Pinoy elected California mayor

DAGUPAN CITY — Streamers across the streets here were hung congratulating a native of this city as he made thousands of his kabaleyans proud when he was elected mayor of Milpitas, California, USA, last Nov. 5, defeating three other candidates by a landslide.

Jose Esteves told The STAR in an e-mail interview that he was "humbled by the election results. "I got support from most Milpitans," he said.

Esteves will take his oath as Milpitas mayor on Dec. 3, succeeding Henry Manayan, of Filipino-Chinese descent who was born in Milpitas.

Esteves got more than 6,000 votes while two of his opponents, Dave Garcia, a Hispanic, and Isaac Hughes, a Caucasian, got more than 1,000 votes each. A fourth candidate, Steven McElroy, another Caucasian, garnered only a little over 800 votes. Milpitas has 65,000 residents, of which 15 percent are Filipino-Americans. The place had one Filipino-American council member in the early ’90s.

Still speaking Pangalatok and Ilocano fluently, Esteves, who is known to Dagupeños as "Bogs," said, "I am always proud of my country of origin because I believe that it is my identity and the source of respect and dignity for a person."

Esteves migrated to the US 22 years ago and worked first as a systems analyst for Amdahl Corporation, a major mainframe computer company in the ’80s.

Asked what inspired him to run for office, he said he considers "doing community service, volunteerism and helping people to be the better alternative of being involved in my city."

As mayor, Esteves said he wants to continue and focus on his capital projects as a former council member like building an expanded library and a new senior citizen center as well as better housing for the poor.

He said he wanted to be remembered as a community person and a public servant.

"I am here only to serve residents of Milpitas, to help provide for quality of life," he stressed.

According to Esteves, politics in Milpitas is different from the type we have in the Philippines. "People here support candidates. They contribute their own time, money and effort. Voters elect candidates based on issues, qualifications, record of accomplishment and other positive factors," he commented.

Esteves had served as city and county commissioner and was elected as city council member before he ran for mayor. Through these positions, he was able to reach many residents and groups.

The new mayor is the son of former Dagupan City Legal Officer Pastor Esteves and the former Filomena Sison. He was a consistent honor student and valedictorian during his younger years at Doña Victoria Elementary School and the then Dagupan Colleges (now University of Pangasinan). He is a holder of Bachelor degrees in Science, Civil Engineering and Industrial Engineering. He also studied in the Anderson Graduate School of Management (UCLA) and the JFK School of Government (Harvard University).

He is married to Susan and has an only child, Irene.