A 36-year-young political and campaign strategist successfully toppled a long-entrenched politician who has been in power for 33 years in Infanta, Quezon, a feat almost nobody of his townmates would believe.

But incumbent Vice-Mayor Lord Arnel L. Ruanto — or simply L.A. as friends and constituents call him — did it through his 5^th ranked incumbent councilor who beat outgoing mayor Filipina Grace America who ran for vice-mayor in the last May 12 midterm elections.

Ms. America has been lording it over Infanta local politics for over three decades by running for mayor or vice-mayor after every three terms and she seems invincible in every electoral fight.

But here comes Vice-Mayor Ruanto himself — apparently applying his political knowledge and campaign strategies and tactics honed through his established firm called Grassroots Analytics Philippines (GRAPH) as its chief strategist — who went on to be the youngest mayor of Infanta when he defeated, Ebit Escueta, his political rival in the mayoralty race by over 6,000 vote margin.

Mr. Ruanto, applying survey data and in-depth research, cobbled together his political lineup with incumbent councilor Mannie America as his vice-mayoralty teammate which finally altered the political landscape in Infanta which voted 8 of Mr. Ruanto’s partymates in STAN Q as against only 2 councilors who survived the electoral fight for the veteran Ms. America — who was beaten herself in the vice-mayoralty race by a plain municipal councilor  — along with Ms. America’s mayoralty candidate in Lakas who was beaten by the young Mr. Ruanto.

The newly elected mayor Mr. Ruanto happens to be the youngest in Infanta’s political history, as he was also elected the youngest councilor at 21 in 2010 before he went on to be elected 2 times as vice-mayor.

Ruanto’s political ascent

In an interview at his residence, three days after the elections, Mr. Ruanto recounted in a media interview that he was a student activist graduating in PUP Manila in 2009 when then Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca was the invited speaker in a student leadership forum who challenged the young audience to venture into politics and into governance.

He said that he asked Ms. Padaca why would the young people get involved in politics and in government when it is ‘dirty.’ It was the time of then Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who was then facing various allegations of graft and corruptions.

Mr. Ruanto said Ms. Padaca’s reply was seared in his memory when she said that if all the people would look at government and politics as dirty, no good people would seek public office and the rot in government would fester.

Armed only with a PUP academic degree of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Ms. Padaca’s words decided for him right after graduation, with his mom as OFW and his father as a municipal government employee, to run as town councilor and being jobless as he filed his candidacy after watching an ANC documentary of the late Naga city mayor Jesse Robredo.

At a young age in 2010, he gave leadership trainings to teachers and youth leaders who became his campaign arms and machinery in the political campaign for councilor.

He recalled that during his college, his favorite subject was group dynamics and counseling in which he got flat A so he launched his ‘racket’ giving seminars, leadership trainings and team building to various companies and organizations.

In high school, he became student government president and in college he said he got elected to the biggest organization in the College of Arts, the PUP Psychology Students Association with membership of 1,500. He said this became his energy and passion to transition into the real life of public service.

During the next elections in Infanta, from no. 4 he landed last in no. 8 even with his records of performance legislation which got him to realize that one has to relate well with the constituents to find real political traction. He then endeavored to learn campaign management, as he also learned from different firms and campaign groups such as Fortis, Glozen of Dr. Edwin Monares and Schale Strategies in the US.

He bought books from the Ateneo University on how to win an election and what he learned he applied ‘by heart’ the principles, the basics in campaigning — house to house, man to man, making ‘pakiusap’ — that was the start of his real political education. From being last in 2013 in the councilor race, he became no. 1 councilor in the next elections.

In 2017, Mr. Ruanto was one of the three young legislators to have been given a fellowship grant by the US State Department. He was mentored by Steve Shale, the campaign director of then Pres. Barack Obama who was only 32 years old when he made Mr. Obama win in the State of Florida, a Republican stronghold.

They were in the same wavelength, Mr. Ruanto thought, so he decided when he went home to put up his companies, one of which is GRAPH which do scientific surveys, then followed this year by CHARTS or Campaign Hub for Analytics, Research and Strategies, which concentrated on analytics and strategies for various political clients which most of them ended in successful elections last May 12.

Local political campaign

“At the onset, we have tracking survey, I seek to feel the people’s pulse through scientific tracking. In April to May, I did two surveys so I saw where I stood, my worry is my political teammates so I focus my resources on them,” Mr. Ruanto said about his mayoralty campaign, adding that when you manage a local campaign, you run it like a business company — with clear and distinct structure, systems, researched data, among others, that became the winning formula.

He said that his team in the firm includes former board members, councilors, youth council members with practical experience on politics, and on local campaign management.

“We help those people who are deserving to be in government, and to be candid, we decline clients who have bad records,” Mr. Ruanto said as he emphasized that a survey is a tool to plan the campaign of a candidate, not an indicator who will win outright.

He said their surveys might point to real problems in the municipal or barangay level, so the campaign messaging or narrative must be tailored-fit and these problems must be addressed with appropriate interventions supported with data.

