Lito Atienza

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Mayor of City of Manila
Lito Atienza

Preceded by	Alfredo S. Lim
Born	August 10, 1941 San Andres, Manila
Residence	San Andres, Manila
Political party	Liberal Party (Philippines)
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Ma. Evelina I. Atienza
Website: http://www.manila.gov.ph/

Jose Livioko Atienza, Jr. (born August 10, 1941), popularly known as Lito Atienza, first served as Mayor of the City of Manila in the Philippines on June 30, 1998. Atienza will step down on June 30, 2007, after serving a three-year three-term limit for local government executives set by the Philippine Constitution of 1987. His administration could be best described as phase of urban renewal for the Philippines’ capital.

1 Early life and career
2 Advocacies and issues
3 See also
4 External link

[edit] Early life and career

Atienza was born in the district of San Andres Bukid, four months before the outbreak of World War II. Atienza’s father, Jose J. Atienza, Sr. was a distinguished public servant to three Philippine presidents.

He took up his primary and secondary education from Ateneo de Manila University and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Santo Tomas. His interest and degree in architecture served as useful in rehabilitating and renewing the City of Manila, which has fallen to decay over years of unmanaged growth in population and the lack of an urban planning & community development.

[edit] Political career

Atienza started his political career in 1968 when he organized the Democratic Youth Movement. He was one of those who survived the Plaza Miranda bombing in 1972.

During Martial Law, Atienza was arrested twice for exposing human rights abuses under the dictatorship regime of President Ferdinand E. Marcos at that time. He remained with the opposition even if he was on constant threat of incarceration for opposing Marcos. Atienza was first elected as Member of Parliament in the then 4th Congressional Dictrict of Manila (then encompassing the districts of Paco, Pandacan, San Andres Bukid, Sta. Ana, Santa Mesa districts) under the Batasang Pambansa in 1984 and served until Marcos was peacefully ousted during the People Power Revolution of 1986.

Under the administration of President Corazon Aquino, Atienza was appointed General Manager of the National Housing Authority in 1988 and he promoted low-cost housing for teachers and policemen.

Together with a former Manila police general, Alfredo S. Lim running for mayor, Atienza ran as vice-mayor in Manila. The two defeated the incumbent slate of then Mayor Gemiliano Lopez, Jr. The tandem won a second term in 1995 and in 1998, when Lim ran for President of the Philippines, Atienza was elected Mayor and took his oath of office on July 24, 1998, coinciding with the 427th founding anniversary of the City of Manila. Atienza was again re-elected in 2001 and finally on 2004.

[edit] Leadership style

Atienza’s leadership can be described into three aspects; (1) social and community development – where he focused on improving the welfare of senior citizens and of children, especially for abandoned children, (2) improving living conditions by improving government services and facilties, and (3) simplifying the bureaucracy in dealing with the city government of Manila.

[edit] Social development

In almost forty years of Atienza’s political career, he has established social development projects such as the "Mahal Ko si Lolo, Mahal Ko si Lola" (I Love My Grandfather, I Love My Grandmother) foundation in 1976, a model for today’s Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA). In 1984, he also founded the "Kababaihan ng Maynila," (The Women of Manila) a women’s livelihood organization. In 1992 while serving as Vice-Mayor, he established the "Home for the Angels," a child care center for abandoned and abused infants.

[edit] Community development

In the areas of urban renewal for the City of Manila, Atienza implemented the "Buhayin ang Maynila" (Revive Manila) progran, renovating most of Manila’s decaying public facilities such as lighting and improving the sidewalk by the Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard and the area is now filled with al fresco restaurants and coffee shops. Public places such as the Plaza Miranda, the Andres Bonifacio monument, Rajah Sulayman, the Binondo areas, the creation of a Linear-Park in Pandacan, renovating Carriedo and the R. Hidalgo streets in Santa Cruz, upgrading services of the city’s public libraries, schools and hospitals including the Ospital ng Maynila and the building a permanent campus for the Universidad de Manila are among the achievements under Atienza’s administration.

[edit] Advocacies and issues

Jose “Lito” Atienza, Jr. is a devout Roman Catholic and under his administration, he pursued programs that were “Pro-Life” and opposed any forms of campaign or programs that promoted choices in conception, or sex education programs under any types of health or family programs. Atienza believes that life is sacred and that the people should respect and value the life of a newborn. All of the City of Manila’s health centers do not carry family planning promotional programs especially if it campaigns contraception.

Atienza’s urban renewal programs also faced certain controversies when he decided to build a new campus for the Unibersidad de Manila, (formerly called City College of Manila) on the historical Mehan Gardens. Environmentalists and historians were opposed to the project stating that Mehan Gardens should remain as an open space, one of the few remaining open spaces in the City of Manila and for historical reasons, the gardens is still an untapped archeological resource that dates back to the time of the Spanish colonial era.

Historians also questioned Atienza’s historical wisdom and supposed love for architecture when the mayor ordered the demolition of the Jai-Alai Fronton along Taft Avenue to give way to the envisioned Hall of Justice to house the city’s regional trial courts. The building, built during the American colonial period was one of the last remaining art-deco style buildings that survived World War II. Atienza demolished the building and after several years, construction of the Hall of Justice has not been completed.

The mayor also took one great step by battling the country’s three major oil companies, the partly state-owned Petron, British-owned Pilipinas Shell and Caltex-Chevron. Atienza and the city council decreed that the presence of oil distribution depots in the heavily populated district of Pandacan poised as a security and safety danger and issued an eviction notice to the oil companies. The concern was raised after the terror attacks that started on September 11, 2001 that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York. Atienza and the council decreed that the Pandacan district was to be converted from an industrial zone to a residential-commercial zone. A moratorium was set and the oil companies have agreed to gradually scale down their operations.

Since the early-1960s, Atienza aligned himself with the Liberal Party and up to the present, he has been a staunch party supporter. During the political upheavals calling for the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo in 2005, Atienza established himself and those who supported Arroyo as the “true” Liberal Party and expelled party members who are opposed to Arroyo. The controversy is still being reviewed by the Commission of Elections, to determine which of the two factions are the legitimate Liberal Party, the faction under Atienza or the group of former Senate President Franklin Drilon.