Obet excited about return to Bulacan politics

MALOLOS CITY — Anxiety marked former Bulacan governor Roberto Pagdanganan’s entry into politics 20 years ago, but today his excitement about his comeback is unusual for a man who has just turned 60 years old.

"I feel I am better prepared now than in 1986," Pagdanganan told The STAR in a phone interview.

He said his 12 years of experience as Bulacan governor and the years he had spent in different Cabinet positions give him an advantage over his opponents in next year’s gubernatorial race.

Pagdanganan is making a comeback nine years after he had vacated the gubernatorial post.

"May agam-agam ako noong una akong pumasok sa pulitika (I had apprehensions when I first entered politics)," he said.

He was then a top executive of Unilever, a multinational company, and politics presented a new challenge to him.

His Unilever superiors, he recalled, told him that entering politics would not be that easy as it presented some level of uncertainty.

Besides, Pagdanganan said he had worries then about his children who were just starting to go to school.

This time, he said he feels that he is better equipped and experienced to run the province with a population of more than three million.

"I have more friends now whom (I) can tap to help improve Bulacan," he said.

Among other things, Pagdanganan said he would improve the provincial health care system by upgrading hospitals and making medicines more affordable to the masses.

On fiscal management, he said he would try to balance the provincial budget as he cited a report of the Commission on Audit that Bulacan supposedly has more than P500 million in liabilities.