He said that good governance is the heart of his campaign in his mayoralty fight accompanied with slogan, “Lingap Agad” and he was inspired by Serbisyong Tunay at Natural of Gov. Helen Tan, whom he also helped in her own political campaign since her last term as congresswoman in the province’s 4^th District and when she got elected as governor in 2022.

Lingap Agad became the shorthand for their team in service response and any emergency like typhoon where they make sure that before it arrived, relief goods are prepositioned, people are evacuated during the typhoon and after typhoon rapid response must be undertaken.

He disclosed that they formed a political campaign team composed mostly of outsiders — campaign manager with no political knowledge and experience in actual campaign, finance officer, data management team — all have no political experience, did not handle political campaign, just followed the structure he set up.

“There is value in tabula rasa because sometimes if you have many experience you get to think ‘Alam ko na yan‘ or AKNY mindset with tendency to see yourself as too smart loaded with too much experience,” the young mayor-elect said adding that he provides the strategy, structure and one follows the system and how it works which eventually leads to win an election.

Recognition and awards as councilor, vice-mayor

As Infanta’s town councilor, Mr. Ruanto became known as “Champion of Good Governance” and recognized as “Ten Outstanding Movers of the Philippines” and recipient of “Outstanding Service Award” by the Philippine Councilors’ League.

During Mr. Ruanto’s two terms as vice-mayor, he was elected president of Quezon Vice Mayors League (QVML), became vice-president of VML in Internal Affairs in Calabarzon region, and chairman of the Committee in Education of the VML at the national level.

As chair of the Committee on Education, he was at the forefront in running the Academy of Presiding Officers when they partnered with UP Diliman National College for Public Administration and Governance.

As president of the QVML, Mr. Ruanto set up the Vice Mayors Leadership Academy which was launched on Aug. 29, 2022 in Lucena City, the first of its kind in Quezon province where during meetings they have free seminars on different topics.

Last year, he was awarded America Asia Award as Vice Mayor of the Year in 2024 but was unable to attend the awarding ceremony held in California as he was then acting mayor when Mayor America was administratively suspended by the Sangguniang Panglalawigan. He was evaluated for his initiative of the VM Academy of Presiding Officers and his launching of the VM Leadership Academy.

‘Lahat may siyensiya’

“We want to put science in what we do, to have some level of measurement. Lahat may siyensiya — awareness rating, satisfaction rating, trust rating, lahat ay may intervention, kung saan ka mas hindi kilala, you put your tarpaulin there, hindi lagay lang nang lagay. Kung saan ka di mataas ang trust rating, doon ka magpakita nang personal, bumabad, makipag-kuwentuhan, inom, kunsultahan, lahat may intervention,” said Mr. Ruanto, who bared he has helped in the election campaign of senators-elect Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, and local candidates like Laguna governor-elect Sol Aragones, Quezon congressmen Mark Enverga and Reynan Arrogancia, and several others he declined to name names.

He elaborated further that campaign and election management is not just science but an art, an odd combination actually of art and science in winning the hearts and minds of one’s target constituency.

Mr. Ruanto cited also his KampanyaOke, doing door-to-door campaign and even outdoors, in the ricefields, while serenading the rural voters with a portable karaoke back in 2016, a very effective way of captivating attention that ties up nicely with campaign strategies.

“What began in 2016 took the internet by storm in 2022 during the campaign for VP Leni Robredo, racking up millions of views,” he said, adding that in their first survey in Quezon, VP Leni lost so he did it twice at that time with more heart and purpose, especially as part of her campaign’s core team in the province.

In recognition of Mr. Ruanto’s expertise in the field of campaign management and strategies, sometimes in the thick of his mayoralty campaign, a client would suddenly call and send for him to give lecture on campaign management and coaching on strategies.

Both his established firms — GRAPH and CHARTS — serve clients in whole package, from research, conducting thorough surveys, doing public relations communication, and down to the operational strategic level at the grassroots to engage with the target end-users.

Mr. Ruanto cited his being a core group member for more than a decade of Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership founded both by Misses Robredo and Padaca, and when he won as councilor, he was included in the group. He said their stories of humility and integrity in governance lit the spark for his own pursuit of public service.

“When I became the young councilor in Infanta, they welcomed me into the fold and it felt full circle being mentored by those who once inspired me,” the young Infanta mayor-elect said.

Beyond local borders

Mr. Ruanto said that their work in promoting good governance and effective campaign management has reached audiences beyond the local borders. Over the years, he has been invited to share his insights on international platforms such as the Yushan Forum in Taiwan in 2019 and the World Youth Alliance in New York, USA.

In 2017, he joined the Professional Fellows Program in Washington, D.C., deepening his understanding of civic leadership on a global scale. These experiences have been further enriched through partnership and alliance-building efforts in Gummersbach, Germany in 2023, and most recently, through participation in The Hague Academy for Local Governance in the Netherlands in 2024.

Mr. Ruanto said that each engagement has affirmed the belief that strong, ethical leadership transcends geography and continues to inspire positive change around the world.

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