The Parañaque Experiment

Manila Standard
4 February 2005

There’s a quiet revolution going on in Paranaque City. And it would do well for the rest of Metro Manila – and the entire country – to take notice.

The revolt began in the last elections when, after nearly a decade under the benign (and sometimes not so benign) rule of Mayor Joey Marquez, the southern city was brought to the brink of financial ruin and overall, irreversible decay. And the truth of the matter was city residents had nearly come to accept their situation as a fact of life, like the uncollected garbage in the streets, the horrendous traffic and the general breakdown of law and order.

Law-abiding, tax-paying people had virtually barricaded themselves in their subdivisions, which became for all intents and purposes self-sustaining gated communities that did not consider themselves part of the rest of the city. Ironically, these people comprised an overwhelming 70 percent of the population.

During that dark period, the 30 percent of the population that consisted of the so-called “informal settlers” or squatters, and who voted religiously for the basketball player-turned-comedian, were coddled and pampered. Never mind that they didn’t provide the financial lifeblood of Paranaque by way of their taxes. They had the vote, and so they controlled the city.

Then last May, Joey’s term mercifully came to an end. The outgoing mayor’s choice to replace him was his own wife, ex-actress Vanessa Laxamana, a.k.a. Alma Moreno. And, considering the recent political history of Paranaque, it looked as if the city would plumb new depths of official neglect and ineptitude, and the bunker mentality of the tax-paying residents would be reinforced.

The candidates were the aforementioned Alma, comebacking former Mayor Pablo Olivarez and Vice Mayor Florencio “Jun” Bernabe. Of the three, the first two were picked to win early. Nothing was really expected to change except the names of the people who ran the city hall.

But that’s where the story took a sudden, unexpected turn – for the better, this time. In an unprecedented show of political force, the subdivision residents of Paranaque decided they had had enough of Marquez and his wife and to vote for change for a change.

After years and years of bellyaching and giving up their own city for lost, the taxpaying Paranaquenos got what they wanted. And what they did could have very important repercussions on the way politics is practiced in this benighted land.

Of Joey Marquez, little more has to be said except this: when he left after nine years, he had nothing to show for it. Except for two remarkable things – the city was nearly P900 million in debt and Joey was publicly bragging to ex-paramour Kris Aquino that he was now “richer than your mother”, former President Cory Aquino.

Indeed, while the city’s annual budget had ballooned during Joey’s last year to P1.6 billion, all of it coming from the fees and taxes collected from the residents and local businesses, nothing was improving outside the subdivision gates. There were no big infrastructure projects, no business-enticement drives, no major welfare campaigns, not even proper garbage collection and streetlights.

The mayor showed up for work on Mondays and was not seen again for the rest of the week, except on television and on the golf course. Because his term was ending, he had apparently decided that he should concern himself exclusively with Kris and their messy break-up, his acting career and with improving his handicap.

Everything was at a standstill or deteriorating. And Alma, the would-be heiress to the city, was basically seen as the inheritor of the squatter mandate, the clone in policy and direction at city hall – or the obvious lack thereof – of Joey.

As for Olivarez, the aging former Mayor who could not seem to let go of the dream to return to city hall, he was perceived as just a little better for the city than the actress-surrogate. While the wealthy doctor and hospital-school owner had a better track record then the outgoing actor’s regime, that was not really much of a feat, considering the ultra-low standards set by Marquez. He had his chance, and while he didn’t really blow it, he didn’t make much of it either.

As for Bernabe, the taxpaying locals saw him as the best choice. The son and namesake of a 23-year mayor of the city, the low-key, Baclaran-born businessman and two-term vice mayor was perceived as a true representative of the legitimate residents and the defender of their oft-ignored rights.

The trick was getting the bellyachers and the other sectors that had a real stake in the city to vote him into office.

And vote for Bernabe they did. With the vote among the squatter almost equally divided among the three candidates, what swung it for the (then) vice mayor was the village vote, which he got overwhelmingly. In subdivision after subdivision, Bernabe soundly defeated his more popular and more financially capable rivals.

The message was clear: no more would the taxpaying majority leave the voting to a minority that, by rights, shouldn’t even be allowed to vote. No more would they pay for redundant services while the city spent their tax money earmarked for those purposes elsewhere. No more would they suffer clowns who, while they regaled the masses with their comedy and extra-marital affairs, did everything but the job they were contracted to do by their election.

At the end of the day, not only did Paranaquenos, choose not to elect Alma, Joey himself was denied a congressional seat.

Now, half a year after Bernabe’s election, the results are easy to see: the garbage piles that used to be permanent fixtures even on major roads are gone, streets are well-lighted, traffic flow is a whole lot better. Even city hall has been improved by a new coat of paint and much-needed renovations that Marquez had no time to do in nine years.

Despite the welcome changes, Bernabe himself remains cautious about raising hopes up too high. “We are very much in debt and there’s only so much we can do without funds,” says the new mayor, who aims to raise P2 billion in revenues for the city this year to fund his various simultaneous projects without raising new taxes. (The budget will be raised by improving collection in the city, by hiking the current sorry 50 percent collection rate, the mayor says).

The good thing is despite the debt burden, Paranaque has the revenues to fund a truly responsive local government and a model city. “All the ingredients are already here,” he says. “And now that all the residents are involved, not just the squatters, we know it can be done.”

Bernabe, of all people, knows that he must not fail his constituents – all of them. If he doesn’t deliver, the taxpayers will return to their subdivisions, giving up completely on the local government and cursing their officials for taxing them to death while letting them fend for themselves.

Paranaque is now the laboratory of a crucial political experiment. For the sake of the entire country, we can only hope that it succeeds.

Published by special permission from the author.