Rex Gatchalian

Rex Gatchalian (born Rexlon Ting Gatchalian; January 21, 1979), is a Filipino politician who is currently serving as the 26th Mayor of the Valenzuela, Philippines. Prior to his assumption to the mayoralty, he served as the representative of the first district of Valenzuela to the House of Representatives of the Philippines.[2][3] Gatchalian's siblings include politicians Win Gatchalian, and Wes Gatchalian.

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Ting and the surname or paternal family name is Gatchalian.
The Honorable

Rex Gatchalian
Gatchalian in 2019
26th Mayor of Valenzuela[1]
Assumed office
30 June 2013
Vice MayorEric Martinez
Lorena Natividad Borja
Preceded byWin Gatchalian
Member of the House of Representatives for Valenzuela's First district
In office
30 June 2007 – 30 June 2013
Preceded byBobbit Carlos
Succeeded byWin Gatchalian
Personal details
Born
Rexlon Ting Gatchalian

(1979-01-21) January 21, 1979
Manila, Philippines
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Nationalist People's Coalition
Alma materGeorge Washington University
ProfessionPublic servant

Early life

Gatchalian was born January 21, 1979 and graduated cum laude in 2001 from the George Washington University in Washington D.C., United States, with a bachelor's degree political science, with secondary fields of study in marketing and psychology.[4]

In 2005, at the age of 26, he was elected president of Waterfront Hotels and Casinos, the country's largest Filipino-owned first class hotel operator. He instead chose to run for public office.[5]

Political career

Representative for the 14th and 15th Congress

In the 2007 elections, Gatchalian was elected from the 1st District of Valenzuela City as Representative for the 14th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, making him one of the youngest legislators.

As Vice-Chairman for the Congressional Committee for Overseas Workers’ Affairs, he authored Republic Act 10022, also known as An Act Amending R.A. 8042, otherwise known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. The law mandates new policies for the further protection and genuine representation of migrant workers.

He is also one of the principal authors of Republic Act No. 9576, or the law that doubles the maximum deposit insurance coverage by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) from P250,000 to P500,000. It was also during his first term as Representative that he was elected as National Spokesperson for the political party Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC).

In the national elections of May 2010, Gatchalian was re-elected as Representative of the 1st District of Valenzuela for the 15th Congress with the largest electoral margin in the district's history.

At the age of 31, he became the youngest member of the Commission on Appointments in history, and the only Congressional Representation from the City of Valenzuela to be a member. He also served as the Senior Vice-Chairman for the Congressional Committee on Games & Amusements.

26th Mayor of Valenzuela City

Gatchalian was elected chief executive of Valenzuela City during the May 2013 midterm elections.

His public service platform, better known as the “Five Pillars of Good Governance,” focused on the essential needs of his constituents: Education, Health and Social Services, Housing, Job Generation, and Trade and Industry.

He oversaw the creation of 48 barangay health stations (BHS) city-wide and the 14 Sentro ng Sama-Samang Serbisyo or 3S Centers as well as the ALERT Center, the Valenzuela City's Peoples Park, and the Valenzuela School of Mathematics and Science.

Programs

Other programs developed under the term include:

  • 3S Plus Electronic Terminal - the Philippines’ first electronic building permit application system[6]
  • Bantay Estudyante – the first senior citizen-force multiplier group that protects the safety of children who walk their way to public schools[7]
  • Bantay Ilog – the first local flood control arm that safeguards the city' rivers and creeks from pollutants[8]
  • Barangay-Based Feeding Program (BBFP) – the local government's free supply of nutritious, ready-to-cook food for malnourished children aged six months to five years, provided that their parents regularly bring them to the barangay health station for weighing, check-up and vaccination[9]
  • Kitchen-on-Wheels – the mobile kitchen used by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) to immediately transport meals for typhoon victims or disaster-stricken communities[10]
  • Women's Wellness Clinic, Mobile Medical and Dental Clinics, and Mobile Botika (pharmacy) – the city government's mobile health facilities for medical missions and rescue operations[11]
  • VPOW or Valenzuela Police-on-Wheels - the first mobile police precinct in the country[12]
  • www.ValenzuelaTrabaho.gov.ph - the first job-matching website operated by a local government unit (LGU)[13]
  • Education 360 Degrees Investment Program- addresses education problems the city is facing. The program is a holistic approach to uplifting the quality of local basic education. The City Government of Valenzuela, through this program, distributed 24,000 tablets to public elementary and high school students making sure that no student is left behind in quality education.[14]
  • Disiplina Village Bignay, Ugong, Lingunan- Disiplina Village is the biggest in-city medium-rise public rental housing project in the country. It has a 3S Center, barangay health station, Police Community Precinct, Fire Substation, Barangay Hall and Daycare Center (aside from other four day care centers scattered among the clusters of buildings). It is complete with basic education facilities with the inclusion of the Disiplina Village Bignay Elementary and High School. The Activity Center/Covered Court and the mini park can be found at its heart. The construction of the Disiplina Village Transport Terminal, public market, and chapel are underway. [15]
  • 3S Plus Valenzuela City Online Services- This is the first integrated permit application system in the country. It provides a single platform for the application of the permits and request for documents. The highlight of the system, is "Paspas Permit". Paspas Permit is a 10-second business permit application system.[16]
  • PPP Projects- Marulas Public Market, Valenzuela Town Center, Disiplina Village Bignay Transport Terminal at Public Market, expansion of Valenzuela City Hemodialysis Center at Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital. [17]
  • 3S Centers- 3S Centers, stand for "Sentro ng Sama-samang Serbisyo" are "little city halls" designed to bring the government services closer to local residents. As of December 2020, the city now has 24 3S centers.[18]

