IF HE had his way, he would have followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the military. However, the father of Sto. Tomas, Batangas Mayor Arth Jhun A. Marasigan had other plans for his son. His father and his five brothers all served in the military and it seemed inevitable that Marasigan would follow in their footsteps.
“My father told me that there were already too many military personnel in the family and on the Marasigan side, there is no lawyer. And up to now, I am still the only lawyer in the family,” Marasigan related in an interview with BusinessMirror.
“If you look at my yearbook when I graduated in high school, on the line about ambition, I wrote there that I wanted to be a pilot or a lawyer. To become a lawyer was my secondary option but it was a great choice. I decided to go to law school because of the encouragement of my father,” he added.
Public attorney
AFTER graduating from Arellano University, Marasigan’s first job as a lawyer was as a public attorney at the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) with the City District Office in Pasig. He later transferred to Lipa City. A year later, he became Officer-in-Charge of the District PAO in Tanauan City. After almost five years at PAO. Marasigan decided to try his luck in private practice and joined the Punzalan, Faustino, Punzalan, Marasigan and Associates Law Office. It has offices in Calamba, Laguna and Tanauan, Batangas. Marasigan was the managing partner of their Tanauan Office. According to Marasigan the transition from being a public attorney to one in private practice was difficult because as a public attorney, he dealt with clients who had less in life and who really had no knowledge whatsoever about the law. “However, you have to accept sometimes these simple items like fruits, vegetables and live chickens to appreciate their gratitude,” he said.
Litigation lawyer
WHEN he went into private practice, Marasigan became a litigation lawyer of different companies and found himself in the courtroom almost every day in North Luzon, South Luzon and the Visayas.
One of his clients happened to be the late former Batangas Governor Armando Sanchez. Marasigan was the corporate lawyer and secretary of some of the companies that Sanchez owned. When Sanchez died in 2010, Marasigan continued to be connected with his companies. From 2004 to 2010, Sanchez’ wife Edna was the mayor of Sto. Tomas. She was supposed to run for her last term as Sto. Tomas mayor in 2010 but she substituted for the late Sanchez who ran for governor. She later lost to Vilma Santos. “So from 2010 to 2013, Mayor Edna took a break from public office and at that time, I was with her corporation too. And then came 2013, I became the head legal counsel of the campaign of Mayor Edna Sanchez. She won in the elections and asked me through our circle if I would be willing to become her administrator,” Marasigan related. “It took me quite a while to decide on that. As a private lawyer, I had developed the discipline of a litigation lawyer. I am not used to public life and politics at that time. But because of the situation at that time, I decided to accept the position as administrator. That was the start of my career in public and political life,” he said.
City administrator
HE SERVED as administrator from 2013 to 2018 and admitted he got culture shocked. At that time, Marasigan was only 34 years old and was probably one of the youngest department heads at that time. To make things more challenging, he also had to deal with personnel who were much older in age and experience than him. “I had to remain firm because we had a mission at that time so I just stuck to the mission. Along the way, things smoothened up,” he said.
“It was a great help and let’s say I mastered the rudiments and job of becoming a mayor, adding the pointers about public service that I had learned from Harvard University and studied Leadership Program at Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education,” Marasigan recalled. He resigned as administrator for personal and professional reasons in 2018. In 2019, he decided to run for Mayor but lost by 3,000 votes. He accepted his defeat with a heavy heart, adding that it was probably not the right time for his political ambitions.
Overwhelming majority
THAT right time came in 2022 when Marasigan ran again for mayor and won by an overwhelming majority. He presented his 12-point agenda that he wants to fulfill during his first term as mayor. It covered health, education, employment opportunities, tourism, agriculture, investments, the youth, the transportation sector, disaster resilience, protection of the environment and to bring government services closer to the people of Sto. Tomas.
Marasigan’s top priority is health. With the help of his friends, he conducted mobile clinics around Sto. Tomas. The clinics provided chest X-ray, ECG, blood chemistry, and CBC. He plans to include other services like dental services and ultrasound. Some time in September 2022, Marasigan led the ground breaking ceremonies for a 30-bed primary hospital to be known as the Ospital ng Lungsod ng Sto. Tomas. Construction is expected to start during the latter part of February or early March.
Thanks to contributions from the AnaKalusugan Party List, Sen. Loren Legarda, and local funds, and the support of his doctor sister, Marasigan said he is confident that the hospital will be completed within this year.
Education thrust
ON THE education front, Marasigan said he was able provide and distribute uniforms to all 25,000 elementary school students in Sto. Tomas. This year, he plans to give away school shoes to the some 15.000 junior and senior high school students. “For the first time in the history of Sto. Tomas, the budget for education was increased by 35 percent. It is usually increased by only 10 percent. From a budget of P125 million, the budget of the local school board is now at P170 million,” Marasigan revealed.
Also a first for Sto. Tomas was the giving out of social pensions to the city’s senior citizens. Due to budget constraints, the city government gave P300 quarterly to senior citizens from 60 to 70 years old. Those aged 71 to 75 years old received P400 while those older than 75 years old received P500. The pension was personally distributed by the local government officials.
Another campaign promise Marasigan made is to attract more investors to invest in Sto. Tomas. He related that as a way of thanking the big investors, he set up a lounge at the Mayor’s Conference Room where big investors would enjoy coffee and snacks while their business permits are renewed by city hall personnel. “I invited them to my office for picture taking and I try to convince them to invest even more and thank them for being our partners. I personally signed the business permits as my way of thanking all business owners for supporting the city,” he said.
Satisfying, enjoyable stint
NOW that he has been mayor for eight months, Marasigan said he is finding it very satisfying and enjoyable because “for the longest time I aspired and dreamt of becoming a mayor some day.”
“I am proud to say that I have already delivered 70 percent of my campaign promises so I still have to make up for the other promises,” he said.
He added that as mayor he will see to it that he will deliver the “AKSYON BILIS” service to the public every single day. “I will fulfill my duty as a public servant from Monday to Friday, sometimes Saturday and sometimes even Sunday,” Marasigan said.
When asked if he would run for re-election, he said it was too early to say. If he was asked now, he would say yes. “I have so many plans, like the construction of a new city hall, a convention center and city college. I think I cannot do that in one term,” he said.
“My focus right now is to do my job here in Sto. Tomas for the welfare of my fellow Tomasinos. That is my main focus.” Marasigan said.
Image credits: Bernard Testa