Upon entering the Hon. Mayor Herbert Constantine Maclang Bautista’s room, I caught him reaching up to shut a light bulb above his desk. “The room’s too bright,” he said and smiled. He wore a polo barong; he is 42, but looks 26 and full of energy, and still a bachelor. I was meeting for the first time the newly elected mayor of the country’s richest city. And he was demonstrating his city administration’s new thrust: cost-cutting and energy conservation measures.
Quezon City pays so much for utility costs, he said. For its schools, it pays P60 million for electricity each month, and for water, P40 million. Those costs should be whittled down, and with the implementation of a Green Building ordinance he pushed and the city council passed last year, an environment sound system will be imposed on private and public buildings, including putting up rain catchments and using rain water for flushing toilets, and using solar energy.
Mayor Herbert credits the city’s debt-free status to the fiscal management wizardry of Mayor Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, who is now the Speaker of the 15th Congress. What he learned from the former mayor is that government money should be spent on what people really need. (The city has a population of 2.8 million.) “The previous administration concentrated on efficiency of systems, governance, and economic enhancement. I’d like to believe that because of all these, investors have been coming in.”
He will continue his predecessor’s programs, but his emphasis now will be on social development, like health, education and social services, including the re-tooling and training of teachers in the city’s 260 day care centers. Why day care centers? Because, he said, “We take care of the formative years of our children. We have to retool teachers, plus make sure our day care centers are children-friendly.” On social services, he believes in building health centers rather than medical missions, which he would like the private sector to undertake.
The city hall complex is now a hub of infrastructure development; across it is the Quezon Memorial Circle which is undergoing massive modern development (to the chagrin, though, of environmentalists who want to retain a forest-like park). The completion of such projects and those on the drawing board is possible with its established efficient revenue-collecting system. This year’s budget, said the mayor, is P9.4 billion, and he wants that upped to P10 billion next year.
How would he like to be remembered by Quezonians, I asked him. He smiled, “Let history judge me according to my performance.”
Most of our voters being celebrity-mad, one would say Herbert has been catapulted to the city’s highest executive post on account of his having been a popular movie/television actor. Yes and no. He was/is still an entertainment celebrity. But he has brains, too.
Popularly called “Bistek” (I like to presume he was so called because he was rather hefty in his younger days), he carried comedy roles in popular television noontime shows as “Bagets,” “Jack and Jill,” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” In “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” a film series dating back to 1984, he won the 2001 Metro Manila best actor award.
His government service began in 1985 as chairman of the Kabataang Barangay at the Immaculate Concepcion in Cubao, followed by becoming the KB president of the KB national federation. In 1989, he was appointed ex-officio city councilor representing the youth sector, under the administration of Mayor Brigido Simon Jr. He then ran and won as councilor in the city’s third legislative district. In 1995, he was elected vice-mayor and presiding officer of the city. From 1999 to 2001, he was commissioner-at-large of the National Youth Commission under the Office of the President. He ran and won the vice-mayor’s seat twice, serving from 2001 to 2010. In last May’s election, he won the mayorship by a landslide, defeating formidable rivals — former Presidential Chief-of-Staff Michael Defensor, former Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr., and former Congresswoman Mary Ann Susano.
Why I say he has brains, too, is his seriously improving himself intellectually, beyond the slapstick and brazen idiocy of television performance. He was born May 12, 1968, to Herminio Bautista, who served as city councilor representing the fourth district two times, and Rosario Bautista, a restaurateur and entrepreneur. A brother and a sister are artists and restaurateurs as well. He obtained his elementary education at the Victoria School Foundation in Quezon City (1973-74), then a bachelor of arts in philosophy and letters at San Beda College (which gave him an outstanding centennial Bedan award). In 1990, he received his master of arts in public administration and governance at the University of the Philippines -Diliman. He has a master’s in national security from the National Defense College. He is finishing a doctorate in political science at the UP-Diliman.
When he was vice-mayor, he made it a point to visit barangays in the different districts, but now he is at the office, “getting settled” as he attends to mayoral concerns. For one thing, he tries to accommodate as many as possible constituents and investors and media people calling on him. He keeps himself posted on current developments by watching the news on television. He wakes up at 5:30, watches the morning news, and is at his office by 8. His regret is not having time to do readings on history and economics.
Meetings are held with the city executives and consultants on solving problems such as drug addiction, peace and order (petty kinds), and unemployment. These are problems faced by administrators everywhere, and are therefore not unique to Quezon City.
The mayor, like most of the nation, is hopeful that President Aquino will succeed in his goal of making this nation great again. “It’s a good the country is out of World Bank hands,” he said. “The challenge for the President is effective collection of taxes, that leakages (in so far as graft and corruption efforts are concerned) are covered. If we plug the holes, there will be more revenue coming to the coffers. But there’s hope. We should not be pessimistic. I think the paradigm shift should be good for our country.”
The mayor has another good thing going for his administration. His vice-mayor, Joy Belmonte Alimurung, who is the daughter of Mayor Belmonte, is a very capable, intelligent yet down-to-earth and socially-oriented person, who can help with plans to further improve the city’s cultural and social programs.
Still another good thing — the city is the first to have a gender development program, thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr. Ruby Palma. When I mentioned this to Mayor Herbert, he said yes. A plus point for the city, Ruby adds, is its responsive reproductive health program.
A question I failed to ask as the people waiting for the mayor outside his office were still gathering: when is he getting married? I guess his answer will be the same as President P-Noy’s: Wait and see.
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My e-mail: dominimt2000@yahoo.com.