That is the principle Former-Mayor Nene Aguilar of Las Piñas wants his constituents to follow. For him, everything worth having is worth working for. And work hard he did from his teens up to this day when he is now a very successful businessman and the chief executive of Las Piñas. It is not exaggeration to say that the principle Mayor Nene Aguilar adheres to serves him in good stead.
“I worked my way out of college,” he says. We had a poultry farm in Muntinlupa during that time and I delivered eggs in Divisoria everyday. I had a daily quota of 10,000 eggs, so I had to wake up early and go to all corners of that hot, dirty, and cramped market to deliver all the eggs to our buyers.
“Sometimes I wondered why I had to do that kind of hard work when my parents could afford to send me to school and buy whatever I wanted. When you were in your teens that kind of situation makes you rebel without a cause.”
Nene Aguilar was born to a middle class family in Muntinlupa. “We are six in the family, four boys and two girls,” Aguilar says.
His father was a doctor from Las Piñas, while his mother came from Muntinlupa where she had her own business. In 1966, when his father was elected mayor of Las Piñas, tAt he family had to move there because some people were raising the question of residence.
“My mother was a strict disciplinarian,” Aguilar says. “We were all forbidden to lock our bedrooms. She just went in and out as she pleased; so we didn't have the privacy all growing adolescents wanted. We were also expected to be home at dinner, all of us. We were expected to be up and about 6 a.m. so we couldn't afford to stay late at night.”
The old woman was hardworking and she expected everybody in the family to follow her example. And this was one of the areas of misunderstandings between mother and son.
“Like all young people, I was a happy-go-lucky guy when I was in college. Bulakbolero ako,” says Aguilar. “I cannot recall now how it came about, but I got hooked on cockfighting. Nahilig ako sa sabong. It was only a hobby, but you can just imagine how my mother reacted when she learned about it. She was fuming mad! She told me in no certain words that no gamblers become successful in life. Only later on when I became successful in business that she realized she was wrong.
“In fairness to her, I was not a gambler anyway. What I really like was breeding fighting cocks. There is that sense of pride seeing cocks that came from my farm win in the cockpit arena. The sight never fails to excite me.”
Despite the fact that Aguilar was working part time, he obtained a B.S. in Business Management, major in Commerce degree from Lyceum University . “I was a happy-go-lucky man then, somewhat irresponsible and immature, but the discipline of my mother as well as the teachings and examples I imbibed from my father stayed with me forever. Whatever I am now is the product of the influence I got from my parents, especially my father.”
After college, he started a small building contractor. He worked hard and practiced his own style of management that inspired his subordinates. The long hours combined with hi in-born business acumen paid off. It was as if he had the golden touch. Whatever project he handled became successful. Nene Aguilar became the biggest house builder south of Metro Manila.
“I was already satisfied with my life his next opponent, so he started to oppose every proposal I made, every project I handled. He tried to bring me down every opportunity he could. He even included my business interests in his tirades. So, I was challenged to run for mayor.”
The rest is history, so to speak. Although Nene Aguilar was not a born orator, his simple manner and sincere demeanor brought him close to the voters. He won the election by a landslide. He buckled down to work, and in his first term in office Las Piñas was transformed. When re-election time came, it was a no contest as far as the voters were concerned.
“I am not a politician,” he says. “So up to this day I had no party. I resisted every effort by political groups to enlist me. My idea is that as public servants we should all work as a team regardless of party affiliations.”
Nene Aguilar usually stays in his office every working day from 9 a.m. up to 1 p.m. After lunch, he went around a retinue of city hall officials to see what's happening outside the confines of their air-conditioned offices.
“I always carry a notebook with me whenever I make rounds. If I see something wrong or some situation that should be improved, I jot it down so that I could give instructions to my assistants when I get back to the office, “ he says.
“Whenever I was abroad, I do the same. I make a note of all the good things or efficient systems that I see or observed. That way I can copy them when I get back home. It is easy to imitate, you can even improve upon the original. I don't see anything wrong with imitation if it is for the good of my fellow Las Piñeros.”
Three times a week, he also visits projects of the city government. “I closely monitor these projects but I entrust their management to other city officials like the vice mayor and the councilors. Yes, we are all in good terms.
“I personally believe that we don't need so many ordinances. Consequently, I also tap the services of our councilors for the implementation of our projects.”
Las Piñas has more than 50 subdivisions and invitations to induct newly installed officers of associations regularly reach Aguilar's office. But he always inducts officers of subdivision associations in his office.
“Afterwards, we sit down and discuss what we are the problems and the needs of their respective communities,” Aguilar says. “If I do it the other way around and go to their places, they will organize a big party, which invariably will end up in karaoke singing or chika-chikahan. There will be no time to talk about the community's needs.”
Another feature of Aguilar's administration is his unique approach to charity. Politicians love nothing better than the opportunity to be photographed giving bags of foodstuffs to victims of disasters. Aguilar, however, shuns the practice.
