The Past Leaders of Quezon City: Bernardo

THE MAYOR PONCIANO BERNARDO ADMINISTRATION
December 24, 1946 – April 28, 1949

On December 24, 1946, all the papers reported the appointment of a new mayor for Quezon City, together with his Vice Mayor Matias Defensor and councilors as follows: Leon Malubay, Gregorio Roxas and Hipolito Lopez. They took their oath of office on the 1st day of January 1947. Ponciano Bernardo was an engineer by profession. He was a native of Nueva Ecija, having been born in Santa Rosa on December 2, 1905.

Mayor Bernardo worked like a man obsessed to fulfill the dreams of his friend, Manuel Luis Molina Quezon. He diligently worked without let-up, making frequent on-the-spot inspections, and seeing to it that all the public works projects were being pursued with quality and dispatch.

Since he knew that peace and order played a very vital role in the city’s progress, Mayor Bernardo put his office adjacent to that of the police department. Under his administration, all the city officials were, also, always on their toes, imbued by the same irresistible dream.

During those times, the offices of the city government, including that of Mayor Bernardo, were still housed in the Manila Police Department precinct number 5, which was in Kamuning. By the middle of February, Mayor Bernardo announced that the new city hall would be constructed at a cost of P80, 000.00; this would be at the market site in Cubao. When the precinct no. 5 building had become so crowded, the city council decided to move the government offices to the South market building along what is now Alejandro Roces, Sr. avenue.

excerpts from http://www.qcpubliclibrary.org/qcmanuscript.php#bernardo_administration