Arnold Ilagan Atienza, 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 sports development office and inner city development program from 2001 to 2007. He is the youngest of two sons of former Manila MayorLito Atienza, the other being weatherman Kim Atienza. Atienza first gained fame as a gold medalist for the Philippines taekwondonational 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 won the 2007 mayoralty race, and had conceded to Lim. Atienza ran for Vice Mayor in 2016. 2016 Manila local elections
Personal profile
Ali graduated from De La Salle University with the degree BS in Physics, with specialization in Computer Applications,, and earned from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila his master’s degree 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 which hosted the Manila Youth Games, the MY National Invitational and Manila Marathons. He also became the Chairman of Manila inner city development and Manila employment committee where he was able to light the streets of Manila, employed thousands and was able to provide children from elementary public schools rice subsidy. He is a former anchor of IBC Express Balita from 2004 to 2007. In 2007, he ran as mayor of Manila but lost to a veteran mayor, Alfredo Lim. On November 30, 2010, he was inaugurated as a barangay captain in San Andres, Manila after winning the barangay elections. In 2013, he became the number one councilor in the fifth district of Manila garnering almost 80,000 votes. He is being considered as a voice of the people because of his stand on two major issues. First is his fight against the Manila bay reclamation and second for his firm stand against the 300 percent tax increase that the city council has approved. Ali also graduated in 2016 from National University of Singapore under the School of public policy in their Senior Management Programme.
