ILOILO City – Former city councilor Love-Love Baronda is leading the vice mayoral race against the incumbent, who is backed by the administration’s formidable machinery – largely due to her prolific and reform-oriented legislative record during her nine-year tenure in the city council.
Baronda served as city councilor from 2010 to 2019, authoring 92 ordinances and 959 resolutions – averaging over 10 ordinances and 100 resolutions annually. Almost every month, one of her proposed ordinances was passed.
Her legislative agenda emphasized systemic reforms in education, digital governance, mental health, disaster resilience, and youth empowerment.
Several of her ordinances laid the groundwork for enduring city institutions, including the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, the City Information Systems Office, and the City Youth Council.
Many of these initiatives remain active and beneficial to the public, including the widely recognized Uswag Educational Scholarship.
In contrast, Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon, who has held the city’s second-highest post since 2019 and served as a councilor for years before that, authored only 10 ordinances and 46 resolutions over nearly two decades.
According to official records, that averages to approximately one ordinance every one year and 10 months – with his last passed ordinance dated September 15, 2020 – and one resolution every one-and-a-half months.
Ganzon’s legislative output leaned heavily toward regulatory and symbolic measures, including ordinances banning shirtlessness in public markets, restricting the use of backpacks during festivals, and declaring “Adlaw sang Ciudad de Iloilo.”
While he also filed ordinances on contractor accountability and persons with disability affairs, few have achieved significant implementation or lasting impact.
Despite publicly associating himself with the founding of the Iloilo City Community College, official records do not credit Ganzon with authoring any ordinance establishing the institution.
Many of his community engagements – such as barangay-level donations and social events – are seen as personality-driven rather than institutionally grounded.
Baronda’s record highlights her legislative productivity and programmatic follow-through as hallmarks of effective, systems-based governance.
Among the major programs she initiated or helped implement, often in partnership with local organizations, are:
1. Iloilo City Leadership Academy
2. Huluaran sang Katigulangan Awards
3. Iloilo City Youth Congress
4. Children’s Month Celebration
5. Mom and Baby Expo
6. Free Civil Service Exam Review
7. Ilonggo Youth LAB, Women’s Month Celebration
8. GINHAWA Mental Health Program
9. Free Wheelchairs for Ilonggos
10. KABALAKA Advocacy Campaign
11. King and Queen of Hearts Celebration, and,
12. Special Olympics for Special Children
Ganzon’s allies, on the other hand, emphasize his decades of service, grassroots visibility, and pronouncements against controversial projects such as the proposed coal plant and casino – though critics note the absence of corresponding legislative action on these issues.
Of Baronda’s 92 ordinances, the more significant include:
1. An Ordinance Requiring a License to Sell or Dispense Cigarette/Tobacco Products in the City of Iloilo
2. An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Thereby Establishing the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, Providing for its System, Plan, Organization, Composition and Staffing Pattern, and Appropriating Funds Therefore and for Other Purposes”
3. Electronic Payment System for Financial Transactions with the Iloilo City Government
4. An Ordinance to Enhance the Mobility of Persons with Disability, Elderly, and Pregnant Women by Requiring Certain Buildings, Institutions, Establishments and Public Utilities to Install Facilities and other Devices, and Chapter 6 of Republic Act (RA) 7277, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons
5. An Ordinance Declaring Every Third Week of August of Every Year as the Baby and Mom Expo Week in the City of Iloilo
6. An Ordinance Requiring the Posting of Emergency Hotlines in every Establishment, Government Offices and Venue for Events in Iloilo City
7. An Ordinance Requiring Both Public and Private Business Establishment, Offices, Agencies, Schools and Hospitals that in the City of Iloilo to Conduct Emergency Drills Among the Tenants, Occupants, Students, and Employees Therein and Providing Penalty for Violations Therefore and for Other Purposes
8. An Ordinance Creating “The City Youth Development Council of the City of Iloilo, Appropriating Funds and for Other Purposes, Thereby Repealing Ordinance No. 2014-509.”
