Guia Gomez

Guia Guanzon Gomez (born April 20, 1942) is a Filipino actress, businesswoman and politician. She is the current mayor of San Juan City, having won 75% of total votes during the 2010 elections.^[1] She is known for her relationship with former president Joseph Estrada, with whom she has a son, current Senator JV Ejercito.^[2]

Early life and education

Guia Gomez was born in Bacolod City to Silaynon Doctor Dominador Gomez and Paz Guanzon of Iloilo City. She was the valedictorian during her elementary years at the University of Negros Occidental - Recoletos (formerly Occidental Negros Institute) and completed her high school studies at the Philippine Women's College in Davao City. She graduated from the Philippine Women's University with a degree in Business Administration and a major in Accounting.^[3][4]

Relationship with Former President Joseph Estrada

While still in college, Guia starred in several films, include Cuatro Cantos (1960), Rancho Grande (1960) and Isang Paa sa Hukay (1958).^[5] It was in the film Asiong Salonga, however, that she found romance, eventually falling for her leading man, former President Joseph Estrada. She halted a promising film career in order to finish her college degree and pursue a career in business.

She would later prove instrumental in helping Erap, as the former president is more popularly known, in his political career - as he later ran for mayor of San Juan City in 1967. Despite being declared the loser of the election, he appealed the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, which eventually declared him as the true Mayor of San Juan City. During his tenure as Mayor of San Juan, she served as his first lady. It was also during this period that their son, San Juan City Representative JV Ejercito was born.^[6]

During her tenure as first lady of San Juan City and prior to her own entry to politics, Guia Gomez set-up over thirty of her own businesses in Real Estate, food, and trading.. She hold several of these companies together with her son, JV Ejercito.^[6]

Mayor of San Juan City

2010 Elections

In 2009, Guia Gomez declared her intention to replace her son, JV Ejercito as mayor of San Juan City. In line with this, she formed her own political party, called Partido Magdiwang. She serves as president of the party while her son serves as the chairperson. It is a "San Juan-wide local political party with offices and chapters in majority of its barangays local wide."^[7]

She later won in a landslide, with over 42,000 votes, approximately 75% of the total vote.^[1] Later on, she said the reason that she is mayor now is because her son had many projects including the completion of the PUP San Juan Campus and the completion of the new San Juan City Hall which she wanted to see finished.

Awards and Programs

During her tenure as Mayor, San Juan City was recognized by the Department of Interior and Local Government as the Top Highly Urbanized City in the country in terms of governance for 2011. It was the second ranked in the country in 2010. Mayor Gomez mentions that this is due to her 7K program - Kalinisan (Cleanliness), Katahimikan (Peace), Kaunlaran (Progress), Kalusugan (Health), Kalikasan (Environment), and Kalinga sa Pamilya (Family Welfare). The latter two Ks were added by her, building on the 5Ks initially started by her son.^[8]

One of her most important programs, together with architect Jun Palafox is the transformation of San Juan City into a vertical green city, with "elevated sidewalks, monorail, high-rises and greenery". This is in response to the danger of floods in the city.^[9]

2013 Elections

Guia Gomez is running for re-election as mayor of San Juan. She won against Reynaldo San Pascual and Glenn Angeles.^[10]

Mayor Guia As a Woman and a Mother

“Within her is a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity and ageless wisdom. She touches the soul with humble simplicity. Her leadership is servitude first and last. With intense humility, she offers her selfless dedication to a cause greater than herself: a cause that is magnanimous, honorable, and noble.”

These are the very exact words that describe the Chief Executive Officer of the City Government of San Juan. Such narrative account truly captures and clearly speaks of her being: the same qualities that impressed the entire San Juan community; a woman, mother, servant-leader, entrepreneur, civic worker, and environmentalist.

As a woman and mother, her involvement in different organizations that aim to uplift the quality of women’s lives and their families’ is remarkable. For many years, she had served as National President of the Balikatan sa Kaunlaran (BSK) National Foundation; became president of the Pink Ladies National Foundation, Chair of San Juan Council for Women, Honorary Chair of the Philippine National Red Cross-San Juan Chapter, Rotary Club of Davao, Governor for National Capital Region North of the National Council of Women of the Philippines, Director of the Recovery Circle Foundation and a Convenor of Family and Life Movement.

Having spearheaded these various organizations, she led them to be faithful to their advocacies and delivered concrete measures in order to impact change. This made her earn several awards and achievements. To cite a few, she has received the Priyarshini Award as an Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur given by the Federation of Indian Woman Entrepreneurs; an Outstanding Woman Leader awarded by the National Council of Women in the Philippines and Girl Scouts of the Philippines; and a recipient of Herstory Centennial Award given by the National Centennial Commission-Women Sector.

Her brilliance and intelligence have caused great impact on the development of the society and people’s lives. To wit, she has integrated developmental perspective in the management and operation of non-government organizations. Under her guidance, these organizations become financially sustainable while they promote environmental programs, preserve cultural heritage, and instill a sense of nationalism. One of her contributions, the creation of doll museum, a leading BSK project earning as the One Town One Product Award, has spread in various places such as San Juan, Marikina, Las Pinas, Subic, Bulacan, and Valenzuela. It clearly indicates that her developmental plans and ideas extend beyond San Juan – a legacy many of our leaders today aim to achieve.

She is the leader behind San Juan City’s honor for being the Philippines’ No. 1 Top Performing Highly Urbanized City for 2011, and Excellent in the Implementation of Anti-Red Tape Act in 2012; named Meralco’s 2013 Luminaries Awardee for being an Outstanding Local Government Unit; and the visionary and implementer of San Juan’s effective programs on Kaunlaran, Kabuhayan, Kalusugan, Katahimikan, Kalinisan, Kalinga sa Pamilya at Kalikasan, the Honorable Guia Guanzon Gomez, City Mayor of San Juan.

2016 elections

On September 30, 2015, she decided to run again for the mayoralty position. Gomez will seek her 3rd and final term as the City Mayor as she will facing Vice Mayor Francis Zamora. She will run together with her niece of former President Joseph Estrada, Janna Ejercito for congresswoman and Jinggoy Estrada's daughter, Janella for Vice Mayor. And she narrowly won re-election against Zamora.

Other Organizations

Mayor Gomez currently serves as the president of Balikatan sa Kaunlaran (BSK) Movement, an NGO created by the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) dedicated to "uplifting the quality of life of women and their families".^[11] It has since evolved into an organization supporting livelihood programs and training for female entrepreneurs including the creation of Christmas decorations and dolls.^[12]

References