Profile: Primer Pagunuran

PRIMER PAGUNURAN
First District, Antipolo City



Primer Pagunuran, 52, is a resident of Barangay San Isidro, Antipolo City since the mid 80’s in a low-cost housing project. His father is retired enlisted personnel of the AFP and his mother a former teacher. Both parents who hail from Piat, Cagayan received national awards for exemplary parenthood. Still living, aged 94 and 83, respectively, they are a constant inspiration for excellence and servant leadership.

Pagunuran graduated his elementary and high school from the public school system. Earning his BA Philosophy from the University of Santo Tomas in 1977, he did teach courses in sociology, psychology, business English at the UST College of Architecture and Fine Arts while pursuing his MA Philosophy from the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

Pagunuran trained as Probationary Ensign in the Philippine Navy to finish his Naval Officers Qualification Course “Charlie” in 1978 as a source of commission in the Reserve Force, AFP. He has a brother, a President of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1982 who died in an accident. As if to soften the impact it had to his father, Pagunuran joined the service in 1982 and served the military and defense establishment until 1992. He held positions as Protocol Officer to then Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile and Secretary Logistics Staff to the late Commodore Domingo Calajate of the AFP Logistics Command. He left a promising military career in favor of marriage and career shift at the Philippine Legislature.

In Congress, he was Chief-of-Staff Officer to Representatives Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado (now Vice-Governor of Bulacan), Prospero Pichay, Jr. (now LWUA head), Augusto Syjuco (now TESDA head), Arthur Celeste, and Manuel Andaya aside from having served Representatives Romeo Jalosjos, the late Narciso Monfort, and Hortensia Starke. As congressional staff, he became officer and director of the Congressional Staff Association and Congress Mountaineering Club, and . He built a reputation as vocal fighter of the rights and privileges of the congressional staff. Today, those efforts bore fruits with now an approved rata for all chiefs of staff of Congress, upgraded salary grades for congressional staff, and more liberal grant of allowances and bonuses for all House employees.

Pagunuran accepted call of the City Government of Antipolo to streamline the Business Permits and Licensing Office during the term of the late Mayor Victor Sumulong. Introducing new system, procedure and practice in business taxation, he succeeded to raise the level of collection of taxes, fees, charges to unprecedented levels (more than 100%) compared to the past regimes. It is this template and benchmark that are still in use today. As then BPLO head, he has dialogued with the market vendors, stall owners, and corporate investors in the City. He also attended dialogues or fora with owners, proprietors and administrators of private schools in Antipolo and the Federation of Homeowners Associations of Antipolo City, Inc. as well as other individuals or groups with legitimate concerns as their resource speaker. He also served as Deputy to the City Legal Officer thus exposing him to the multifarious concerns of the city constituents and the barangays.

In terms of relevant community work, he has organized and became the chairman of the United Multi-Purpose Cooperative that still exists today. He has launched Medical Missions by the Klinikang Bayan Foundation with volunteer group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and health workers doing this work for charity. Thus, children, pregnant women, aging senior citizens, adults, and people with various illnesses were properly cared for courtesy of pharmaceutical companies supplying the medicines, drugs, and medical equipment.

Throughout his college days, Pagunuran has always been a working student at the same time receiving pecuniary benefits as scholar-recipient of the UST Rector’s Grant and the UP Grants-in-Aid, in his undergraduate and graduate studies, respectively. He was University Scholar and College Scholar at UP Diliman while he was awarded twice a Certificate of Appreciation by UST as campus journal editor. Similarly, he received Certificate of Appreciation from the Civil Service Commission as essay writer and a Golden Leadership Award from the Philippine Experimental and Educational Society for exemplary public government service.

Because of his well-rounded grasp of overall legislative work that spans Congresses (starting with the 9th on to the 14th Congress), Pagunuran was one of Philippine Delegates to the Microsoft Government Leaders Conference held in Washington, USA; London, England; Berne, Switzerland; Stockholm, Sweden; and an Executive Briefing Seminar at Lexmark Corporation in Rosyth, Scotland. The First District of Antipolo City would then be in good hands from one who knows where to tap all possible funding sources, both local and foreign, toward the delivery of goods and services.

Against this backdrop, Pagunuran’s legislative agenda or platform may be encapsulated in the following eight-point agenda in the context of a broad range of legislations that would promote economic, social and cultural priorities (housing, food, health, education, work) as they affect the poor, children, women, students, laborers, workers, adults, the aged, and the handicapped, to wit::

- pro-democracy
- pro-life
- pro-education
- pro-health
- pro-equal opportunity employment
- pro-accountability
- pro-business
- pro-development

As a present scholar in public administration and governance at UP Diliman, Pagunuran stands at the most vantage point seeing how people, events, and worldviews come into play from both the theoretical frame of thought as well as the practical side of things when human realities stare him to the face. One’s keen sense of humanity upon every man which Pagunuran possesses will guide the way through these challenges.

Pagunuran is married to Maritess N. Arana-Pagunuran (UP dissertation student) with whom he has three lovely children named Meryl Alyssa Chloe (UST BS Biology freshman), Karl Andre Weil, (La Salle high school), and Niels Kaj Jerne (La Salle high school). God willing, Pagunuran vows to make a difference in public service.

SLOGAN: “KUNG HINDI NGAYON, KAILAN PA?”