9. An Ordinance Establishing the Water Efficiency, Protection, and Conservation Council of Iloilo City
10. An Ordinance Institutionalizing February 15 and Every Year thereafter as “Mass Media Day” in the City of Iloilo
11. An Ordinance Establishing the Iloilo City Information and Service Delivery Network for Adolescent and Youth Health and Development
12. An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Information System Department of the City of Iloilo, thereby Establishing the Information Systems Office (ISO) of Iloilo City
13. An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Iloilo City Sports 1 Development Division, Providing for its Functions, Staffing Pattern and Appropriating Funds for the Purposes Thereof
14. An Ordinance Creating the Iloilo City Youth Development Division in the City of Iloilo Providing for its Staffing Pattern and Appropriating Funds for the Purposes Thereof
15. An Ordinance Creating the Educational Financial Assistance Program for College Students in Iloilo City
16. An Ordinance Enacting the Iloilo City Parental Responsibility
17. An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Iloilo City Leadership Academy (ICLA) as the Main Platform of all the Youth Programs, Trainings, Projects, and Activities in the City of Iloilo
18. An Ordinance Providing for the Revised Comprehensive Children’s Welfare Code of the City of Iloilo
19. An Ordinance Regulating the Purchase of Food, Basic Goods, Supplies, Personal Protection Equipment, Medicines, and Other Similar Goods During Times of Crisis, Calamity or Emergency
20. An Ordinance Prohibiting the Use and Operation of Sound Systems, Videoke and Karaoke Machines, Loud Audio/Sound Systems and Other Excessive Sounds that Create Unnecessary Noise that might Affect the Home Educational Setting of Students from Monday to Saturday at 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the City of Iloilo Until the State of Calamity and State of National Health Emergency are Lifted in the Philippines
21. An Ordinance for the Use of Quick Response Generated Codes Through the Uswag QR Code Application for Individuals and Offices to Formulate Iloilo City Public Health Protocols Against Emerging Infectious Diseases
22. An Ordinance Providing for the Proper Collection, Conveyance, Storage, Treatment, and Utilization of Rainwater in Iloilo City or the Iloilo City Rainwater Harvesting and Management Ordinance of 2021
23. An Ordinance Regulating Drone or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) Operation in the City of Iloilo and Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof
24. An Ordinance Creating the Local Blood Council, Establishing the Blood Donation Program, Providing the Implementation thereof and Appropriations Therefore”
25. An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Urban Agriculture Farming in the City of Iloilo
26. An Ordinance Institutionalizing General Library Policies, Rules and System of Use and Borrowing of Books and other Library Materials, Imposing Penalties and Fines thereof, Formulating the Collection Development Plan, and Encouraging Partnership and Linkages for Activities and other Related Purposes
27. An Ordinance in Giving Recognition and Incentives to Academic Achievers Who Top the Board, Bar and Other National Examinations, and Academic Performers and Artists Who Achieve High Honors in International Competitions and Events
28. An Ordinance Institutionalizing the Legislative Tracking and Monitoring System, Strengthening the Sangguniang Panlungsod Information Technology Center and Creating the Unit and Positions thereof, Establishing the Local Legislative Monitoring, Codification, and Computerization Committee, appropriating funds for its infrastructures and implementation Therefore
29. An Ordinance Creating the Comprehensive Sports Development Program, Integrating the Incentives and Rewards for Athletes, Coaches and Trainers Who Won in the National and International Competition, Appropriating Funds Thereof and Other Purposes
On the other hand, Ganzon’s 10 include:
1. An Ordinance Prohibiting All Persons/Individuals in the City Public Markets and its Premises from Exposing Themselves Half-Naked (Shirtless) and Imposing Penalties for Violation Thereof
2. An Ordinance Temporarily Closing to Vehicular Traffic Sto. Domingo and Democracia Streets at Barangay Lopez Jaena, Jaro, Iloilo City on December 18, 2008 from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Connection with the Celebration of their Barangay Day
3. An Ordinance Creating the City Council on the Welfare of Disabled Persons and the Office of Persons with Disability Affairs (OPDA)
4. An Ordinance Temporarily Closing to Vehicular Traffic the Road from the Intersection of Guanco and JM Basa Streets Going to Intersection of Ortiz and JM Basa Streets on from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. until Finish in Connection with the Celebration of the Chinese New Year
5. An Ordinance Amending Section 6 of Regulation Ordinance No. 2008-432 Entitled “An Ordinance Creating the City Council on the Welfare of Disabled Persons and the Office of Persons with Disability Affairs Office (OPDA)”
6. An Ordinance Prohibiting the Carrying of Backpacks, Glass Bottled and Canned Drinks during Festivals and Big Events in Iloilo City
7. An Ordinance Prohibiting the Carrying of Backpacks, Glass Bottled and Canned Drinks during Festivals and Big Event in Iloilo City
8. An Ordinance Requiring Owners/Management of Malls, Supermarkets, Hospitals, Hotels, Universities and Transport Terminals in Iloilo City with Parking Facilities to Install Security System and Adopt Security Measures in Their Parking Garages and Providing Penalties to Violators
9. An Ordinance Making Contractors Liable Due to Their Negligence or Failure to Observe Road Work Safety Rules in Construction Sites in Iloilo City
10. An Ordinance Declaring October 5 as “Adlaw sang Ciudad de Iloilo”
As both candidates vie for the vice mayoralty in May 2025, voters are presented with a stark choice: Baronda, whose record is defined by institutional reform, innovation, and implementation – or Ganzon with a non-legacy marked by name recall and token legislation./PN
Vice mayoral candidate Love-Love Baronda has authored 92 ordinances and 959 resolutions during her nine-year tenure in the Iloilo City Council from 2010 to 2019.
