Presidential Peace Adviser Avelino Razon, Jr. is now considered a credible contender in Manila’s mayoralty derby after he posted impressive improvements in his poll numbers.

In February 2009, Razon got a miniscule .04 percent share of the votes of respondents in a survey on their choice for Manila mayor commissioned by a group of Manila civic leaders. Incumbent Mayor Alfredo Lim got the lion’s share at 60 percent, while former mayor and now Department of Energy and Natural Resources Secretary Jose Atienza, who is mulling a comeback, got 9.4 percent.

In a March 2009 survey conducted by a political consulting group, Razon was marginally better with a 1 percent share, Lim went down two percentage points at 58 percent, while Atienza improved to 14 percent.

However, there was a marked improvement for Razon in a May 2009 survey commissioned by businessmen from the city’s Chinatown district.

In this survey, Razon zoomed up to 15 percent, Lim was at 51 percent and Atienza at 13 percent.

Last June 2009, a survey commissioned by a national political party had Razon at 16 percent, Atienza at 13 percent and Lim at 53 percent. A survey conducted the next month, July, which was commissioned by a group of Manila politicians, had Razon tied with Atienza at 16 percent, with Lim virtually unchanged at 51 percent.

In an August 2009 survey commissioned by the same group of Manila politicians, Razon breached the 20 percent mark with a spike of 10 percentage points, climbing to 26 percent.

Atienza remained unchanged at 16 percent while Lim was at 46 percent.

For the past several months, Razon, whenever he has free time for his duties as presidential peace adviser, has been pushing his advocacy of “Alternatibong Pagbabago Para sa Manilenyo.” He has appeared before civic groups and has conducted consultation meetings with barangay and community leaders to thresh out ways and means to effect meaningful change in the city, and has constantly placed emphasis on the twin principles
of participative democracy and people empowerment as the foundation
of such efforts.

A primary concern that has been the subject of the consultations is the more effective delivery of basic services such as health, education, livelihood, and peace and order.

Razon, who hails from Sta. Cruz and is currently a resident of Malate, was the chief of the Philippine National Police before becoming presidential peace adviser. He also did two tours as director of the Western Police District (now known as the Manila Police District).