Mayor Fred Lim

In the morning, you can see Fred Lim moving about with a slow-moving tambourine as he campaigns for his reelection to the plum post of mayor of the city of Manila. After lunch, he does the same. He’s doing this, instead of waving to the crowds in a motorcade. “This enables me to shake hands with people, which a motorcade will not allow,” the white-haired, former outstanding policeman of the prime city told media people at a Chinese lunch.

Mayor Lim needs no introduction to voters in the city, which he served as chief executive in the ’90s, then in the last election, and which he wants to continue serving for another term. Between those stints, he ran for president of the Republic but lost, and ran and won as senator.

His stints as mayor have drawn different reactions. Some people called him “Mr. Clean” when he removed girlie bars from Manila’s tourist sections (the girls promptly moved to Pasay City), then led teams that sprayed houses and buildings where suspected drug dealers stayed, and burned pornographic publications. His latest move — removing the food stalls and entertainment stages at Baywalk, along Roxas boulevard, drew mixed reactions too — from cheering to cursing. But the mayor had reasons: residents in the area complained of the loud noise the bands were making up to the wee hours of morning, thwarting the possibility of the drug trade flourishing, and giving back to the site the fabulous Manila sunset and sunrise views.

His report card for the period July 2007 to April 2010 shows remarkable accomplishments, among them medical services and free medicines to indigent patients; inauguration of the fifth city-run hospital for Manila’s third district and construction of the sixth city-run ten-story, fully air-conditioned hospital serving Manila’s 6th district (target inauguration is April 30, 2010). More school buildings are now found in the city; roads and public markets have been rehabilitated. For peace and order, more lighting projects have been installed. To decongest Manila’s streets, he banned the entry of buses.

Fred’s biography, written by no less than National Artist Nick Joaquin, tells the story of a hard-working, fearless detective who pursued cases and criminals relentlessly, out of great respect for the law. His 38 years experience as a policeman, Fred told me, have helped him in his campaign for public office. His sleuthing skill and Mr. Clean image did not win him in his bid for the president in 1998 but lost to Joseph “Erap” Estrada. It did help him win a seat in the 2004 senatorial election, but after three years, he decided to run for mayor of Manila, because “I was fed up with the legislative process, which was moving very slowly.”

Fred is running under the Liberal Party banner. But he is not telling City Hall employees to vote for the party’s standard bearer Noynoy Aquino. “Let them decide for themselves — to vote for Villar or Gibo, if they want. This is a free country.”

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Finally, good news from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). The institution got ISO certification in the midst of leadership controversy.

Just the other day, the Anglo-Japanese-America Registrars (AJA) recertified that PGH’s management system conforms to ISO 9001:2008 standards. A total of 108 hospital procedures, including procedures on management, product/services realization, resource management and systems improvement were audited. All hospital procedures were found to be consistent with the international benchmark of quality.

In their first annual surveillance audit last Tuesday, AJA commended the PGH administration under the leadership of Dr. Rolando Enrique Domingo for the major improvements in the way the hospital maintains quality service delivery. 

It will be noted that the PGH is currently in the news after a small group of doctors threatened to go on mass leave of absence after Dr. Jose Gonzales’ appointment as director was declared null and void. He was replaced by Dr. Domingo, a former assistant secretary of the Department of Health and deputy director of the PGH. Gonzales, who still occupies the erstwhile director’s office, is reported to continue to refuse access to some vital documents necessary for the audit. It was fortunate that Dr. A’ Ericson Berberabe, the hospital quality management representative, was able to produce duplicates of some of these documents.   

Dr. Domingo has vowed to build on the ISO certified governance system to ensure better delivery of health service to the underserved. 

 PGH was initially ISO 9001:2008 certified in 2009 under the directorship of Dr. Carmelo Alfiler. PGH serves a total of 600,000 patients annually on a budget of P1.2 B appropriated under the General Appropriations Act.

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The young ones promise to make changes in governance. Among them is Judy “Juday” de Leon-Vargas, a 20-year-old college senior who is running for a council seat in the fabled town of Lingayen, Pangasinan. Juday is finishing the development communication course at the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture in Los Banos this month. But whenever possible, she joined three other young candidates on the Liberal Party ticket to campaign on the promise that they would effect the changes their constituents have been demanding of their local government.

Juday, who is a former runner-up in the Miss Lingayen beauty pageant, told me during a visit in her parents’ farm, that at a young age, she already thought of how she could serve her town. This was because of the example set by her late grandparents – a lola who was a lawyer and advocate of justice, and her lolo, Romy de Leon, who served as a provincial board member, and founded the Anda Rural Bank. Her lolo led a hunger strike that led to the increase of teachers’ salaries, and when he was detained for a minor infraction, he, believing he was in the right, refused to put up his own bail, and asked the townsfolk to make P1 contributions for his bail — which they willingly did.

Juday is vice-president of the De Leon family-owned Anda Rural Bank, whose president is her mother, Juris Vargas.

Juday’s younger sister, Doris, a UPLB junior, was an officer of the Samahang Kabataan, and, who knows, might run for a political position in the future too?

Juday and her peers believe that they can demonstrate the reality of Dr. Jose Rizal’s saying that the youth are the hope of the fatherland. She said that, being single, she can devote all her time to her work as councilor, if elected.  

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