Pakil’s resolute dreamer

POLITICS beckoned to him at a very young age. While 18-year-old boys spent time partying, enjoying their coming-of-age as young men, Vincent L. Soriano, at 18, was municipal councilor in his hometown of Pakil, a fifth-class municipality in Laguna province.

And all the time he was municipal councilor, Soriano was an exemplary Sociology student at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, graduating cum laude in 1996.

His fervor in striving to be exemplary in public service and academics was noticed by many and in 1997, Soriano was awarded “Most Outstanding Youth of Laguna” by Gawad Laguna, Inc., a civic organization that recognizes and supports young leaders in the province.

YOUNGEST VICE-MAYOR

In 1998, at the age of 21, he became the youngest person in the entire Philippines to be elected Vice-mayor. Three years later, he was elected Provincial Board Member in the fourth district of Laguna.

For the next 15 years, Pakileños saw in Soriano a young man whose aspirations led to concrete accomplishments.

A committed educator, he pursued and gained a master’s degree in Development Management and Governance, also in UPLB.

He became a faculty member in De La Sallecollege of Saint Benilde and Malayan Colleges Laguna, teaching subjects like Sociology, Politics and Governance, as well as Comparative Government and the 1987 Constitution, between the years 2010 to 2016.

WHY HE RETURNED

Soriano said he was bent on being an educator, but his fellow Pakileños urged him to run again for public office, this time as municipal Mayor. Under intense public clamor, he ran and won.

“My becoming mayor was more of an accident because after my stint as Provincial Board Member from 2001 to 2004, I left politics. But I came back in 2016 after my constituents asked me to return to politics and dismantle the political dynasty here,” Soriano related in an interview with the Businessmirror.

He added: “The constituents of Pakil were the reason why I returned to politics and the good thing about it is that I was able to implement all the ideas I had when I was a councilor. For example, I was able to convert our Crossing Area in Barangay Tavera into a business center, the Central Business District of Pakil so that our municipality could expand,” he said.

ACTUALIZER

They say those born under the sign of Virgo are logical, practical, and systematic in their approach to life. Soriano, a Virgoan born on September 7, 1976, sees himself as a dreamer with a purpose.

“I have always been a dreamer and whenever I come up with a dream, I am very resolute in making sure that I will realize that dream,” he said.

Those who are close to the mayor know that he will do everything he can to achieve his dream.

Soriano related that during his years at UPLB, he failed his first exam in Physics, Natural Science 1. He was so determined to excel, he told himself that if he failed in his next exam, he would jump off the third floor of the Physical Science Building.

“So, I ended up passing all my exams and graduating with Latin honors, Cum Laude,” he said.

Also, during his college days, in 1993, he said that his mother stopped him from joining the Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity. He obeyed, but the dream to join did not leave him.

“In 2015, after 22 years, I made sure that I would be able to realize my dream of joining the Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity,” he said.

He added: “That is how I am. I have not had a dream that I have not realized. That is the basic tenet of my character, especially as a political figure.”

COMMUNITY WELFARE

Soriano said that much of what guides him in his work as mayor is his healthy regard for the common values shared and nurtured by Pakileños.

He remembered how essential it was to show respect to the elders of the community, for example. “If you did something wrong, the elders would not hesitate to scold you or even hit you with a stick.”

According to Soriano, he makes it a point to stress these common values when talking to his constituents; to put value on community welfare over personal welfare.

“Pakil has a population of only around 23,000. Everyone knows each other, he said, adding that, “All the members of the community have a stake in making sure that every Pakileño toes the line in terms of our community values. I learned growing up that here, communing relations is very important. Community welfare is more important than personal welfare.”

TRANSFORMATION

During his first term as mayor, Soriano said that his vision for Pakil was to transform the “very rural, very backward—relatively speaking small municipality into a progressive town.”

To achieve this vision, Soriano gave himself nine years to devise and implement programs and projects that could aid in improving the town so it will be able to contribute significantly to national development.

He bared that Manila Water, for one, is investing billions of pesos in the next three years to construct their Phase 2 Water Treatment Facility in Pakil.

When done, Pakil will be able to export water of about 250 million liters a day to Metro Manila. “Imagine, a small town in the northern part of Laguna contributing 250 million liters of water to NCR.” he said.

Soriano also said that businessman Enrique Razon is also planning to invest more or less US$1.3 billion in the construction of a hydroelectric plant in the municipality. When that pushes through, Pakil will be providing 1,400 megawatts of electricity.

BRUNEI OF LAGUNA

“I told our constituents that we have our respective roles to play in national development. During my first term, I made sure that I examined first the comparative advantage of my municipality. We are like the Brunei of Laguna. We have a small population but we will be able to attain whatever development aspirations through our natural resources,” he said.

Soriano pointed out that since he has achieved a great deal for Pakil, he would like to share his experiences with other municipalities through the Soriano Governance Initiative.

The goal of this initiative is for Pakil to partner with 50 third to fifth class municipalities all over the country to help them attain development.

“We were supposed to launch this initiative last year but it had to be postponed because of the pandemic. We are in the process of finalizing the list of 50 municipalities and we want to show them that it is possible for a poor municipality to become a very progressive municipality,” he said.

INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS

Since he is running unopposed for his third and final term as mayor, Soriano said he would like to sustain the reforms that he had earlier initiated. He explained that if these reforms are institutionalized, Pakil would be on track to achieve the community goals he set out .

“I want to have all the reforms, practices, and processes I introduced in our municipality to be institutionalized. All the technology that we want to achieve, not only in terms of hardware, software but also humanware, so to speak, has to be sustained; sustained to the point that when I am no longer mayor, Pakil will continue its march towards inclusive development,” Soriano said.

As for his management style, Soriano stressed he concentrates on the decision-making process which starts with him assessing all the inputs, making sure that the desired outcome is achieved and that this outcome will be beneficial to all concerned.

In terms of leadership, he follows and observes three requisites of good leadership.

“The first thing that a leader should have is a vision. He makes sure that his department heads are aware of this vision and that they will work together towards achieving that vision,” he said.

Soriano further said that the second requisite of a good leader is to have technical competence. “You must have technical competence so that you will be able to realize your vision. Even if I already have a master’s degree in Development Management, I continue to study and I always encourage my employees to do the same,” Soriano said.

GOOD SENSE OF MORALITY

For Soriano, the third requisite of good leadership is a good sense of morality so that the leader will stay on course to achieve the vision.

“This is the direction that we want to take, this is the vision. We have the technical competence but if you don’t have a good sense of morality, something might happen along the way that you will lose sight of your vision,” he said.

When asked how he would want to be remembered by his constituents, Soriano said he wanted to be remembered as someone “who offered hope, that we can do something better.”

“Everyone can actually contribute to making a difference in the municipality of Pakil. Even if you are a simple man on the street, you can contribute. Which is why we always do things big here,” he said.

“I have been telling my constituents that we should dream big and we should even dream the impossible because dreams drive people to achieve great things. So, if we have dreams, even if everyone else thinks it is impossible, it can happen because we will be resolute in pushing it,” he added.