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He had served Bacolod City as Councilor in 1988-1992, Vice Mayor in
March 1992 to May 1995, and as Mayor in 1995-1998.
Due to overwhelming support in the last May 11
elections, he re-assumed last June 30 the post he vacated six years ago,
and so he is back again at the Bacolod City Hall to pursue his
aspiration to make this highly urbanized city great again, and for this
city to become one of the premier cities in the Philippines in the not
so distant future. His battle cry, more and more frequently heard these
days, is "Re-build Bacolod City".
A holder of a degree in Bachelor of Science in
Commerce, "Mayor Bing" as he is fondly called nowadays, graduated
Cum Laude from La Salle College (now University of St. La Salle) in
1973; then he completed his Bachelor of Laws from University of Negros
Occidental- Recoletos in 1979 and passed the Bar Examination during the
same year with a rating of 81.90%.
As City Councilor, he had been the chairperson
of three major SP committees, wherein he displayed his legislative
performance par excellence. These committees are: Committee on
Education, Culture and Tourism; Committee on Ways and Means; and
Committee on Defense and Fire.
Despite being a neophyte councilor then, he was
designated as the Over-all chairman of the Bacolod City Golden Jubilee
Celebration in 1988 That same year, he was also elected president of the
Philippine Councilors League-Negros Occidental Chapter, and director of
the National Movement of Young Legislators- Negros Occidental Chapter.
As a city vice-mayor, he set the trend of
excellence in the City Council by legislating quality and
people-oriented ordinances and resolutions.
Under his stewardship as city mayor in 1995-98,
Bacolod City earned several prestigious awards and recognitions in both
the regional and national levels Bacolod City copped for the first time
the title "Cleanest and Greenest Highly Urbanized City in the
Philippines" in 1995. This was repeated in 1996.
In 1997, it was declared "Best Financially
Managed City in the whole Visayas", and "Most Outstanding City in
Community Development" in the region.
Bacolod City’s sisterhood with the cities of
Keelung (Taiwan), Parañaque, Marikina, Butuan, Tagaytay and Legaspi was
also the brainchild of our guest speaker.
Having a soft heart for the poor but deserving
students, he pioneered the establishment of the Bacolod City College.
Mayor Leonardia was also an active civic
leader. In that capacity, he received various awards and commendations
from several organizations where he held key positions.
He was the YMCA Man of the Year in 1983 and the
Most Valuable Y’s Man of the Year in May 1985 and April 1986.
He was the lone delegate of the Association of
Apex Clubs of the Philippines to the National Assembly for Youth
Development (NAYD) in Tokyo, Japan sponsored by the Japanese Prime
Minister’s Office in 1980, a Philippine delegate to the 1995
International Technology Conference held in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada
which was sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency,
and the Canadian Center for Management Development in 1995.
In 1996, he was the chief of the Philippines
delegation in a goodwill mission composed of local officials, business,
and civic leaders to Keelung City, Taiwan, and the lone Philippine Mayor
Delegate to the "Forum on Education in Cities" in Bodeaux, France
sponsored by UNESCO, that was participated in by 21 countries.
On top of these qualifications and
achievements, our guest speakers, who was president of the Negros Press
club in 1995, is himself a proficient communicator, as proven by the
"Correspondent of the Year Award" given by the PCIB in 1976-77.
(CMO-PIO/dnc.08-12-04)
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