MikeLigalig.com

By Sunday Post

For the first time since 2007, some Loaynons going home for today's fiesta, would be in surprise mode , if they notice how the town is progressing under the direction of Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy.

For one, it was history in the making for the young lady mayor.

It was in 2007 when Mayor Lim-Imboy, scion of the wealthy Enerio-Lim clan of Loay, that she was catapulted as chief executive. Her reign ended the storied Inting-Clarin rivalry in Loay politics that spanned several decades.

Enter Mayor Lim-Imboy and Loay politics was never the same again.

Buoyed up by unsolicited accolades that Loay is now in good hands, Mayor Lim-Imboy appeared living up to the compliment as if walking in a tightrope for fear that she would go the way of her predecessors who to her own words were only good at satisfying their personal interests.

Brave words in a place populated by illustrious sons and daughters who made their marks in the annals of Philippine politics.

But the lady mayor is undaunted of cultivating a persona where a daily routine is dramatized by meeting all sorts of characters-friend or foe.

Thus, when she buckled down to work the first days in office, she made it clear to her constituents that she was there for good; that honesty and transparency were the hallmarks of her administration.

Such bold pronouncement may sound preposterous to some people sensing that what they saw in their town mayor was a pretty face between her ears. That they thought was her only asset in claiming the Loay mayoralty seat plus of course oodles upon oodles of money.

Yes, money did play in Lim-Imboy's political victory but that is another story. After all, why would she be faulted if she was born with a silver spoon.

NOT ALL PRETTY FACE

Two years in office proved that the mayor was not all pretty face. Using her beauty and charm to the hilt, she succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of his political enemies. What remains in his charm diplomacy to increase his political capital are the hardcore enemies who doesn't see anything right in what he does.

She said, for lack of anything to do, her enemies did nothing except sabotage every move she makes so that she fail in her administration.

INCREASE IN REVENUES

With his political game plan in place, she surprised Loaynons by increasing the local income. From a paltry P900,000 in 2006, the revenue ballooned to a whooping P3.5 million a year after. Her target this year was that the income will hit the P6 million mark.
        
This is where transparency and honesty play their role.

According to the lady mayor, because she was transparent in her disposition, she struck a resonant chord in the hearts of Loaynons in settling their tax dues.

The bulk of the increase in taxes was the honest collection of market and wharf fees. Loay port is a good source of revenue if the collection agency is efficient in collecting tax dues from fishing vessels using the local wharf as their docking port.

Where does honesty come in?

To Mayor Lim-Imboy, honesty became her trademark every afternoon because tax collections during the day are always deposited to a local bank when the time strikes at 3:00 pm.

Being emphatic with honesty drove home the point that during the time of her predecessors, daily collections were withheld by their revenue collectors in their office vaults.

Payments of mayor's and business permits are also a lucrative source of income. Because she deals with fairness to everybody making transactions in the municipal hall, the end result was increased tax collection.

According to Mayor Lim-Imboy, for as long as the taxpayers know that their mayor was honest and transparent in her dealings they would not hesitate to pay their dues.

Infrastructure is another concern Mayor Lim-Imboy has given top priority.

Cultivating a trait with that of one who can not take no for an answer, again, the lady mayor used her charm to wiggle her way out in the soft spot of the hearts of Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap, DOTC Sec. Leandro Mendoza, and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla.

Sec. Yap, whose DA enclave is oozing with cash, gave P15 million for the expansion of the local fish port. Once completed, the fish port will become the home port of inter-island vessels plying key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Yap added P5 million for a farm-to-market road.

As for Sec. Mendoza who is a family friend of his elder brother Jun Lim of Lite Shipping fame, his DOTC released P5 million for a reclamation project while the second tranche of P18 million is pending in the pipeline.

Both Senators Estrada and Revilla have poured in P1 million a piece for the Loay Public Market.

WATERWORKS SYSTEM

Loay's waterworks system is a perennial headache since time immemorial.

But a lady mayor at that is taking "the bull by the horn".

With Loay coffers bulging with funds due to collection efficiency, she estimated that by year end the town's water problem will be solved.

The town is saddled with the absence of potable water generated by its waterworks system. The lady mayor said Loay's water from its water supplier sourced in nearby Loboc becomes potable when the town is able to buy a flirtation equipment amounting to P8.5 million.

DISCOVERING TALENTS

Another Lim-Imboy priority is the discovery of hidden talents which are endemic to Loay's youth.

The lady mayor was proud that in the recent Miss Teen competition sponsored by the Sangguniang Kabataan provincial federation a homegrown talent went home with the title. She is Ma. Glaiza Lepiten.

In sports, the young mayor also discovered that Loay athletes can excel if given the proper break and training.

This explained why in the recent congressional athletic meet, Loay which used to be a tail ender in previous sports events became the overall champion for the first time.

Another transformation the mayor was proud of was how she utilized a white elephant into a useable edifice.

For years, what was built to be a hospital during the time of ex cong. Isidro laid idle in the highway of Las Salinas.

It took the political will of a lady mayor to make into productive use the idle building. Now, it proudly stands as a mute testimonial of the lady's tenacity to make things happen. The building that was designed to be a hospital was converted into the offices of several local government agencies.

Like any forward looking executive, Mayor Lim-Imboy also included in her platform of governance concerns on health, peace and order, economic enterprises, social services, agriculture development, environmental protection, among others.

Now, in the threshold of her first term in office, the energetic mayor is hoping that at the end of the term, she will be remembered as the best mayor Loay ever had. For true-blue Loaynons, it was never contemplated before even during the heydays of the heated Clarin-Inting fight for political supremacy in the town.

But who knows, the first lady mayor, might do the trick and woe unto her enemies who are plotting ill-will every step of her way as Loay mayor. It may be a tall order but with the resourcefulness of May Lim-Imboy that is not difficult to hurdle given her penchant for results.

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