Aug. 30--Nobody perhaps thought that one woman from an ordinary family and crippled by polio in childhood would dare run against and eventually win over a political dynasty that ruled a province for decades.

Isabela Governor Grace Padaca proved that physical disability and lack of funds are not hindrances, if voters would use the election as a chance "to get the wrong people out of government and the right people in."

"In the year 2001, the people of my province were shocked when I dared run for the elections. I did run for the elections even if I can hardly walk. Worse, I was running to fight the one family that ruled Isabela for more than 40 years," said Padaca, one of this year's Ramon Magsaysay awardees, during her lecture on good governance on Friday.

Before Padaca decided to run for office, Isabela was controlled by the Dy family--a political dynasty that she said dates back to 1963, the year she was born.

Padaca, who was afflicted by polio at the age of three, came from an ordinary family. Her parents were both public school teachers.

She finished school through scholarships and became a certified public accountant. Her first major job, though, was that of a radio announcer, which enabled her to expose the province's problems rooted in the political system.

"For 14 years as a broadcast journalist, news and issues came through me--giving me often close-up views of the way by which the resources of our government were being squandered while our people kept getting poorer by the day," she said.

"I told myself, I cannot just sit here looking at these things happening," Padaca said referring to the Dy's acquiring every major elective post in the province without anyone daring to contest them.

In 2001, she ran for Congress against one of the Dys, who eventually won by 48 votes after a congressional electoral tribunal invalidated ballots marked only as "Grace."

In 2004, she ran for governor. This time, she won by more than 44,000 votes, despite the opposition of 33 mayors and charges that she had ties to terrorists.

"I have to be brave to do the fighting, and I hope my courage will rub off on you," Padaca told voters during the campaign.

On Friday, she said, "It is clear that it was courage, not my polio that became contagious."

Difficult first term

Padaca shared that her first three years of being the governor had been difficult.

"If they cannot kill your body, everyday they will try to kill your spirit.