Sa mahusay na pamumuno ni Mayor Lito Atienza, marami ang nabago sa Lungsod ng Maynila. 9 na taong nanilbihan,nagsumikap at nagpunyagi si Mayor Lito Atienza upang muling maibangon ang Maynila. Nagkaroon ng panibagong sigla,saya ang Lungsod ng Maynila at sa bawat puso ng Manilenyo, naramdaman ang tunay na kaunlaran. Ang pondo ng Manilenyo ibinalik sa mga Manilenyo. Naisaayos ang pamilihang bayan. Naiangat ang antas ng edukasyon. Itinatag ang organize vending, tulong para sa mahihirap. Pinagbuti ang serbisyong pangkalusugan. Nagkaroon ng disenteng pabahay sa mahihirap at nabawasan ang kriminalidad at naisaayos ang mga lansangan. Muling nakilala ang Maynila bilang sentro ng kaunlaran n gating bansa. Sa administrasyong Atienza, pinarangalan ng Department of Finance ang Lungsod ng Maynila bilang BEST PERFORMANCE CITY in Finance Management. Nagkaroon ng bagong mukha ang Maynila, bagong pag-asa. Subalit ano ang nangyari sa Maynila ngayon? Ang mga proyekto ni Mayor Lito Atienza na pinaghirapan itayo sa 9 na taon, bakit bigla-biglang sinira? Bakit ang dahas at pananakot ang nananaig sa Lungsod ng Maynila ngayon? Panahon na..upang ibalik natin ang tunay na Ama ng Maynila. Matagal na siyang tapat na naglilingkod sa bayan. Nagsimula sa baranggayan, lumaban sa diktadurya, umabot sa batasang pambansa, naging haligi ng demokrasya, namuno sa pagpapabahay sa mahirap. Nahalal bilang bise-alkade, ginawa ninyong Mayor ng Maynila. Naging kampeon sa kalikasan. Ang tunay na nagmamahal sa Maynila. Ang pangalawang Ama ng pambansang kamao. Ang kandidato ng Pangulong Erap Estrada. Ang tunay na AMA ng Maynila.. MAYOR LITO ATIENZA!

maganda ang platform ni Atienza kaya sya babalik kasi sinira ni LIM ang mga sinimulan nya na programa!

baywalk ang ganda sinira lang!

environment protection sa pandacan binaliwala ni LIM sayang!

If you wish to watch the sunset at the Manila Bay and enjoy the soothing sea breeze, you go to the promenade area along the seashore, now known as the Baywalk. Believe it or not, the Baywalk, one of the loveliest places in Manila, is getting to be a hot election issue in the nation’s capital city. It is a two-kilometer stretch along Roxas Boulevard between the United States Embassy and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Long before the official election campaign period starts, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and his immediate predecessor, former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza, have been trading barbs on what to do with Baywalk.

During Atienza’s stint at City Hall, he had the long seaside strip widened with thick brown and yellow cement bricks. From a dark and neglected zone after sundown, it became a brightly-lit concourse that attracted commoners and elites alike. Restaurants, bars and open-air coffee shops sprouted there almost overnight. In the evening, live bands performed and entertained the crowd. Baywalk became a magnet for people from all walks of life looking for a convenient place where they could relax and be entertained with their kind of music—at an affordable price.

Adding to the vibrance of the Baywalk was the nearby Rajah Sulayman Park, in front of the Malate Church, one the most beautiful parks in the city.

Even at daytime, especially in the early morning during weekends, the Baywalk overflowed with people, including entire families, to have their breakfast and do physical exercises, from jogging and brisk walking to aerobics and biking.

With the huge number of people flocking to Baywalk everyday, it became comparable to the famed Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii as a popular tourist destination. Needless to say, the Baywalk was a smash hit and the crown jewel of the city’s tourism..

But shortly after Lim sat for the second time as Manila mayor in 2007, he banned restaurants and cafes from operating at the Baywalk. He justified this by saying he was heeding the complaints of residents and guests in hotels and condominiums about the “loud noise” from the live bands. He also blamed these establishments for adding to the trash in the already polluted Manila Bay.

Lito Atienza, who was Manila mayor from 1998 to 2007, vows to revive Baywalk and bring back the eateries and singing joints there if he wins the mayoral race this year. He described the Baywalk as the “engine of development for Manila” and a recreation place for the poor. He rued that the place had lost its luster since Lim ordered the demolition of the “unwanted” structures Lim has put more lampposts along Roxas Boulevard, but Atienza belittles this because Baywalk now has few visitors or is almost deserted at night.

“Look at what Lim did. Instead of improving it, he removed it. If the problem here is noise, he should have put a solution to it. But to say that it is a center for prostitution and drug distribution, that’s a lie.” Atienza grumbled.

