GAGANDA ANG BUHAY
Life would be better a very simple phrase which is worth pondering.
We would probably asks ourselves is it achievable or doable?
For Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, Yes it could be done.
Do you know how Makati came to be?
If not let us scan its beginning:
"In a sense, Mayor Binay and the City of Makati are inseparable. You cannot speak of one without mentioning the other. It was in Makati where Binay came into his own, and it was under Binay that Makati rose from a municipality to become the great city that promises to be the premier city of the land and a model for other urban centers here and abroad to emulate.”
For 12 years, Jojo Binay presided over the phenomenal growth of his beloved Makati, steering the once backward municipality into a vibrant and modern metropolis. Along the way, he battled well-entrenched dynasties in politics and business who could not accept the fact that an ordinary man, a boy from the slums, would dare cross swords with them.
As Makati mayor, Jojo concentrated on improving public services, particularly the educational and health service systems that he correctly considered vital to the development of his beloved city.
With the strong ties between the local government and the residents, Makati, during Jojo's term, became the city with the highest savings in the metropolis. And he made sure these savings went to services that his constituents needed.
In 2001 and 2004, Jojo was overwhelmingly elected as Mayor of Makati, no less than a triumphant return for a man so beloved by his people.
But Jojo Binay's uncompromising defense of truth and democracy has earned him the ire of powerful political forces.
In October 2006, Malacañang attempted to suspend Jojo Binay on flimsy grounds, but the people of Makati and other freedom-loving Filipinos stood by the side of the embattled mayor. After a three-day stand-off at City Hall, the Court of Appeals stopped the Palace from unseating Binay. The feisty mayor then went on to win another round in his fight for truth, after the Sandiganbayan dismissed a graft case filed against him by the Ombudsman for lack of factual basis.
And again, in May 2007, barely a week before Election Day, the Ombudsman suspended Jojo Binay based on allegations that turned out to be supported by falsified statements. Clearly it was an attempt to influence the outcome of the elections in Makati, but the people once again rallied to the side of Jojo Binay and delivered a resounding victory for him and his entire slate.
Such tasks are not for the faint of heart, or the weak of spirit. Jojo Binay, however, is a battle-tested public servant.
Makati has also figured prominently in the political history of the Filipino.
Prior to this it will be recalled that this community was one of the cradles of the revolt against Spanish colonial rule, and following the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983, the epicenter of the protest movement against dictatorial rule.
The day after her assumption to the presidency in February 1986, Cory Aquino appointed Jejomar C. Binay as officer-in-charge of Makati, the first local official to be appointed by the revolutionary government.
Explaining her choice of the former human rights lawyer and street parliamentarian, Aquino said "It was very important for me to place at the helm of Makati someone who would carry out the ideals of EDSA, someone who would make democracy work, not only in the freedom given to its people but also in the proper handling of government according to democratic traditions. And, to my mind, Jojo was the man".
On January 2, 1995, the Makati became a city by virtue of Republic Act 7854.
A few months after his 1995 victory in the polls, Binay finally got his wish to be the mayor of Makati - the city. By virtue of Republic Act 7854, passed by Congress in late December 1994 and signed into law by President Fidel V. Ramos on January 2, 1995, the municipality of Makati became the City of Makati. On February 4, 1995, the charter of the new city of Makati was ratified in a plebiscite. Of the total number of registered voters who participated in the plebiscite, 91 percent were in favor of cityhood.
The formal proclamation of Makati as a city had long been overdue. After the 1992 elections, Makati Congressman Joker Arroyo introduced House Bill 12240 which successfully passed through the House. Senator Vicente Sotto III, chairman of the local government committee, pushed for the swift passage of the measure in the Senate, convinced that Makati "has long been ripe for recognition as a highly-urbanized city."
Jojo has seen Makati earning its rightful place among the most modern urban centers of Asia and the Pacific. He sees Makati not only as a national capital of finance and commerce, but also as a center for information technology, a hub for Asian tourism, a beacon for culture and arts, and the leader in public services.
And today Binay sees the same for the whole country which is why when Binay made his first commitment to make Pangasinan a better province it was no joke.
He mean what he said and said what he meant If he did it in Makati he can do it in our country most especially if he gets elected Vice president in the coming May 2010 polls.