Bacolod City Cong. Greg Gasataya, valedictorian of MCC High School Class 1988, was re-elected by a landslide during the May 9 elections, with 185,470 votes against closest rival Dan Atayde’s 80,591, or a winning margin of 104,879 votes.
He took his oath of office May 26, along with the newly-elected city mayor, Albee Benitez. For the next three years beginning June 30, he will again serve as the representative of the city’s lone district in Congress.
“This is my last term as your legislator and I am beyond grateful that you have trusted me all these years to be your voice in Congress,” he declared following his victory. “As I have always done, I will take care of this position you have entrusted unto me by staying true to my words and giving my absolute best to deliver programs and projects that are responsive to both the current and future needs of our beloved city.”
He also thanked the Lord for giving him his third and last term.
For a total of 18 years now, he has been serving as an elective official of the city. His career as a public servant began in 2001 when he was elected for his first term as a city councilor. He received the highest number of votes when he ran for re-election in 2004 and 2007.
Although absent from the local political scene for three years after his third term in the city council ended, he was voted vice mayor in 2013. In 2016, he was elected to Congress with 85,647 votes. He was re-elected in 2019 with 132,705 votes, easily beating former congressman Monico Fuentebella.
Before venturing into politics, he was first a reporter and eventually an anchorman of DYWB Bombo Radyo Bacolod. His popularity over the airwaves as Bombo Greg helped him win a seat in the 12-member city council in his first attempt.
Initially underestimated by some political opponents for being “only a broadcaster”, he has been undefeated in each of the seven local elections where he was a candidate.
“Every so often, I encounter tatays and nanays that tell me that they were listeners decades ago during the days that the microphone was my livelihood,” he recalled. “From then on the radio until now in Congress, you have trusted in me to be the voice that forwards the interests of the Bacolodnon public.”
He said that he is “truly grateful” for this. “I tend to the position you have given and entrusted to me with utmost sincerity.”
His training as a student leader started when as a freshman, he began serving as an officer of the student government of what was then the Maranatha Christian High School. In 1987, when he was a senior, he was elected student government president.
The eldest son of the late couple Rodrigo and Thelma Gasataya, a driver and an office worker who both served on the staff of Maranatha Baptist Church which opened the school in 1983, he also excelled as an honor student and a campus journalist. In 1988, he finished high school as valedictorian of the school’s third graduating class.
As a political science student, he was an Iskolar ng Bayan at the Univ. of the Philippines-Diliman. He later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts degree from the Phil. Women’s University and then completed his Master in Public Management degree at Sultan Kudarat State University.
During his first six years in Congress, he championed education due to his vision of having “a college graduate in every household”.
“I believe that once a family has at least one college graduate, it would definitely improve their lives and it will be paid forward to others as well,” he stated. “This is why education remains to be one of our top priorities in Congress.”
He facilitated scholarships and financial assistance with the Commission on Higher Education for thousands of city residents enrolled in state colleges and universities in the cities of Bacolod, Bago, and Talisay. He also lobbied for the inclusion of Bacolod City College among local universities and colleges offering free tuition and miscellaneous fees.
“I feel their situation being a recipient myself of the government’s assistance while in college,” he explained. “I want to be an instrument in helping college students achieve their ambitions in life.”
“Education is the greatest equalizer,” according to him. “Pushing for free college education and prioritizing scholarship programs are instruments to uplift the lives of our people through ensuring better opportunities and a better future, especially for our youth.”
Healthcare has also been his focus as a legislator. He authored a law in Congress expanding the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital from a 400-bed to a 1,000-bed capacity and later another law establishing the Bacolod City General Hospital which is due for construction later this year.
“It is our duty as public servants to secure our constituents’ basic right to health and it goes with it the political will to build adequate healthcare facilities,” he asserted.
Barangay health centers have been built in eight barangays and seven brand-new ambulances have been procured for the city during his first two terms in Congress.
As he begins his third term, he invites the public to join him in building a “new and better Bacolod”.
“For the past recent years, we have ensured that the national government invests in our infrastructure to position ourselves ready for massive and inclusive economic growth,” he noted. “Now that we have plenty of skilled graduates and workers and the infrastructure to support it, it is time to bring opportunities closer to our people for inclusive growth.”
He cited plans to create a Special Economic Zone for Bacolod, based mainly at the site of the former airport in Singcang, and to build bypass roads to its peripheries for linkage with the Bacolod-Negros Economic Highway which connects the city with the cities of Talisay, Silay and Victorias in northern Negros.
“The Bacolod-Negros Economic Highway and the bypass roads connecting Alangilan to Murcia and Granada to Talisay are just some of our infrastructure projects aimed towards building a new and better Bacolod,” he disclosed.
“Opening up Bacolod to our neighboring cities can help boost economic growth and tourism,” he stressed. “Aside from easier and faster transportation of goods and services, new access points also decongest traffic and open up new growth areas that encourage both local and foreign investment which can translate to more jobs, higher land and property valuation, and higher wages for workers, and a better overall quality of life for Bacolodnons.”