University of the East Jubilee Award Acceptance Speech

Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao

University of the East Jubilee Award Acceptance Speech

September 28, 2019

To the distinguished guests…

[greetings]

Allow me to extend my sincerest gratitude to the entire University of the East community as I accept this [Most Outstanding Jubilarian Award]. I cannot express how pleased and grateful I am to be conferred with this incredible honor. I can’t help but think that this is a timely reminder that I must be doing something right in my life to deserve this kind of recognition from the [UE Alumni Association].

For those of you who don’t know, I [am] the Mayor of a town in Pangasinan called Bayambang - my hometown. I am currently [on my second term], but I have to admit that being Mayor has to be one of the hardest and most challenging positions I have ever been in during my 70 years of existence.

Being a public servant is a 24/7 responsibility. I had to trade my city life to a simple life in the province with the wife, Niña, and my youngest son, Antonio. As a mayor, you are expected to be kind enough so the people can relate to you and come to you with their troubles, but also strict enough so no one abuses you. There is very little room for error, especially in a town where people have become used to having corrupt government officials after years and years of dishonest people in power. I honestly cannot blame them for being critical because I, too, fell victim to these politicians for many years. Allow me to tell you the story which urged me to trade my life as a businessman to become a full-time public servant.

It was 1973 when I left the country to work in Indonesia, bringing with me my diploma and my dream of having a better life and future. After years of working hard, meeting with people from different industries and different walks of life, taking risks, calculating my every move, being brought down then standing back up, and everything else in between my pursuit to success, I was able to fulfill my mission to myself: that is to become successful and provide for myself and my family. Then finally, after more than two decades of being away from home, I went back to Bayambang.

To my dismay, my homecoming wasn’t as remarkable as I expected because as it turns out, while I was busy moving forward, my town was drastically falling behind. In the years that I was away, other municipalities and cities have developed greatly, but my hometown remained the same, with no notable development in sight. Even our Municipal Plaza remained exactly as I remembered it. That was when my vision for myself became my dream for my hometown. Thus, the motto “Baley Ko, Pawilen Ko, Aroen Ko, tan Tulungan Ko” was coined. “Bayan Ko, Babalikan Ko, Mamahalin Ko, at Tutulungan Ko.” This motto became my new life mission. 

In 1996, my high school batch mates and I started a program under the same name - “Baley Ko, Pawilen Ko, Aroen Ko, tan Tulungan Ko.” Together, we tried to make positive changes happen as we share the same dream for our municipality. I registered my companies in Bayambang so that the taxes would go straight to our local government, and with the help of a very good friend of mine named Levin Uy, I spearheaded the organization of the Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation, Inc. as a way to provide the needs of our LGU and give donations for projects that were supposed to help the people. But despite everything that we were doing to help the LGU, still we did not see any changes in our town. All those years, I did everything I could as a private citizen, but then I realized that the problem was in the system. So I knew that for change to really take place, change needed to start within. So in 2016, I finally decided, enough, and ran for office. By God’s grace, I won the elections and was proclaimed as the mayor.

Bringing an end to corruption became one of our top priorities. With the help of the legislative branch of our local government, resolutions and ordinances were passed to make sure that anyone in the LGU who tries to use even the smallest amount of the people’s money for their own benefit would deal with corresponding consequences. Our LGU-wide computerization project also made it easier for the people to access information about our projects and made it possible to fast-track transactions and processes. We created several offices such as the Public Information Office and the Information and Communications Technology Office for transparency, slowly but surely bringing back the trust of the people to the local government. Every day, we post updates on our Facebook page and website, and every month, we release a newsletter for my fellow Bayambangueños to see that their money is being used in relevant projects which would greatly impact them and their future. Transparency is the key in earning the trust of the community, and trust in the officials is a very important component in the success of a municipality, or even a company. My dear friends and colleagues, we are very lucky because our years of stay in UE have taught us not only technical know-how and facts in our fields of expertise, but also instilled among us strong values such as integrity, patriotism, patience, and honesty. I brought these values with me when I was a young and determined accountant and businessman in Indonesia, and I continue to bring them with me today as a public servant, still young and determined, as I strive to make the changes I want to see in my hometown.