Liveable Valenzuela City

After completing his projects for the 5 Pillars, Gatchalian's second wave of undertakings focused on transforming Valenzuela City into a more liveable one. His notion of a liveable city essentially implies the presence of a leveled up infrastructure network and integrated sound protocols on logistics and management that will enable the city to respond to disasters and other challenges - hence, the birth of the ALERT Center (Allied Local Emergency and Evacuation Response Teams).[19] The ALERT Center is the brain of the disaster preparedness and response of the city, and the roof of the Valenzuela City Disaster Preparedness Office (DPO), the new Central Fire Station, Red Cross Volunteer Center, the Valenzuela City Command and Coordinating Center (VCC3), and the VC Tent.

In 2014, Gatchalian started inaugurating the 3S Centers[20] or the Sentro ng Sama-samang Serbisyo. The ‘little city halls’ house the fundamental satellite offices of the local government, such as the barangay health stations, fire substations, Serbisyo Centers (satellite offices for the payment of business permits, real property, and other government taxes), and many more.

On February 14, 2015, the city's 17th Charter Day, Valenzuelanos’ much awaited Valenzuela City People's Park[21] was officially opened to the public.

Another facility in the city that boasts of a nature-centered open space and is free to the public is the Valenzuela City Family Park also in Karuhatan. There is a playground, interactive fountain, aviary, fitness machines, amphitheater, and a food park in the park. The park is also pet-friendly, bike-friendly, and accessible to persons with disability.[22]

One of the many initiatives of the city government to create greener spaces, Polo Mini Park was inaugurated on January 21, 2020, six months after the announcement of the rehabilitation of the historical old town square of Polo. The park is adorned with hundred-years old luscious trees, fountain, memorial marker commemorating war veterans and statues of Pío Valenzuela and José Rizal. The park signifies not only a place for relaxation but also marks the historical identity of the city.[23]

Dubbed as Valenzuela City's "best kept secret", the Tagalag Fishing Village lies beside a 1.3-kilometer boardwalk in Barangay Tagalag. Various activities are being offered in one of the newest attractions in the city such as recreational fishing, line fishing tutorials, bird watching, boating, photowalk, and sunset watching.[24]

COVID-19 Response

Valenzuela City is the first local government to conduct localized targeted mass testing.[25] The City Government of Valenzuela was able to acquire a COVID-19 testing laboratory license to operate for our Valenzuela Hope Molecular Laboratory, which complements the operation of the 24/7 Valenzuela City Mega Contact Tracing Center.[26] The laboratory can process 800 samples a day, and also accepts other cities' samples to be processed at Valenzuela Hope Molecular Laboratory.[27]

In addressing the crowd and long lines in public markets, mobile palengkes were rolled out. Valenzuela Tracing Application was also rolled out in the city. It is an automated contact tracing system through the use of QR codes, which provides safe, timely contact identification. ValTrace is also interconnected with Pasig and Antipolo.[28]

Under the Alagang Valenzuelano program of Valenzuela City, they distributed food vouchers to families in the city.[29] as well as care bags for children with disabilities [30] and NutriPacks for kids enrolled at public daycare centers.[31]

