Del de Guzman

Family and entry into politics

De Guzman was born on January 9, 1963, in Marikina, Rizal, to a family involved in the local shoe industry; his father Rodolfo de Guzman worked for a footwear shop and served as principal of the Nangka Elementary School while his mother owned a factory, which was later operated by his brother before closing in 2000. One of his relatives was Osmundo de Guzman (1924–1986), the longest-serving mayor of Marikina.^{[citation needed]}

He entered public office after the People Power Revolution as a member of the Marikina Municipal Council. During his tenure, he led the drafting of a resolution to compel the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company to upgrade their telephone services in the then-municipality in response to public clamor in 1991.

First vice mayoralty (1992–2001)

In the 1992 elections, de Guzman ran for vice mayor as the running mate of contractor Bayani Fernando, positioning themselves as the opposition to the incumbent administration led by Mayor Rodolfo B. Valentino. Their camp, affiliated with the Lakas–NUCD, ran on a platform focused on infrastructure development economic growth. De Guzman went on to narrowly defeat Orly San Diego of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino by a margin of 3,166 votes.

Sworn in at age 26, de Guzman became the youngest person to assume the city's vice mayoralty. As vice mayor, he presided over a city council marked with a sharp division between the majority bloc affiliated with Mayor Fernando and the minority bloc, named "Voltes 5", affiliated with Representative Romeo Candazo, in a term defined by attempts from both factions to initiate recall petitions against each other.

In 1996, de Guzman joined the local administration and industry in supporting for the cityhood bill authored by Candazo, which passed into law as Republic Act No. 8223 and was approved through a plebiscite in December.

Campaigns

In the 2001 elections, de Guzman ran for representative for Marikina's lone district as part of the Kabayani slate led by Marides Fernando, who sought to succeed her husband as mayor. He went on to win the seat, defeating Virgilio Farcon Jr. and Celso delos Angeles Jr. with 53,487 votes. In the 2004 elections, de Guzman won a second term, defeating Candazo, who sought a congressional return, with a margin of 172 votes, making the contest the closest in Metro Manila.

Upon the partition of the lone district leading up to the 2007 elections, de Guzman was redistricted to the second district, where he would win a third term in Congress, defeating Candazo in a rematch. During the election, his campaign manager, Mila Andrade, was assassinated on May 3, 2007, by a man riding a motorcycle.

Tenure

During his congressional tenure, de Guzman affiliated himself with the majority bloc led by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

Campaigns

In the 2010 elections, de Guzman ran for mayor to succeed term-limited mayor Marides Fernando, with physician and councilor Jose Fabian Cadiz as his running mate. He defeated then-outgoing vice mayor Marion Andres and Alfredo Cheng with 66.34% of the vote, with Cadiz winning the vice mayoralty with 57.91% of the vote. In the 2013 elections, de Guzman was reelected along with Cadiz with 88.21% of the vote.

In the 2016 elections, de Guzman faced a challenge from Representative Marcelino Teodoro, who received the endorsement of Bayani Fernando, who repudiated de Guzman as a "non-performer. During the campaign, de Guzman and Cadiz received the endorsement of the Iglesia ni Cristo. De Guzman went on to lose re-election to Teodoro by a narrow margin of 4,987 votes. While he acknowledged the role of Fernando's endorsement in his defeat, he alleged Teodoro's camp committed vote buying during the campaign, which Teodoro denounced as "black propaganda".

Early tenure

De Guzman was sworn in on June 30, 2010. As mayor, de Guzman differentiated himself from his predecessors, Bayani and Marides Fernando, by taking on a more gentle approach to local governance as opposed to the Fernandos' "iron-fisted rule". On May 2, 2012, de Guzman signed into law an ordinance banning non-biodegradable packaging of dry goods and regulating its use on wet goods in local commerce, joining Las Piñas and Muntinlupa in adopting such measures in Metro Manila.

Suspensions and charges

On May 20, 2013, the Office of the Ombudsman under Conchita Carpio-Morales suspended de Guzman and two other officials for six months for simple neglect of duty over his administration's failure to respond to a complaint regarding the illegal construction of a guard house, a steel gate and a lane hump in a subdivision.

On June 3, the Office of the Ombudsman charged de Guzman, Vice Mayor Cadiz, and eleven members of the city council for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act after a Christmas bazaar project with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), costing ₱22 million to be paid in installments, was mishandled and led to incomplete payments to the detriment of the city government. Then-former vice mayor Marion Andres, who was instrumental in the complaint, further alleged that de Guzman and PCCI–Marikina President Eduardo Francisco conspired in October 2012 to enter into the relevant contract without conducting the required bidding processes. The charges prompted the 13 directors of PCCI–Marikina to resign en masse, citing a loss of confidence in Francisco.

Subsequent campaigns

In the 2022 election, de Guzman ran for representative of Marikina's second district under Aksyon Demokratiko, campaigning with the party's presidential candidate Isko Moreno. He went on to lose to incumbent Stella Quimbo by a wide margin of 82,434 votes. In the following election cycle, de Guzman sought a return to the vice mayoralty under Lakas–CMD, as the running mate of Quimbo While Quimbo was defeated, de Guzman went on to narrowly defeat the incumbent vice mayor, Marion Andres, marking his return to elected office.

Second vice mayoralty (2025–present)

De Guzman was sworn in in as vice mayor for his first term under the mayoralty of Maan Teodoro (fourth overall) on June 30, 2025.