January 23, 2010

The Alfonso Charitable Foundation (ACF) started in 2005 a year after Mayor Joy's 1st term of office.

FLASHBACK - May 10, 2004

Joy Peñano(my younger brother) defeated then incumbent mayor Ver Varias during the May 2004 election by a narrow margin of around 1500 votes. The town of Alfonso was in bad shape financially with P4 million deficit and in a state of social decay. Corruption and social ills such as illicit drugs (shabu specifically) and gambling rampant. The town was turned over to the new mayor with government equipment such as vehicles and heavy equipments sabotaged or in disrepair. Gone were batteries, tires and parts were switched with old ones. The municipal building was in a shameful,dilapidated condition with ceilings falling off and bathrooms unusable without running water. Ver Varias and his cohorts had a long list of documented wrongdoings such as overpricing municipal projects, falsifying documents regarding bidders and so on.

Joy Peñano is a successful businessman who grew up in Alfonso, Cavite and could have avoided the rigors of politics. His only desire was to make his hometown a better place for his family and constituents and cannot have any more motives to enrich himself since he didn’t have to.

In just 3 years in office as Alfonso Mayor, his accomplishments were unprecedented in the town’s history. Below are some of his major accomplishments.

 Eliminated corruption and restored order in the municipal government using his experience in running a business. He restored the municipal building to become a decent, clean and presentable condition with clean bathrooms where people didn’t have to go somewhere else; basic necessities that Ver Varias neglected to provide during his term.
 Alfonso became a NO “SOP”(Standard Operating Procedure)local government that symbolized honesty and dedicated service to the people. SOP is the common knowledge slang for bribery such as 20% or more overpricing for contractors and suppliers. This overprice goes to the pockets of the corrupt leaders in the government.
Example: Mayor Joy’s first encounter with SOP when he took over was receiving an envelope of cash from the supplier of medical supplies for the Health Clinics. He asked, “What is this for?”. The salesman replied, “Sir, this is for the SOP as usual”. Mayor Joy politely returned the envelope to the salesman and told him to put the true pricing from then on. This led to the discovery of numerous documented corruption practices of VerVarias’ previous administration.
 Mayor Peñano risked his life and family waging war against drug traffic in
his town and succeeded with a lot of support from concerned citizens. Drug trade from the lowlands was practically non existent before the end of his term.
 He accomplished a formidable record of replacing 3 major post war artery bridges with new ones and the concreting of the Amuyong dirt road which is a part of the National Budget. This stretch of main road is even a political territory of Mr. Varias. No other Mayor, Governor nor even a Philippine President succeeded in making these projects a reality in the history of Alfonso.
 He brought street lighting to every dark street where needed in every barangay and sometimes spending his own money to make it happen without political party leanings.
 Through efficient and honest governance, he elevated the stagnation of Alfonso from a third class to first class municipality.
 The list goes on... to be listed here in the future.

To be continued..