AGAINST ALL ODDS:

A TOP the bedside table of Ma. Gracia Cielo Padaca are the inspirational books "The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck, "Being Happy" by Andrew Matthews, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" by Balthasar Gracian and the Holy Bible.

These books, says the 40-year-old Padaca, a polio-stricken former radio broadcaster, push her hard to triumph over the challenges that face her everyday, among them her recent electoral victory over a member of one of the most enduring political clans in Northern Luzon.

"These books, especially the Bible, motivate me a lot to move on against all odds," she says.

She has recently won in the bitterly fought Isabela gubernatorial contest against incumbent Faustino Dy Jr., the acknowledged torchbearer of the Dy political dynasty that has ruled the province for 32 years.

Her proclamation, however, was suspended by the Commission on Elections' first division on May 22 after Dy, the eldest son of the late Dy patriarch Faustino Sr., sought her disqualification, citing the alleged support of the communist-led New People's Army for Padaca's candidacy.

Coping with disability

Stricken with polio at the age of 3, Padaca says she turned to reading and learning to make her strong despite her physical handicap.

"As a child, I would cry and seek the caring hands of my mother whenever my playmates would tease me because of my handicap. But through the years, I learned to cope with my disability," she says.

Padaca moves around aided by crutches. Despite her condition, she went around Isabela during the 90-day campaign period to court votes that she hoped would change the quality of politics in her province.

Padaca was born on Oct. 25, 1963 to schoolteachers Bernardo and Amelia Padaca in Naguilian, Isabela.

Though handicapped, the sickly Padaca excelled in school and graduated valedictorian at the Cauayan South Central School in 1976 and at the Our Lady of the Pillar Institute in 1980.

She later earned a business administration degree, magna cum laude, at the Lyceum of the Philippines in Manila in 1984. She became a certified public accountant in 1985 after passing the board exams.

"I did my best while studying because I knew that education was very important to me, us being poor," she says.

In 1986, poverty and the lack of immediate employment forced her to apply as an anchor-reporter for dzNC-Bombo Radyo in Cauayan City, where she began a broadcast career that spanned 14 years.