Photo by Carmela Reyes-Estrope
ANGAT, Bulacan—Officials and folks bid their last farewell to Bulacan’s “Legend Mayor,” former Angat Mayor Leonardo “Narding de Leon” as they laid him to his final rest on Saturday.
Motorists stopped in honor of the former mayor as a herd of officials and residents led a 15-km distance funeral procession from the municipal hall grounds in Poblacion, Barangay San Roque towards Barangay Niugan cemetery.
De Leon, 86, died of heart attack in a hospital in the City of Baliwag on Sunday, Jan. 5.
Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando paid his last tribute to De Leon in a 12:30 pm mass at Sta. Monica parish church, just before the 2:00 pm Luksang Parangal at the municipal grounds and the 3:00pm funeral procession.
Fernando hailed De Leon as the epitome of a selfless public servant who would not give up helping and serving the people of Angat even at his current old age.
“He still wanted to continue in public service. That is the source of his strength, to wake up each morning to help the needy people of Angat. I have known him that way since the beginning of my political career as a board member. His love and compassion to the needy will always be my inspiration to serve more and better the Bulakenyo people more
De Leon is the Angat mayoralty candidate of Fernando’s National Unity Party (NUP) in the May election.
De Leon has been hailed by the people of Angat and the rest of the province as the “legendary mayor” for having served as mayor of Angat for 27 years (three seasons) –1986-1995; 1998-2007 and 2013-2022 from first being assigned as OIC Angat Mayor by former President Corazon Aquino in 1986.
He had not lost in any election except in 2022 when he ran for vice mayoralty position of the town after ending his last term as mayor from 2019-2022. He had also served as Angat vice mayor from 2007-2013.
However, despite being a non-elected official, people continue to come to him in his house in Niugan to ask help for their needs. The same people of the town convinced him to run again as mayor, former Sulucan Barangay Captain Clemente Junio said.
De Leon also earned the legendary Bulacan mayor brand for being almost 60 years in the public service in the province and in local politics in the town—6 years as employee of the provincial government of Bulacan and municipal government of Angat; 6 years as municipal councillor of Angat; 9 years as Angat Vice mayor; 2 years as OIC mayor of Angat and 27 years elected mayor of Angat.
The legendary mayor started his government work and public service as an employee and as an elected leader in 1964 and ended in 2022.
He was a son of a poor farmer in Barangay Niugan, Angat who also lived and worked as a farmer in Ilocos region in his primary education.
A four year course graduate in Manuel L. Quezon University (MLAU) and a law graduate in University of the East, De Leon started his work in the government as an employee in the Provincial Government of Bulacan in 1964.
In Mid- 1965, he was appointed as a technical assistant employee in Angat municipal government.
He was then elected as Angat municipal councilor from 1971-1980 and vice mayor from 1981-1986.
The former mayor survived a heart operation in mid-2000 and since then continued to serve the people of Angat. He was also elected as president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Bulacan Chapter.
Former Bulacan Governor and Third District Rep. Joselito Mendoza paid tribute to De Leon as he addressed him as the legendary mayor of the whole of Bulacan and not only of Anga. “He deserved to be called the legend of Bulacan in public service because of his very long years of service to the masses and the ordinary people. Let us not forget his kindness and compassion even beyond years after we laid him to rest today,” he said during the Luksang Parangal.
Claris De Leon, daughter of the former mayor and a former municipal administrator said the time for the book of life of the legend has folded but the sweetness of his love to them as his family and the people of Angat will remain alive forever. “It has ended but with pride and humility, we will always be proud of the kind of leadership and public service our father had for the people of Angat in most of the years of his life,” she said as the family responded in the mass.
Socio civic group leader Pablo Gatuz honored the former mayor by sharing to everyone that the official had just given them P225,000 worth of cash as the committee for the 2024 town fiesta. “No one comes to him that he ignored to help. He always gives the needy what they want even though there’s nothing left for himself. He is no longer in office but he gave us that much help and support. He is the only person I know who has that quality,” Gatuz said during the Luksang Parangal.
Lenard De Leon Ignacio, grandson of the former mayor said, the real home of his grandfather for more than four decades is his office at the municipal hall. He said their house in Niugan was just an extension of his grandfather’s “real house”.
