Turning 40: Life begins for Mayor Joey

For Neil Hamtig, 16, and his 11 younger brothers and sisters, life began when their benefactor whisked them out of the San Isidro barangay hall in Parañaque City, where all of them lay sprawled because of severe malnutrition, to a hospital and later housed them in a drop-in center where they have been staying for two months now.

The worst case of malnutrition is listed as third-degree malnutrition. But if there’s a fourth degree case, that would have been the Hamtigs when their kind-hearted barangay officials took pity on them and dropped them at the barangay hall. There, they – including their 41-year-old mother, Susan, a native of Romblon – lay weak and famished, all bones and skin. The younger ones could not even move their necks while six of them were suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.

Today, the Hamtig kids are alive and sprightly, no doubt nurtured and assured by the pleasant thought that as long as their benefactor is around, there will always be a warm room to sleep in; there will always be food at the table today and tomorrow; there will always be regular medical visits for them. Next month, under special arrangements, the older ones will sit in inside classrooms to catch up on what their unfeeling father, who has totally abandoned them, had denied them – education. Only Neil was able to attend school while still in Romblon and he didn’t even finish Grade IV.

Tomorrow, Oct. 7, Susan and her whole army of kids – Neil; Gilbert, 14; Richard, 13; Michael, 12; Mary Joy, 10; Catherine, 9; Chin-chin, 7; Kimberly, 5; Randy, 4; Paolo, 3; and Zairah, 2 – will wear their brand-new clothes and shoes, go to church and say prayers for their benefactor, Parañaque City Mayor Joey P. Marquez, who is turning 40 on that day.

"Sana’y bigyan pa siya ni Lord ng mahabang buhay," says Neil. "Pangalawa sa Diyos, utang namin kay Meyor ang aming buhay."

As on his previous birthdays since he became vice mayor of Parañaque, the former PBA player-turned-actor-turned-politician will be showered with gifts of sacks of rice and canned goods, as he so requests of his well-wishers, friends and supporters.

"He will get up early on his birthday to distribute the goods to his poor constituents," says Ailyn Romea, the mayor’s secretary. "He will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with indigent families that he will pick at the spur of the moment."

His friends and supporters, which are legion, may throw lavish parties for him. But on his own, he will never, never spend a single centavo on preparing a feast on his birthday. "He would rather spend the money to insure that the poorest of his constituents have something to eat on his birthday."

Long after he’s done with public service, Mayor Marquez wants to be remembered best for doing battles for children who need help the most.

Ever since he became mayor in July, 1995, Marquez has worked on a platform dedicated to the welfare of the underprivileged children – the Hamtig brood, the street urchins and, this one is closest to his heart, the "heaven’s children" or the visual- or hearing-impaired, the autistic, those with Down Syndrome and suffering from developmental delay.

Last month alone, out of his own pocket, he had 30 hearing-impaired special learners of the city elementary schools outfitted with hearing aids. Also, he has earmarked the proceeds of the fifth Mayor Joey P. Marquez Golf Invitational set Nov. 20 this year at the Canlubang Golf & Country Club, traditionally held to coincide with his birthday, for the construction of a separate school for these special learners.

One may ask, why does he hold a special affinity to the less fortunate kids? In a way, he says, he was one of them once.

"I started living independently when I was 11," he remembers. "At that age I was already working as a janitor, a job I held for four years to support my studies. For another two years, I was a bus boy also in Angeles City."

Although he could afford to just concentrate on his studies by staying in the comfort of his family’s home, he opted for early independence, a decision that led to his mother suing the company he was working for at the time for exploitation of a minor. "But the case did not prosper when the judge harangued my mother and told her instead that she should be proud that her son at so young an age would already want to do hard work," Marquez says.

To make both ends meet, he remembers jogging from his rented room to his place of work in Clark, a distance of four kilometers, for years. He emerged the better out of it for it made him healthy and fit and contributed greatly to his becoming an exceptional basketball player, which ultimately became his ticket to fame and fortune.

But he was not that poor either not to be able to afford a jeepney ride. The few times he did, he battled to get the seat at the rear of the jeepney. From there, he watched flashy cars and beautiful houses flash by, dreaming that someday he would own one of those.

"I know how it is to be poor," says he, "so as long as I am capable, I will help kids who have less in life get equal opportunities."

What’s a day like in the life of Mayor Marquez?

Usually, he retires to bed as late as 4 a.m. But on a Monday morning like this one, he rises before the sun does. He leads the flag ceremony, confers with his vice mayor and councilors on the status of ongoing projects which are many, sees as many of his callers (averaging 500 daily) as possible, reprimands rather than sweet-talks his traffic aides, and presides over civil weddings. He’s off in the afternoon for outside meetings that more often than not extend till the wee hours of the morning.

On the problem of traffic, he sometimes hears people cursing him for it. Traffic management in Parañaque City, he explains, is a responsibility of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to which all local government units under it contribute P3 million monthly. To help ease the problem, Marquez has deployed his additional team of 70 traffic aides.

He narrates how one irate motorist alighted from his car and cursed him to his face. Not one to lose his cool easily ("Ang pikon ay talo," he often tells his advisers), he let go of that one and made a mental note to meet with his brigade of traffic aides this Monday morning.

Typical of this TV funnyman, he makes light of even the most serious situations. He always finds a way to crack jokes even during civil wedding rites.

Says his amiable secretary, "Weddings here at the city hall are always an event to look forward to. Some brides and grooms are dressed to the nines as if having a church wedding. Not to mention that the mayor is at his best dishing out humor in his own inimitable way."

The number of civil weddings has markedly risen during the two terms of Marquez, in part because who would not relish the idea of a handsome actor officiating at the wedding and acting as ninong when requested? Of course, there are the photo ops with him at the end of the ceremony, with the pictures to land in the family photo album for the kids to be proud of. "Hey, mom, is that really Joey Marquez with you and Dad at your wedding?"

Then, that surely would trigger a lot of memories for the parents being wed by this handsome hunk of a man who was once their mayor – and a smile on their lips upon remembering a funny line thrown at them by this lovable funnyman. "Ano ang inyong gagawin sa singsing ninyo?" the mayor had asked them before they were slipped into their fingers. "Ang sa akin kinain ko," he answered his own.

Very Joey P. Marquez.