Aside from putting an end to corruption, we also focused on lowering the crime rate significantly and stopping political dynasty. Through the use of technology, we are able to monitor the different areas around the municipality following the installation of more than 100 CCTV cameras in strategic locations. The Public Order and Safety Office was created and employees were deployed in several areas to make Bayambangueños feel safe in their own town, so aside from helping our Philippine National Police in preventing crime incidences, job opportunities were also created for hundreds of people.

Everything we do, all the programs that we organize, and every project that we implement are all geared towards a single final goal: that is to finally eradicate poverty in our 409-year old municipality. For many years, the townspeople of Bayambang have suffered from the crushing hands of indigence. So in 2017, I declared what is now known as the hardest and most important revolution that our municipality has ever seen: the Revolution against Poverty. It is the most important because this revolution sparked among them hope - something they have struggled to find for a very long time which caused them to be complacent with what they have despite the lack of security in providing their everyday needs. Bayambangueños are a resilient people, but they have suffered long enough, and I believe that it’s time for them to aim higher and have the comfortable life that they deserve.

When I was first inaugurated I promised them with a hope for a much brighter future, a future that is filled with endless possibilities and boundless opportunities for every Bayambangueño. This is the same promise that we are given each day when the sun comes up and shines light upon us. Every morning, the sun rises in the east with the promise of providing a bright day ahead. I like to believe that our alma mater, the University of the East, is also where good people are bred to serve as rays of light to the hopeless and helping hands to the oppressed. This is what truly makes us Undeniably Excellent.

Tonight, we are here with our former classmates and friends as professionals – doctors, engineers, professors, journalists, artists, accountants, businessmen – no longer engrossed on books and desperately trying to complete requirements in every subject, but busy chasing success in our own ways. But we must all remember that the true measure of success is not the labels on our names, nor the amount of money we make, but the number of lives we touch in our lifetime. As individuals who were lucky enough to have received quality education from one of the best schools in our country, it is our duty to practice our core values of Excellence, Integrity, Professionalism, Teamwork, Commitment, Transparency, Accountability and Social Responsibility. In my case, I am doing so by implementing programs and projects which are sure to improve the quality of lives and uplift the spirits of my fellow Bayambangueños, even after my term as Mayor, and now as Special Assistant to the Mayor and Special Adviser to the Governor of Pangasinan in Trade and Investments.

One of the projects that we take pride in is the inauguration of the Saint Vincent Ferrer statue which was declared by Guinness as the World’s Tallest Bamboo Sculpture (Structured) last April 5, 2019. This is the second world record that my hometown has attained in the past five years, with the first one being the World’s Longest Barbeque during our Malangsi Fish-tival on April 4, 2014. We did this because Bayambang was once known for the massive Mangabul Lake which provided an endless supply of freshwater fish until it was covered by lahar during the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991. Endeavors like these are important because unlike the city of Cebu or Davao, or the province of Ilocos Norte, Bayambang was not blessed with natural attractions such as beaches, falls, or mountains. However, what we lack in natural resources, we make up for in our determination to achieve economic development through a booming tourism industry. This is why on the 405^th fiesta of our town, we inaugurated the tallest bamboo sculpture in the world, and in [this coming] November 2019, we opened [will be opening] the Saint Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park with the Papal Nuncio during Christ the King, paving the way towards the success of our town in our Revolution against Poverty with the guidance of our patron saint. So you see, my dear friends, under the collaborative leadership of our administration, the local government unit, the church, the Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation, and private organizations united, now working as one unit in order to fulfill our social responsibility and provide livelihood for the community. This is another thing I learned as a student of UE – seeing beyond limitations and proving that through perseverance and teamwork, anything – no matter how daunting and impossible a task may be – anything can be achieved.

The Prayer Park is only part one of the major infrastructure projects under the latest Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Bayambang. Our once quiet and unfamiliar town will soon be bustling with tourists because of everything we have in store for the people. Soon, Bayambang will have its own super mall, a massive infrastructure project in our town because up to this date, Bayambangueños have to travel for 40 minutes to get to the nearest shopping center. Once it is finished, it would generate hundreds of jobs which would improve the lives of the people. In the same way, the public-private tertiary hospital which is to be built, using the savings of my own son, would provide modern medical equipment to cater to the medical needs of the people and provide jobs to hundreds of Bayambangueños.