To independent observers, the Baywalk was a top tourist drawer, a showcase of how domestic tourism came alive and stimulated the economy. With the influx of people to the Baywalk area, the restaurants, karaoke bars, souvenir shops, shopping stores, hotels and other business establishments along Roxas boulevard and adjacent streets such as those on Remedios, Pedro Gil and Padre Faura avenues benefited from the spillover of customers. They enjoyed an unprecedented boom.

The ex-mayor said the Baywalk was just one of his urban renewal projects that Lim has discontinued or neglected. He lamented that “Manila has deteriorated once again under the present local administration with its lack of vision.” He said that for three years, “Lim has deprived Manilenos of the right kind of life they deserve by removing and destroying what my administration did for the people in nine years.” Determined to arrest the decline of the city, Atienza is seeking to retake the mayor’s seat in the coming electons under the campaign battlecry “Buhayin ang Maynila” (Revive Manila).

Another major campaign issue raised by Atienza against the present city administration is the continued stay of the storage facilities of the country’s three largest oil firms in Pandacan. He accused Lim and his allies in the city council of railroading the approval of city ordinance 7177 allowing Chevron (formerly Caltex), Petron and Shell, as well as other heavy and medium-scale industries, to continue operating at the Pandacan oil depot despite warnings of possible accidents and terrorist attacks.

The new ordinance amended Ordinance 8027 promulgated during the time of Mayor Atienza which called for the removal of the oil depot from the Pandacan district, which was classified as a residential area. Thus, the classification of Pandacan was reverted to industrial. Ordinance 7177 was issued in defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision which upheld the validity of Ordinance 8027. Lim said he signed the new ordinance so as not to deprive the city government of P100 million revenues from business license fees and real property tax collected yearly from the industries that are based there.

In effect, Atienza said, the controversial ordinance ensured “the permanent stay of highly pollutive and extremely hazardous industries which placed the lives of Manilenos in grave danger and made Manila the most polluted and toxic city of the world.” He warned that an accident in the Pandacan depot could trigger an explosion that could cause damage to an area within a 14-kilometer radius. He also considered the retention of the oil depots as the highest form of insensitivity in the light of worldwide efforts to combat pollution and global warming. The depots, he said, must go to assure the safety of city residents.

“Manila is the inspiration of the country. Manila is the microcosm of the country. I cannot take the very, very sorry state of the city now,” he said.

Atienza sees his candidacy as a response to the Manileños’ clamor for the return of his urban renewal and sustainable development projects. During his term as mayor, he implemented the “Buhayin ng Maynila) program by upgrading and renovating Manila’s decaying public facilities such as parks, markets and slaughterhouses. He carried out the reconstruction and beautification of public places such as the, Plaza Miranda, the Andres Bonifacio monument and the Binondo park. He also pursued the construction of the linear park in Pandacan, the renovation of Carriedo and R. Hidalgo streets in Sta. Cruz. He upgraded the services of the city’s public libraries, schools and hospitals, including the Ospital ng Maynila and completed the construction of a brand new building for the Pamantasan ng Maynila.

Lito Atienza claims that during his tenure, Manilans, especially the poor and marginalized sectors, experienced genuine progress. They enjoyed, among others, health centers and hospitals with adequate equipment, facilities and free medicines.

Perhaps as environment secretary and chairman of the Pasig Rehabilitation and Development Council, Atienza will be best remembered by Manilans for implementing the long-overdue dredging of

the heavily-silted Pasig. Had the mouth of Pasig not been widened from six to 10 meters, he said the flooding of vast areas of the metropolis caused by typhoon Ondoy in September and October would have been much worse because floodwaters had no chance of flowing out into the Manila Bay.

by Fel Maragay, Manila Standard Today

I was wondering why Abad Santos High School around 20,000 Sq.m. and Rajah Soliman High School located in Binondo since 1947 was sold and obviously at a lower price during Atienza time, I was wondering if there is under the table and how much is it.

By the way Abad Santos High School and Rajah Soliman High School is located beside 168 Mall near Divisoria. Tiong Se Academy is very lucky because it is a private lot, otherwise for sure it will also be sold by Atienza. Business in business...

Mayor Atienza - Good
Mayor Lim - Better

okay naman pala si mayor lim, kailangan ng manilenyo ang tulad niya, mali ang pagkaka-kilala ko sa taong ito. sana manatili ang imahe mo na tagapag patupad ng batas at walang p-protektahan na kahit na sino basta nagkasala sa batas.

What economic opportunities is Atienza talking about? Maybe opportunities for himself? Talk about twisting the truth so that he comes out clean and respectful?

Well, Mr. Atienza, your monuments to your foolish program of streetlighting are still there for everyone to see and either laugh at or curse. The street lamps you put up do not light up the roads, and instead blind or confuse drivers. The hundreds of millions spent for these were wasted, and maybe much was channeled to the wrong pockets?

So you want another opportunity to rob, er...run Manila?