Daly City’s Fil-Am mayor: It’s important to have representation

DALY CITY, California — Though born and raised in California, Daly City Mayor Juslyn Manalo is a proud Filipina.

Meeting journalist-participants of the Friends, Allies, Partners Program at city hall, the mayor wore a modern Filipiniana dress—a display of her pride in her roots.

“I grew up here in Daly City, a very diverse community. I serve all of my community, but I’m so proud of my Filipino heritage and also you know with 34% of our kababayans here, I think it is important to have representation,” Manalo said.

Daly City has the highest concentration of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in the United States, with over 30% of its residents being of Filipino descent. Manalo is not its first mayor of Filipino descent—her parents hail from Batangas and Laguna—but she is the first woman of Filipino descent at the helm of the multi-ethnic city.

“I am the first Filipina, so it’s long overdue," she said. "I always wondered why there wasn’t a female [mayor]."

Manalo is also advocating for support for immigrants in here city.

“We're looking for ways to support our immigrant communities, in rental assistance… Some of the land that is city-owned will go to this affordable housing. In San Mateo county, we have a large housing project in the bayshore area, we have 500 units,” she said.

Since 1994, Daly City has been sister cities with Quezon City, with the two working to promote cooperation in the fields of the environment, human resources and community development, science and technology, education and sports, tourism development, and trade.

Manalo holds a highway sign showing the distance to Daly City's sister city, Quezon City. Ted Cordero/GMA Integrated News

“While I was growing up in Daly City, there was a Quezon City Friendship City Festival. It was huge. The elder generation held that huge festival, so maybe one day we're gonna have that resurgence happen and bring back that festival,” Manalo said.

She also said she is looking forward to forward to meeting her counterpart in Quezon City, Mayor Joy Belmonte.

“We're looking [forward] to that collaboration and hopefully one day we'll visit the mayor,” she said. — BM, GMA Integrated News