Aside from these, [we are about to start building an Amusement and Water Park, which is expected to be the Enchanted Kingdom of Northern Luzon by the year 2022.] A world-class dome that will serve as a venue for big crowds such as concerts and sports events is also underway. And in anticipation of the influx of visitors and tourists, investors have promised the construction of a three- to four-star hotel for their accommodation near the proposed economic zone.

Slowly but surely, we are introducing Bayambang to the country as an ideal destination for everyone. Our celebrations, such as our Town Fiesta every April, invite thousands of people to the municipality with much-anticipated events such as the Street Dance Competition which highlights the colorful culture of Bayambang, the prestigious pageant Binibining Bayambang, and the Kalutan ed Dalan Music Festival where the country’s most famous artists and bands come together to entertain the crowd while commemorating the time when Bayambang claimed its first Guinness world record.

The Paskuhan sa Bayambang every December features the biggest animated Christmas display in the entire Philippines, and it has attracted not only visitors from other cities and provinces, but also the attention of major media outlets nationwide. This project is also our way to keep the Bayambangueño culture alive by educating the locals and tourists about our rich cultural heritage. We need to know our roots and learn about where we came from in order to move forward towards the right direction, and I believe that we are on the right track because our youth are now more aware of our own traditions – one example of which is their new-found appreciation for farming as a profession. As an agricultural town, many of our people have been farming for years. The sad reality, however, is that the younger generation could not consider a career in agriculture due to the prevalence of the cycle wherein farmers struggle to make ends meet because of their piled up loans from middlemen. It is for this reason that we introduced agricultural modernization where we make use of modernized machinery to help our farmers break free from the cycle of poverty. 

Our Bayambang Poverty Reduction Plan was crafted as our guide for the projects until 2028, or until we finally defeat our biggest enemy which is poverty. This means that aside from the big-time projects which I have previously mentioned, the local government is busy all year round with countless programs such as the construction of barangay halls and covered courts in all our 77 barangays, the Komprehensibong Serbisyo sa Bayan wherein the LGU goes to different barangays to bring our services closer to the people, and the implementation of sustainable livelihood programs to provide a source of income for families who are currently suffering from poverty. We have renovated the Municipal Slaughterhouse and the Municipal Public Market to encourage the people to engage in business and deliver quality products to Bayambangueños. We also constructed two more Rural Health Units in outlying barangays so the locals need not go to the town proper to receive medical and dental services. Our Town Plaza, which was once an undeveloped public property, is now home to a mini-amusement park where children can run around and spend time with their families.

The LGU has tied up with private individuals and organizations to construct more than 200 housing units for Bayambangueño families with poor living conditions, and we partnered with PAG-IBIG to offer a housing loan to LGU employees who aspire to have their own houses. Thousands of people are being helped, and thousands of children are promised with a brighter future, and these were all made possible because UE took in a simple man from the province, shaped his mind, instilled within him deep-seated positive values, and taught him to give back and love his nation.

Why am I telling you all these things? My fellow UE alumni, I do not wish to brag about the achievements that we have made in our town. My only goal is to show each and every one of you that we all can make a difference. And maybe, if each of us here help in our own little ways, we can leave behind a better world for the future generations. As for me, I strive to combat and defeat poverty in my hometown so I can rest easy every night knowing that my children, and their future children, would live in a world where no one is left behind.

Some may call it ambitious, an impossible feat, but it is necessary. Because how can we say that we are successful if the people around us are suffering and we are doing nothing about it? How do we enjoy our hard work if poverty is all around us? My dear friends and colleagues, I urge you to dream, not only for yourselves, but for our country. I’m not telling you all to run as mayors, but at least give back to the place that shaped you into who you are now in your own little ways. And if you think you’ve done enough for your hometowns, then maybe you could also come help us in Bayambang. Let us work together and help each other because as alumni of UE, we are all family.

We have done many things and we continue to make change happen in my hometown, and none of them would have been possible if it weren’t for my years of learning in the University of the East which molded me and prepared me to conquer any challenge that life throws at me. So to everyone here today, especially to my former professors, my classmates, and my friends, allow me to express my sincerest gratitude to you. I would not be here today receiving this humbling award if it weren’t for all your help and guidance. Thank you for teaching me not to settle for being average because you showed me that if you are from UE, then you are extraordinary.

Again, thank you very much for this incredible honor and I hope you all have a good night.