Crusading Christianne

Friends, I decided to post this finally not only because I can no longer wait for the newsletter on which this article is supposed to be published; but because when DAR Ilocos Sur was chosen to take the planned 'PARPO's Corner' of the newsletter's maiden issue, I could not write a thing. So I asked my dearest friend, Boboy Yonzon, to write about me. When he sent this to me, and I read it, I was speechless. I hope you all enjoy reading this. Thank you dearest. 

And yes, I am bragging.  

CRUSADING CHRISTIANNE

By Boboy Yonzon

She draws from her cigarette with measured intensity. When she looks through the swirl of white smoke, you confirm that Christianne is one serious person, a tad too much sometimes. That seriousness gets reinforced with her work in agrarian reform, a government program that has been pummeled endlessly either by genuine opponents or simply by uninformed, if not ignorant, critics. She comes to the program’s defense with the anima of a heroine willing to die for her cause. Having worked closely with the beneficiaries through challenges and pain, Christianne stands firm. She will not take any b.s. from anyone. She backs her words with her deeds.

Christianne Castillejos Suguitan is a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) not just on paper but a working one. Starting in DAR as an ARPO II in 1990, after a brief stint as a teacher and then as a researcher in the private sector, Christianne worked herself up the career service ladder. She was PARO I in 2003-2005 and became an assistant regional director in 2006-2007. She demonstrated her mettle when she became PARPO II in charge of Ilocos Norte. That meant assuming unfinished businesses on one hand and facing cynicism about her ability on the other.

Under Suguitan’s leadership, Ilocos Norte redistributed in 3 years more lands than the number of hectares distributed in the past 9 years before she came in.  Through earnest engagement, she made possible the distribution 150 hectares of arable lands in the Dungon-Dungon Estate, capping an almost 18 years of apparent meandering negotiations between the provincial government of Ilocos Norte and the Department of Agrarian Reform. Finally, DAR in this province completed all land acquisition and distribution activities, including even those that have been pending for more than 20 years.

Christianne touched base with the people and initiated micro-level enterprises and assisted cooperatives/municipalities. Her training as an economist at St. Louis University in Baguio came in good stead also in Ilocos Sur. Working with the Department of Trade and Industry, DAR Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur established livelihood projects such as vinegar production in Bacarra; rice wine in Badoc; handloom woven products in Paoay; rice cracker production in Batac; rice coffee in Banna; vinegar in Sta. Maria; nata de coco in Candon City; and squash canton noodles in Sto. Domingo.

She is a communicator. She enthusiastically supported social marketing and advocacy of the CARP through campus tours, participation in national activities such as poster-making contest, songwriting competition, and a mural painting contest. She endeavored to bring government closer to the grassroots through the conduct of outreach programs.  Through her egging, Ilocos Norte actively participated in national trade fairs to showcase products of farmers, such that recognition was given to “Banna Blend,” rice coffee in Banna, as the Best Beverage (national) in the 2010 Agraryo Trade Fair, SM Megamall.

Christianne turns up her charm when she so chooses. She is effective in working with local government leaders, foreign donor representatives and officials, peace-and-order forces, and with colleagues in both DAR and CARP-attached agencies such as Landbank of the Philippines and the Department of Public Works and Highways. This track record she has taken to her assignment in Ilocos Sur.

Her experience has made Suguitan wiser and sharper. Still, she continues to undergo self-improvement activities - from skills-oriented ones like procurement process, to management and leadership, to philosophical ones like Carl Jung seminars. Swiss psychiatrist Jung asserts that the world of dream, myth, and folklore could lead to deeper understanding and meaning of self. To some that is perhaps is esoteric but, nowadays, true leadership training requires one to know and understand self in order to lead others. Intuition becomes an indispensable tool side-by-side with logic.

Christianne has an unerring nose, even if she consciously opts to be naïve sometimes.    What cannot change is that she draws from her heart in executing her work at DAR. Even if it means bleeding all over again to move further on.

Today, she finds solace in writing miles of essays and in her two children with hubby, Alberto C. Suguitan III: Ana Isaiah, 23 and Edgar Antonio, 17. That is not to say that her passion for her work and career has waned. Her journal is there for everybody to see and even analyze. From time to time, she lets her hair down screaming over pop idol Bamboo, but her head is firmly in place. So is her determination to keep the job well done, no matter what.