UNITEAM senatorial candidate Herbert Bautista has expressed his gratitude to Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Congressman Pablo John Garcia for paving the way for One Cebu to endorse his candidacy for a Senate seat in May.”I want to express my deepest gratitude to Governor Gwen and Deputy Speaker P.J. for the recommendation they made on my behalf. They have shown genuine care and friendship from the very beginning when I first came over for a visit last December and followed by my succeeding visit during the UniTeam’s sortie in the Visayas. They went the extra mile to assist me in getting acquainted with Cebuanos, the values we share, their issues that need national attention which I am willing and eager to amplify and champion in the Senate,” he said in a statement.Bautista, an actor who managed to balance his time with public service for over 30 years, was mayor of Quezon City for three consecutive terms or nine straight years. He also served as the city’s vice mayor for four terms, city councilor for five years and commissioner of the National Youth Commission for two years.Governor Garcia earlier this month, voiced out her support for Bautista before an assembly of local government officials in Balamban.”Tulungan natin. Dalhin natin sa Senado ang magaling na mayor sa Quezon City. Importante ang may alam sa local governance para tayo — ako na governor, kayong mga mayor at barangay kapitan — alam natin na mayroong isa doon na may puso sa local government,” she said in Filipino.Bautista, 53, is no stranger to Governor Garcia as they both served as chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council in their respective regions.Garcia was deputy secretary-general of the League of Provinces of the Philippines when Bautista was national president of the League of Cities.UniTeam vice-presidential candidate Sara Duterte-Carpio in an earlier speech said they selected Bautista to become part of their senatorial slate because of his sterling record in public service.In endorsing Bautista’s candidacy, the Davao mayor said she sees him as the future “kuya” or big brother of Local Government Units as the legislature needs somebody like him who has extensive experience as a local chief executive and in the local legislature.Quezon City during Bautista’s watch became a multi-awarded and “most competitive” city for pioneering the implementation of policies and programs that the national government are now rolling out nationwide.It was through the initiative of Bautista, as mayor, that trail-blazing programs like the enactment of the Green Building and Ease of Doing Business ordinances were pilot-tested. Both programs are now being implemented in LGUs nationwide.The United Nations also selected Quezon City, during Bautista’s watch, to pioneer the Safe Spaces Program which was popularized in Metro Manila as the “Bawal Ang Bastos” program. The successful roll out of the UN-funded program led to the enactment of the Safe Spaces ordinance in Quezon City which was later replicated in the national level and became Republic Act 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act which was enacted in February 2019.The Bautista administration in Quezon City also set numerous national benchmarks and earned citations such as the Gawad Kalasag award for having the best disaster risk reduction and management council in highly-urbanized cities, best in emergency management; Seal of Good Local Governance, Galing Pook awards, among others.Bistekville — the flagship legacy project of the Bautista administration — was also cited by international and national bodies as a model for socialized housing. The program has provided low-cost houses for over 10,000 families and established 37 new communities in Quezon City.The Bautista administration sound fiscal management also enabled Quezon City to extend help to other cities and municipalities that were heavily affected by disasters.It was also through the initiative of Bautista during his term that Quezon City was designated as as the “pairing region” of Cebu in case of wide-scale disasters, which means QC is obligated to come to the aid of the province in case it gets overwhelmed by a disaster.This arrangement was put to a test in 2018 when Mayor Bautista sent Quezon City’s urban search and rescue team to help in the search and rescue of Cebuanos affected by a landslide in the city of Naga.Bautista, an advocate of disaster resilience and sound urban development, has vowed to facilitate the forging of laws and policies that would help expedite the development of growth areas in Visayas and Mindanao.”Development should not be heavily skewed towards Luzon. We have to push for more infrastructure, incentives and funding for economic programs in the South so that people in the provinces need not go to Manila for ‘better’ opportunities because things are better in their home regions,” he said.”We can do this if leaders in government share the same growth vision,” he added. (Sponsored Content)