MANILA Vice Mayor-elect Angela Lei ‘Chi’ Atienza is the third from the Atienza clan to hold a high position in the capital city.
The first is her grandfather, Hermenegildo Atienza, who served as the 13th Mayor of Manila, from July 18, 1944 to 1945. His term as mayor coincided with the Liberation of Manila and was also previously the Vice Mayor of Manila (1940–1944) and a member of the Manila Municipal Board (1934–1940).
Next is her own father Lito Atienza, who served as the 24th Mayor of Manila and nephew of Hermenigildo. Mayor Lito holds the record of being the only city mayor to have finished three full terms (March 27, 1998 to June 30, 2007) and also served as Vice Mayor and Manila City Council Presiding Officer (June 30, 1992 to March 27, 1998).
Chi, 44, pulled a surprise by garnering a huge number of votes for someone who has no vast political experience and yet gunning for the second highest post in the country’s capital city.
A television host who has worked for PTV as one of the hosts of its morning program Bagong Pilipinas and later, Rise and Shine Pilipinas, she also formerly worked in GMA, especially in the anthology show Maynila, substituting for her father, former Mayor Lito. A political science graduate at the De La Salle University, Chi also served as director of the ‘Kababaihan ng Maynila,’ an organization established by her father to provide livelihood for the city’s women population. Her mother, Ma. Evelina Ilagan, is also actively leading said organization.
In the recently-concluded polls, news had it that Chi was supposed to run for Councilor in the fifth district of Manila, while her brother Ali, a former fifth district Councilor, was to run for Vice Mayor. However, Ali was offered a position in the national government, so that Chi took over the slot he left.
Now that Chi is the incoming Vice Mayor of Manila, there is a gargantuan task ahead of her with some questioning her ability, not only because she is a woman but moreso because she is a newcomer in the field of poliltics.
As Vice Mayor, she will be serving concurrently as Presiding Officer of the Manila City Council, whose function is to create local laws and pass needed ordinances and resolutions needed to get certain projects or programs started.
City Hall observers say though that what makes Chi’s case different from other newbies in politics is that while she may be a first-timer, she is equipped with enough background and will definitely have proper guidance in the performance of her new role and in dealing with any problems that may crop up in connection with her public functions.
Her brothers Kim and Ali are both former fifth Councilors of Manila while her sister Maile, on the other hand, just got reelected also as a Councilor, but in the third district. Additionally, her husband, Von Valdepeñas, is a former one-term councilor of Los Banos, Laguna.
