Arnold Ilagan Atienza (; born September 29, 1972), also known as Ali Atienza, is a politician, athlete, and newscaster in the Philippines. He was the Presidential Adviser on Youth Affairs from 2005 to 2007 and was concurrently the head of the

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

sports development office and inner city development program from 2001 to 2007. He is the youngest of two sons of former Manila Mayor

Lito Atienza Jose "Lito" Livioko Atienza Jr. (; born August 10, 1941) is a Filipino politician, who served as a 21st Mayor of Manila for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2007, He also served as the 30th Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources f ...

, the other being weatherman Kim Atienza. Atienza first gained fame as a gold medalist for the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

national team in the 1990s. On March 28, 2007, he formally filed his papers as candidate for Mayor of the City of Manila during the May 14, 2007, mid-term elections. In that election, Sen.

Alfredo Lim Alfredo "Fred" Siojo Lim (; December 21, 1929 – August 8, 2020) was a Filipino politician, police officer and lawyer who served as a Senate of the Philippines, Senator of the Philippines from 2004 to 2007, He also served as the 20th Mayor of ...

won the 2007 mayoralty race, and had conceded to Lim. On February 28, 2021, the Philippine Taekwondo Association conferred upon Atienza with a 5th Dan Blackbelt along with DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan.

Personal profile

Atienza graduated from De La Salle University with a degree BS in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, with specialization in Computer Applications, (1989–1994), and earned from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Government Management. He was the lone gold medalist in the 1994 Asian Taekwondo Championships at the age of 21. In 2001, he became the youngest chairman of the Manila Sports Council (MASCO) which hosted the Manila Youth Games, the MY National Invitational and Manila Marathons. He also became the Chairman of Manila's inner city development and Manila employment committee where he was able to light the streets of Manila, employ thousands, and provide children from elementary public schools with rice subsidies. He is a former anchor of IBC Express Balita from 2004 to 2007.

Political career

In 2007, he ran for

mayor of Manila The City Mayor of Manila (, sometimes referred to as, ''Alkalde ng Maynila'') is the head of the executive branch of Manila's city government. The mayor holds office at Manila City Hall. Like all local government heads in the Philippines, the m ...

but lost to a veteran mayor, Alfredo Lim. On November 30, 2010, he was inaugurated as a

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

captain of a barangay in San Andres, Manila after winning the

barangay elections Barangay elections are elections in the Philippines in the barangays, the smallest of the administrative divisions in the Philippines. Barangays make up Cities of the Philippines, cities and Municipalities of the Philippines, municipalities and ...

. In 2013, he became the top-notch councilor in the fifth district of Manila garnering almost 80,000 votes. He is considered a voice of the people with his stand on two major issues. First, with his fight against the Manila Bay reclamation and second for his firm stand against the 300% tax increase that the city council has approved. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, Atienza ran for Vice Mayor as the running mate of congressman Amado Bagatsing and later of former Mayor

. However, he lost the race to

Honey Lacuna Maria Sheilah "Honey" Honrado Lacuna-Pangan (born May 6, 1965) is a Filipina physician and politician who has served as the 24th and current mayor of Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, since 2022. The first woman to serve as the city ...

. Ali graduated in 2016 from

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

under the School of Public Policy in their Senior Management Programme. Atienza ran for congressman of the fifth district of Manila in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

but lost to incumbent Cristal Bagatsing. On December 4, 2020, he was appointed Undersecretary for Government Digital Broadcast Television and the Digitization of the Entertainment Industry Sector in Department of Information and Communications Technology. He later headed Education, Ease of Doing Business, PWD, Senior Citizens, and Emerging Technologies in the Department. Currently, he is holding the position of acting board member of the Food Terminal Incorporated.

References

*http://www.inquirer.net/philippine-election-2013/articles/529869

External links

The City of ManilaThe Philippine Daily Inquirer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atienza, Arnold 1972 births Living people People from San Andres, Manila People from Manila Sportspeople from Manila Manila City Council members Filipino male taekwondo practitioners Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila alumni Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation personalities IBC News and Public Affairs people Arnold De La Salle University alumni Asian Taekwondo Championships medalists