Jose Livioko Atienza, Jr. (born August 10, 1941), or simply Lito Atienza, is a former Mayor of the City of Manila and is recently appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as secretary for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources(July 18, 2007). He stepped down last June 30, 2007, after serving a three-year three-term limit for local government executives set by the Philippine Constitution of 1987, making a record of being the only mayor who has been reelected twice and completing a full term as the City Chief Executive. Prior to this, Atienza was the first vice mayor to have served 2 terms, to be elected as Mayor of Manila…

Atienza was born in the district of San Andres Bukid, four months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the outbreak of World War II. Atienza’s father, Jose J. Atienza, Sr., or Pepe was a distinguished public servant who would get up in the middle of the night to help neighbors in distress (Pepe Atienza was the pioneering head of the Department of Public Services.)

Indeed, Public Service runs in Atienza’s blood, included here with is his uncle Herminigildo Atienza, brother of Pepe, who was appointed Mayor of the City of Manila right after the Liberation of the City.

He grew up amidst the ruins of the city, walked through neighborhoods and streets littered with debris, and on weekends swam in the waters of Manila Bay. In his young
mind he told himself, as Manila started to rise from the ashes of the war, which runner-upped the devastation of Warsaw, Poland, this City is going to be vibrant, beautiful, zestful and progressive again one day. He dreamt of Manila being up in the pedestal where it belongs.

Lito took up his primary and secondary education from Ateneo de Manila University and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Santo Tomas. His family was not very wealthy but his father Pepe worked so hard to provide for the family and put their kids in reputable schools. His mother Encarnita or Titang would always be at his father side to support him, take care of the kids and be a loving wife, instilling to all of them good values and faith in God.