was an act of audacity one would expect from an in-your-face activist, not from a lola serving a conservative government. Yet there Dr. Esperanza Cabral was last Valentine’s Day, handing out condoms on the streets of Manila to couples who appeared like they might need a few that night. “I was just reminding people that sexually transmitted diseases are bad for you," she recalled wryly in a recent interview, giving the impression that it was a perfectly sensible and uncontroversial act. But in fact, condoms had long become a bone of contention between reproductive health advocates and religious conservatives, including Cabral’s boss, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was one thing, however, for the then-health secretary to disagree with the President’s position and another to flaunt the disagreement with a televised bit of advocacy theater. Yet not only did Cabral retain her job, she persisted in advocating her reproductive health positions. From the famously stern President Arroyo herself Dr. Cabral did not receive as much as a public reminder, let alone the dressing down Arroyo often gave to erring underlings, leading some to surmise that Arroyo actually approved of her health secretary’s actions. What Cabral calls her “dissent" was an “act of conscience on my part," acknowledging that her colleagues in the Arroyo administration were “taken aback" by her advocacy. “At the time the President was pushing natural family planning," recalled Cabral. “I said people need to be given a choice. Before they can make good choices, they need to be informed." In the few months she was health secretary in 2010 – she had been Arroyo’s social welfare secretary before that – Cabral took strong and vocal stands on tobacco control, breastmilk substitutes, and food and drug regulations, in addition to reproductive health. A scientific voice in government For raising a scientific voice in government on a range of burning public policy issues and courageously standing up for the people’s rights to reproductive health information and services, former health secretary Esperanza Cabral is GMANews.TV’s Public Servant of the Year. This is the second year our news organization is giving this recognition, awarded to a government official who has demonstrated courage, the ability to inspire, and quality of achievement in the year that just passed. GMANews.TV staff nominated and discussed candidates for the award, then voted from a list of nominees. The runners-up were Comelec chair Jose Melo, who shepherded the country through its first national automated elections, and Rep. Manny Pacquiao, who inspired the nation, and much of the world, with his humble reaction to his conquests in a brutal sport. Last year, we gave this award for the first time to Leila de Lima, the then-chair of the Commission on Human Rights. She is currently Justice Secretary in the Aquino administration. GMANews.TV began this year-end tradition as an expression of our belief that despite government’s reputation, government service can be noble and even ground-breaking. For the nation’s sake, we want to encourage other public servants to emulate the best among them. Cabral stood out because she frequently risked her job to argue for what she felt was the right policy inside the lion’s den. “In an administration that put a premium on political expediency over the good of the people, she courageously made difficult principled decisions," said Dr. Alberto Romualdez, who was health secretary in the Estrada administration. “Her decision on promoting condom use in the face of dangerously rising HIV incidence was made despite the well-known opposition of conservative Catholic supporters of the administration." Among those Catholic supporters was Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who even invited Cabral to his residence for what she described as a “congenial" discussion of their disagreement over condoms. “He told me a story about his trip to Uganda and visiting a town where nearly everyone had died because of AIDS," Cabral said. “I told him that’s precisely what we want to prevent." The reproductive health activist Carlos Celdran, no stranger to audacious acts himself as the protester who confronted bishops inside the Manila Cathedral, told GMANews.TV via Facebook: “Dr. Cabral started it all for me. She defied the hierarchy and pushed RH and HIV awareness without a care about any backlash from anyone. She knew what was right and she did it." – Howie G. Severino, GMANews.TV