I first met Mayor Ed Hagedorn way back in 1994 in one of the hallways of the Asian Institute of Management. We were both waiting to be called inside a conference room for a panel interview for the first Galing Pook Awards. This short stocky mestizo mayor struck me right away because of his down to earth frank confession that he used to be a "tarantado and barumbado" before he became mayor.
He and Puerto Princesa is now a Galing Pook Hall of Fame awardee for Bantay Puerto, Oplan Linis, Carabao and Tractor Pool, Satellite Clinics and Libraries. He is now being considered for the Award for Continuing Excellence Award.
I and the GP staff had a recent chat with him and he amazed us with his 2 stories: 1. Jueteng
During the Ramos administration, then DILG Secretary Alunan heard that there was no Jueteng in Puerto Prinsesa. So he asked Mayor Hagedorn if indeed there was no jueteng in his city. The mayor said "yes, sir!". "How did you do it?," inquired the Secretary. "I just stopped it , sir" was the quirk reply of the mayor. "Papano nga?" quick follow-up question by the Secretary. " I just stopped it, sir. I was the one operating it before. So, I just stopped operating jueteng in Puerto Prinsesa!" And so it came to pass that up to this day there is no jueteng in the city. 2. Kaingin
Kaingin or slash burning was rampant in the forests of Purto Prinsesa. In 1992, upon the assumption to office as city mayor by Ed Hagedorn, he ordered kaingin to be stopped. More than 1,000 Kaingeros and their families trooped down to him and told him: " paano na kami Mayor, magugutom kami!". He summoned his budet officer and asked if the city has money. The budget officer said yes but there is no appropriation for the kaingeros. There is a budget item, though, that they can use: teh calamity fund, but there is need for national government to declare a state of calamity first before the city can release the fund. The mayor said that this is an emergency situation and waiting for national government declaration would take months.
Presured by the demand of the kaingeros, the mayor and the sanggunian panglungsod declared a calamity and released funds for the use of the kaingeros in their livelihood projects. A major component of this was the provision of the carabao and tractor pool for these affected kaingeros. This program soon was awarded a Galing Pook citation and propelled the city to the hall of fame category.
But by declaring calamity on their own, the mayor was charged of graft and corruption in the courts. He reasoned out that even then President Ramos commended him for bringing a stop to kaingin. He soon sought the assistance of then Congresman Golez to sponsor a bill that would empower local government to declare stae of calamities in their areas of jurisdiction. The bill soon was passed and the charges against the mayor was dismissed!
It takes political will to to make things happen. Mayor Hagedorn used political will in stopping both jueteng and kaingin!
Leaders in Focus 
