The Doc is back

TODAY WE begin our journey as we take the road that will take us back to the city hall of our beloved City of San Fernando.

We have decided to take the new challenge as we seek to lead and serve our cabalen Fernandinos anew and complete our original vision to build a great city for all of us.

Sa araw pong ito, muli ko pong iniaalay ang aking sarili upang pamunuan at panglingkuran ang Siyudad ng San Fernando sa darating na mga taon.

Nais ko pong ipagpatuloy ang naudlot na mga programa ng pag-unlad at pagbabago sa ating lungsod na aking sinimulan may siyam na taon na ngayon.

Ako po ay naging alkalde ng San Fernando mula noong 1995 hanggang 2004. Naging bise-alkalde po ako noong 1992, at congressman ng ika-3 distrito noong 2004 hanggang 2007.

It was during my term (as mayor) when this capital town was converted into a component city.

It was during my time when this local government unit reaped many awards in various aspects of governance, chief among them is the Gawad Galing Pook Award.

It was during my time when business investments rose to levels unheard of before, (notably) SM, Robinsons, Pampanga’s Best manufacturing plant, and many others.

It was during my watch when government and the private sector joined hands to save this place from lahar devastation.

I know there is a lot to do to make the City of San Fernando a better city, a better community, and a better place for governance.

Ngayong araw na ito, muli ko pong iniaalay ang aking sarili upang muling pamunuan at paglingkuran ang ating mga kababayang Fernandino tungo sa layuning ito na ibayong pag-unlad at patuloy na pagbabago sa ating siyudad.

Napatunayan na po ang aking kakayahan at katapatan sa bagay na ito. Lalo ko pa pong papatunayan ang aking magagawa para sa siyudad.

Nasubukan na po ako ng ating nga kababayan. At alam ko na muli nila akong susubukan sa hamon ng panahon.

Naniniwala po ako na lubos pa rin ang pagtitiwala ng ating mga kababayan upang sila ay aking pamunuan at paglingkuran.

Today, I have accepted the challenge of my fellow Fernandinos and I have responded to their call to serve and lead (them) once again to a better, brighter future for the City of San Fernando.  

xxxxxxx

AND SO, last Tuesday, what every Fernandino already knew got officially confirmed: Dr. Rey Aquino, thrice mayor and congressman once, declared his intent – no, make that desire – to serve anew as mayor of the City of San Fernando.

Subok na si Doc Rey Aquino! So scream tarpaulins mushrooming all around the city. Harping on Aquino’s supposed accomplishments as city mayor.

Whatever accomplishments diminished, if not altogether obliterated, by claims of the succeeding administration of Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez that Aquino left the city government veritably bankrupt.

Why, it was even highlighted in the media, backed by account statements – if ageing memory serves right – that all that remained in the funds for supplies were  P30 or so, not even enough to buy a decent sign pen. Enough cause for the Rodriguez administration to consider taking Aquino to the Ombudsman, which was again played up in the media. Whether any complaint was ever filed against Aquino or any of his city hall subordinates, I cannot recall now.

Anyways, it was the city assessor Joey de Leon, who also served as Aquino’s city administrator, that bore the brunt of tedious legal and administrative procedures initiated by the Rodriguez administration. Whence De Leon subsequently triumphed, the Civil Service Commission – or is it the courts? – reinstating him chief of the city assessor’s office only a year or two ago.

Aquino’s non-accomplishments, if not outright questionable misdeeds, as city mayor, as played to the hilt by the Rodriguez administration sank the then-congressman’s bid to retake the mayorship.

It was Aquino’s taking Rodriguez to court for the latter’s contracting a multi-million loan for the construction of school buildings in all the city barangays that damned Aquino to electoral perdition. Indeed, what teacher would not want a new school building to teach in? What parent would not want a new school building for his/her children to study in?  

So it came to pass in 2007 that Aquino’s braggadocious “pamaksi ke y Oca” –  I will make a sour dish of Oca, literally – led to a slew of paksi jokes from Rodriguez lieutenant Fer Caylao after the re-electing Rodriguez buried the comebacking Aquino in a landslide of over 15,000 votes.

Fast forward now to the present.

Less the 2007 loser than the immediate past president/CEO of Philhealth, Aquino makes a formidable candidate for city mayor. Maybe, even the man to beat, at this so early stage of the game.

Mindful of this mayhaps, Rodriguez – it has been observed in many a public occasion; it has been whispered in many a private event – hard-sells his chosen  successor: Edwin Santiago, “or you (the Fernandino) will be sorry.”

Rodriguez has all the reasons to stop Aquino from re-taking city hall. An Aquino victory is a repudiation of all that the Rodriguez administration proudly stood for, and gloriously stood on: All that profession of good governance, all that profusion of awards, grand but empty illusions.