Post by Neil Allan C. de Leon on Jan 28, 2008 8:35:05 GMT -5
For old friends and associates, is the guy they least expected to enter the exciting, at times cruel; and turbulent, field of politics. A shy, soft-spoken property developer and sportsman, Aguilar hardly fits the traditional notion of a politician.
It is not surprising, therefore, that it took some “pressure” from the family council to convince Aguilar to run for elective office, first as a vice-mayor in 1992 which he won hands down. In the 1995 elections, he ran as an independent against the incumbent mayor and official candidate of the administration party. Again, he won that tightly-contested mayoralty fight. And the rest is history.
Under Nene Aguilar, Las Piñas won numerous citations from various groups, a testament of creative and purposeful local government that many are now trying to emulate.
Now on his third term as mayor, Aguilar said he is glad that his administration has regained for the local government the trust and confidence of the people. There is no exaggeration in this assertion judging by the overwhelming mandate the mayor got when he ran in the May 2007 polls. In that election, Las Piñeros gave him a resounding vote of confidence – getting 98 percent of the votes cast, another record in local political history.
Today, the Las Piñas City government has accomplished various mass-based projects; to wit:
27 modern health centers, equipped with modern laboratory and other facilities;
70 day care and nutrition centers for the improvement of children’s health;
provision of more than a hundred motorized deep-wells and electricity in depressed communities;
cementing and asphalt-paving of about 95 percent of the city road network;
construction of more than a dozen modern school buildings and improvement of old buildings, both in elementary and secondary levels;
establishment of the first free City college for poor but deserving students;
construction of modern tricycle terminals-cum livelihood centers in major pedestrian-concentrated areas;
construction and maintenance of streetlights all over the city;
provision of skills training to more than 2,000 youths every year through the Manpower Training Center and its satellites;
provision of livelihood training to more than 20,000 women;
procurement of 60 garbage compactor trucks for the regular collection of garbage; and
mobilization of 1,000 volunteers for the cleanliness drive, and a lot more.
One of the secrets of his success in public office, according to Aguilar, is that he is able to apply the stringent standards of management in running the city government.
“In private business, every resource must count, must achieve a particular goal, and in the most cost-efficient manner,” Aguilar, a billionaire property developer, said. “In private business as in politics, there has to be a political will – a firm hand in running the day to day affairs of the enterprise or government unit, “ he added.
In a sense, he said, it is more challenging running the city government than his own business because as a public official he is responsible for a lot of things and is accountable to all his constituents.
What is important, the mayor explained, is for the leader to set up realistic and “doable” priorities and then to set up a system, a mechanism in accordance with a given timetable.
Asked of his vision for Las Piñas for the new millennium, Aguilar said he wants to see the city continuing to grow economically while retaining its old charm assimilating what is best of the old and new. “But most of all,” he added with confidence, “we want it to continue being a place our people proudly call “Our Home”.
It is not surprising, therefore, that it took some “pressure” from the family council to convince Aguilar to run for elective office, first as a vice-mayor in 1992 which he won hands down. In the 1995 elections, he ran as an independent against the incumbent mayor and official candidate of the administration party. Again, he won that tightly-contested mayoralty fight. And the rest is history.
Under Nene Aguilar, Las Piñas won numerous citations from various groups, a testament of creative and purposeful local government that many are now trying to emulate.
Now on his third term as mayor, Aguilar said he is glad that his administration has regained for the local government the trust and confidence of the people. There is no exaggeration in this assertion judging by the overwhelming mandate the mayor got when he ran in the May 2007 polls. In that election, Las Piñeros gave him a resounding vote of confidence – getting 98 percent of the votes cast, another record in local political history.
Today, the Las Piñas City government has accomplished various mass-based projects; to wit:
27 modern health centers, equipped with modern laboratory and other facilities;
70 day care and nutrition centers for the improvement of children’s health;
provision of more than a hundred motorized deep-wells and electricity in depressed communities;
cementing and asphalt-paving of about 95 percent of the city road network;
construction of more than a dozen modern school buildings and improvement of old buildings, both in elementary and secondary levels;
establishment of the first free City college for poor but deserving students;
construction of modern tricycle terminals-cum livelihood centers in major pedestrian-concentrated areas;
construction and maintenance of streetlights all over the city;
provision of skills training to more than 2,000 youths every year through the Manpower Training Center and its satellites;
provision of livelihood training to more than 20,000 women;
procurement of 60 garbage compactor trucks for the regular collection of garbage; and
mobilization of 1,000 volunteers for the cleanliness drive, and a lot more.
One of the secrets of his success in public office, according to Aguilar, is that he is able to apply the stringent standards of management in running the city government.
“In private business, every resource must count, must achieve a particular goal, and in the most cost-efficient manner,” Aguilar, a billionaire property developer, said. “In private business as in politics, there has to be a political will – a firm hand in running the day to day affairs of the enterprise or government unit, “ he added.
In a sense, he said, it is more challenging running the city government than his own business because as a public official he is responsible for a lot of things and is accountable to all his constituents.
What is important, the mayor explained, is for the leader to set up realistic and “doable” priorities and then to set up a system, a mechanism in accordance with a given timetable.
Asked of his vision for Las Piñas for the new millennium, Aguilar said he wants to see the city continuing to grow economically while retaining its old charm assimilating what is best of the old and new. “But most of all,” he added with confidence, “we want it to continue being a place our people proudly call “Our Home”.