It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Grace Padaca's is the face of hope in Philippine politics. Two years back, Ms Padaca was elected governor of Isabela province in the northern Philippines and wrested power from the Dy dynasty that ruled her home province for four decades. And she just happens to be polio-afflicted.

.Her victory was a talking point at an Institute of Southeast Asian Studies forum last week, where academics trotted out their theories on what President Gloria Arroyo had to do for the country. But Ms Padaca, 42, who walks with crutches, told the forum: "I fend for myself and I am teaching my people to be independent, not to be beholden to Malacanang (the President's palace)."

.A crusading radio commentator before her entry into politics, Ms Padaca, who was afflicted by polio at the age of three, has wasted no time in putting in place reforms in her home province.

."For a start, I broke the monopoly of the middle man in my province, the people who control the prices of farm produce, buying cheap and selling at much higher prices in the market," she told Today. To do that, she invited agents from outside of her province, a move which enraged the entrenched operators. The competition resulted in higher prices for the farmers. And at the height of the season, when prices fall, she uses public funds to buy up surplus produce and store it.

At the end of the season when prices go up, she puts the produce in the market. From the profits, she is able to make small loans to the perennially out-of-pocket farmers to tide them over till the next harvest.

"We should free ourselves from the strictures of the old ways – imposed by wealthy landlords and a President who only visits us after a typhoon has wrecked the province," she said. .

Ms Padaca has also cracked down on timber poachers. Despite her physical disabilities, she works 15-hour days, starting with an hour of prayer at 6am. "I sleep from 6 in the evening till 10 pm, wake up to do my paperwork till 2 am, and then go back to bed again," she said of her working style. She is a much-sought-after inspirational speaker, both as a giant-slaying politician and a champion of the physically challenged.

.Ms Padaca had been a multi-awarded radio commentator for 14 years championing the causes of the poor before she decided to take on the Dy family. A daughter of school teachers, she chose a radio career because she could reach the public while keeping her disability out of sight. But her wish to remain invisible was outweighed by her sense of outrage at the Dys' monopoly on power. But she had no illusions about winning – she had no money, no party, no political base. The Dys did not take her seriously. Her campaign vehicle was a farm truck, which she borrowed to cover 278 villages. She had 8 to 10 young volunteers. Her campaign funds came from small donations of 50 to 100 pesos ($1.50 to $3), reaching a total of 800,000 pesos ($30,000) – a minuscule sum to mount a campaign for governorship. But her message on radio – three 15-second slots daily – must have struck a chord ('Isabela for all, not for a few') and her riding around in an old truck, stopping in a village, and conversing with the people, must have been very effective, because at counting time, the shock came: She won 55 per cent of the vote.

Fearing that the Dys would tamper with the ballot boxes, her supporters, 3,000 of them members of an evangelical church, stood on guard. Today, Ms Padaca occupies a five-room bungalow on top of a hill, the official residence of the governor. But she never expected that the mansion would become her home. The last governor, Mr Faustino Dy Jr., the third successive member of the Dy family to run the province, had erected the white, Mediterranean-style villa shortly before the last election. "He thought he was building it for himself," Ms Padaca said with a grin, "but actually, he was building it for me."

.A slight woman with intense brown eyes, she admitted that winning was easier than governing. Her passion shines through. "I tell people, 'Don't take pity on me. I can take care of myself. Take pity on yourselves. You are still poor after 40 years under a dynasty.

You don't have to be imprisoned all your lives'."