Page 6 - The PH Source Vol 4 No 2 - Pascual

able to get the support of nine village greater heights as manifested in the
chiefs. What he did was to personally radical surge in its revenue from P20
talk to all of them and ask for their million to a remarkable 600 percent
cooperation, at least until the next increase.
local election.
“What i told them is for all of us Emeng’s Brand
to set aside politics at least until the of Governance
next local election. Pagdating the

close to a billion peso budget, giving
the city government the leverage to
procure CoviD-19 vaccines for each
and every local folk.
Emeng’s Brand of Politics
Prior to his election as Gapan City
mayor, he was a barangay captain. election, they may choose to veer aside from the village chiefs, he
His stint was cut short when he felt away and support another candidate also convened [in separate instances]
the need to take what was then a they consider as more worthy than the business sector, the city govern-
sluggish locality to a higher level, and me. Sabi ko sa kanila tulungan nila ment officials and even contractors.
so he ran and won against a formida- ako, tutulungan ko din sila mga kail- in his meeting with local inves-
ble opponent – an incumbent mayor. angan nila sa barangay nila,” Pascual tors, he made a commitment to put
When he assumed the mayoralty recalls. in place an investment-friendly eco-
post, he knew only too well that he to cut the long story short, Mayor nomic policy provided that business-
didn’t have enough barangay cap- Emeng and the 23 barangay captains es would only hire residents from the
tains behind him. in fact, of the 23 worked hand in hand in alleviating city as their employees. “Yun lang
barangays in Gapan City, he was only poverty and push Gapan City to ang kundisyon ko sa kanila, lahat ng
kukuning trabahador o empleyado
nila kailangan taga-Gapan.”
During his meeting with lGU offi-
cials, he conveyed a strong statement
shunning any form of graft under his
tenure.
“Bawal ang corruption hangga‘t
ako ang mayor. Pwede silang mag-
nakaw sa kaban ng bayan kapag
nakita nilang nagnanakaw din ako.
Hindi naman pwedeng hindi nila yun
malalaman dahil kailangan ng mayor
ng mga lagda nila.”
in gathering contractors and
suppliers doing business with the city
government, he made it clear that he
is already a wealthy man even before
he joined politics and as such is not
entertaining the idea of “SoP” or
fixed commission in any government
contract.
He said all transactions should be

52 The Philippine Source |January – March 2021