The City government has also signed a deal for advance purchase of 640,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca. 320,000 individuals will be vaccinated, which is 70% of the target population of the city.[32]

Awards and recognitions

Valenzuela City earned several citations under the Gatchalian's leadership. The citations profess the city's economic accountability, liveability and disaster preparedness, outstanding employment and micro-entrepreneurship development programs, timely health and social protection policies, and sound implementation of peace and order advocacies.[5][33][34][35][36]

References
  1. Valenzuela, Nikka G. "Rex Gatchalian gets 3rd term as Valenzuela mayor". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  2. "Congress consolidating measures to defer barangay elections". BusinessWorld. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010. ... Rexlon T. Gatchalian (1st district, Valenzuela City), ....
  3. Natividad, Beverly T. (5 November 2010). "Gatchalian, Oreta keep mayoral post in Valenzuela, Malabon". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  4. City Government of Valenzuela, Digital Communications Unit. "Curriculum Vitae". City Government of Valenzuela. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  5. City Government of Valenzuela, Digital Communications Unit. "Honorable REX Gatchalian". City Government of Valenzuela. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  6. Melican, Nathaniel R. "Valenzuela launches automated permit approval system". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  7. Arcilla, Camille Anne M. "Valenzuela seniors back to school…as traffic aides". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  8. Melican, Nathaniel R. "Valenzuela City dead serious about river protection". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  9. Abad, Roderick (2017-10-25). "Pioneering state-run baby-food plant inaugurated in Valenzuela - Roderick Abad". BusinessMirror. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  10. City, Valenzuela (2017-07-26). "Our Kitchen On Wheels at Valenzuela National HS to deliver hot meals to our evacuees from A. Fernando, Marulas. As of 11:30am, 11 familiespic.twitter.com/6nMZ0VywrE". @valenzuelacity. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  11. "New mobile clinic beefs up Valenzuela health services". Manila Metro. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  12. PIO, Administrator, Team. "Precinct-on-Wheels to Bring Police Closer to Communities". City Government of Valenzuela. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  13. Inquirer, Philippine Daily. "Valenzuela City launches job-matching website for residents". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  14. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1063329
  15. https://www.valenzuela.gov.ph/the_city/best_practices/educ360
  16. https://valenzuela.gov.ph/valenzuelaworks/?page=paspaspermit
  17. https://archive.abante.com.ph/mayor-rex-poster-boy-ng-programa.htm
  18. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1033606
  19. "Valenzuela to set up disaster-preparedness center". The Manila Times. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  20. July 27, Jerome Carlo R. Paunan Published on; 2018. "Valenzuela City opens two more city hall annexes". pia.gov.ph. Retrieved 2019-10-03.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. Yee, Jovic. "People's Park is just what Valenzuela folk wanted". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  22. March 14, Susan G. De Leon Published on; 2019. "Valenzuela opens new family park". Philippine Information Agency. Retrieved 2020-03-26.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. "Valenzuela marks greener, upgraded, historic Polo Park". Manila Standard. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  24. Cayabyab, Marc Jayson. "Valenzuela opens first fishing village". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  25. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/4/11/Valenzuela-City-COVID-19-targeted-mass-testing.html
  26. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1115247
  27. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/chorus-funds-sustains-valenzuela-city-mass-testing-ways-lgus-manage-budget-covid-19-series-yearend-2020
  28. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1061026
  29. https://www.ptvnews.ph/alagang-valenzuelano-food-pack-distribution-now-on-its-second-wave/
  30. http://metronewscentral.net/valenzuela/featured-lgu-metro-cities/valenzuela-delivers-care-bags-to-children-with-disabilities
  31. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1038609
  32. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1381905/valenzuela-city-inks-deal-for-supply-of-640k-doses-of-astrazeneca-vaccine
  33. Geronimo, Jee Y. "Best practices of 10 LGUs recognized at 2017 Galing Pook Awards". Rappler. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  34. Abad, Roderick (2017-11-15). "Valenzuela collects 3rd Galing Pook award - Roderick Abad". BusinessMirror. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  35. "Valenzuela City gets 4 awards in July". The Manila Times. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  36. "Valenzuela City Achievements". Tayo Na, Valenzuela!. City Government of Valenzuela. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
Political offices
Preceded by
Sherwin Gatchalian		 Mayor of Valenzuela
2013-present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
House of Representatives of the Philippines
Preceded by
Jose Emmanuel Carlos		 Representative of the First District of Valenzuela
2007–2013		 Succeeded by
Sherwin Gatchalian
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