He joined the Provincial Government of Palawan under the Governors Office as Clerical Aide, and left eight (8) years after as its youngest ever Provincial Planning Officer, at age 32, to become a successful entrepreneur.
After thirteen (13) years in the private sector, he rejoined the government in 1992 as City Administrator of the City Government of Puerto Princesa.
Because his sterling records as City Administrator, the most notable of which are the Oplan Linis Program which was his brainchild, and the Feast of the Forest which he was its prime-mover, he won in the 2001 elections as Puerto Princesa Vice-Mayor, but assumed office only on 22 July 2003. He was re-elected to that office in the 2004, 2007 and 2010 elections, becoming the longest-serving Vice Mayor of the City.
As Vice-Mayor, he introduced the concept of Ugnayan sa Barangay, where city official and employees would hold dialogues in the barangays while bringing to the people basic , urgent services. He also conceptualized and implemented the Student Assistance Program, Senior Citizens Programs, Persons with Disabilities Program, Bayanihan sa Barangay, and Pangalipay sa Baybay, among others.
Because of these, he endeared himself to the people and earned numerous monickers, like: Action Man-Hindi Bukas Kundi Ngayon, Palangga ng mga Lolo at Lola, Kampeon ng mga Mag aaral, Kakampi ng mga may Kapansanan, Kalaban ng Kadiliman, Ama ng Bayanihan, Hari ng Entablado.
That is why when he ran in the 2013 elections for the position of City Mayor, he handily won despite limited resources and having no formal political organization. And because of the recall election initiated by his political opponent in 2015, he holds the uneviable distinction as the only local chief executive in the country to have undergone two elections in one term, both of which he won resoundingly. In the 2016 contest, he established a political record in the city for having carried to victory, not only himself, but his entire line-up: from Congressman Vice Mayor and all the City Councilors.
He conceptualized the construction of the Puerto Princesa Skyway or Aquaduct, the feasibility study and detailed engineering plans of which are already being done; the Balayong People’s Park; the Subaraw Biodiversity Festival; the Irawan Integrated Agricultural Center; the Princesa Tower; and the Pawikan International Convention Center.
He is currently implementing a city-wide street lighting program and numerous road concreting projects, even as he strengthens the City Government’s construction capability to undertake road projects by administration, to save on costs and implementation time. He also successfully negotiated the Puerto Princesa Waste-to-Energy Project, the first in the country.
He led and won in the recently May 13, 2019 Election with an advantage of 18,000 votes.
