| Ramon Guico, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Ramon Guico, Jr. | |
| Chairman of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines | |
| In office 2001–2010 |
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| Mayor of Binalonan, Pangasinan | |
| In office June 30, 1987 – June 30, 1998 |
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| In office June 30, 2001 – June 30, 2010 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | December 10, 1953 Binalonan, Pangasinan |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Spouse(s) | Arlyn Grace Guico |
| Children | Mon-mon; RG; Mike; Michelle; Melissa; Patrick |
| Alma mater | University of Baguio |
| Occupation | Public Servant |
Ramon Naval Guico, Jr. (born December 10, 1953 in Binalonan, Pangasinan) is the President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) and the current Mayor of the Binalonan. He recently launched the Ginhawa Mo, Gets (Gamot, Edukasyon, Trabaho, Serbisyo) Ko Agad Campaign which aims to strengthen the local government and provide faster and improved services to the people. He ran for Senator in the 2010 elections but lost.
He is the third child of Ramon and Vicenta, of Pangasinan and Isabela. A born entrepreneur, Ramon at age 5 and all throughout his elementary and high school was already helping her mother, “Aling Quita” in their store. He was a known student leader and was the President of his high school student council.
Ramon went to Baguio City for college and took up engineering at the University of Baguio. He met his future wife, Arlyn, a pharmacist, in the nearby town of Santo Tomas.
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In the early 1970s and while newly married, Guico began poultry and hog-raising business. He then dived his business into gravel and sand by buying junk Pantranco buses to be used for transport of sand and moon. This earned him the moniker, "Magbubulok" or Junk Man by his relatives and friends. Guico then ventured into the construction business where he built dams and farm-to-market roads. In 1985, he then entered the business of health care and education, which by then was the largest business venture he had undertaken.
In 1987, Guico was appointed by President Cory Aquino as mayor of Binalonan, Pangasinan. Binalonan was a 5th class municipality when Guico took office. While in office, Guico worked hand in hand with the local people, bringing the municipality to a first class municipality, with its own university contributing to affordable college education not only within the city but also to surrounding cities.
Guico also served as President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines. Early on, he worked to change the image of the LMP long marred by wrong impression that it was nothing but a bastion of traditional local politicians into to become a research-based, result-oriented and primary champions to the interests and development agenda of its member-municipalities and their constituencies. To correct the image of LMP as nothing but a forum for mayors to socialize, Ramon used the LMP as an effective platform for innovative mayors to share their exemplary practices. During his first term as LMP National President, he launched the Ang Galing mo Mayor[1] (You are the Best Mayor) Project as LMP’s serious efforts to promote innovation and excellence in local governance. This project aimed to bring out the best in Philippine municipalities in order to re-engineer and raise the quality of local governance in the country. The LMP made history in urging performing mayors to mentor their fellow mayors how to better perform through peer-to-peer method. Through the LMP, mayors took the lead in disseminating the various exemplary practices in municipal governance for widest replication.
The Ang Galing Mo Mayor Project made the LMP visible not only to its members but also to national government agencies, non-government organizations, the private sectors and international donor agencies. So successful has this project been that other Leagues have adopted the peer-to-peer method.
During Ramon’s second term, the LMP founded the Mayor’s Development Center (MDC),[2] a first in Philippine local government organization, and even the first in Asia. The MDC now serves as the development and training arm of the LMP for improving municipal governance and leadership with the vision of establishing a community of municipal innovators and educators in the Philippines from among the most outstanding and exemplary municipal mayors. In fact, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the successor of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) has recognized MDC as an exemplary project of the LMP. The MDC offered learning events and capability building for local government officials and employees on strategic planning and management, coastal resource management, solid waste management, orientation for the newly elected Mayors (ONE-M), sustainable upland development and local economic development.
The LMP also implemented the Lakbayin ang Magandang Pilipinas Project, a weekly TV show which proudly showcases LMP’s advocacies and innovative and effective good practices of our member municipalities in promoting good local governance for replication.
The Ang Galing Mo Mayor, the MDC and the Lakbayin ang Magandang Pilipinas were initiatives to highlight and celebrate municipalities’ innovations and excellence that are often not captured or noticed by our national decision and policy makers and even the national media.