First Fil-Am Mayor of Cerritos re-elected to city council

CERRITOS’ first Filipino-American mayor, Mark Pulido, was re-elected to serve the Southern California city for an additional term on the city council.

“Thank you, Cerritos, for re-electing me to the City Council for a second 4-year term,” Pulido wrote on a Facebook post. “I am humbled and honored for this opportunity to continue serving you and all of the residents of our beloved hometown community. Congratulations to all of the candidates and their respective teams for being a part of the democratic process.”

Semi-official election results showed Pulido leading the race with more votes than all other candidates. Provisional ballots and late Vote by Mail ballots were not completely accounted for as of press time.

Pulido was elected to the Cerritos City Council in March 2011 and then served as the city’s Mayor Pro Tem from 2013 to 2014. In March last year, he was elected Mayor of Cerritos.

During his four-year tenure on city council, Cerritos has seen its budget fall by 7.5 percent, or $6.5 million.

“We’re doing more with less,” he previously told the Asian Journal.

Additionally, the city has not documented any homicides throughout his first term, and vehicle burglaries have dropped 38 percent in the past year alone.

“Tree City,” a name Cerritos—which has more than 30,000 city-owned trees—has been designated by the National Arbor Day Foundation, has also had more than 15,000 of its trees trimmed during Pulido’s time in office.

Pulido’s win marks a victory for both the Filipino-American community and the Democratic Party.

Eric Bauman, vice chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, congratulated Pulido on his re-election to city council in a statement.

“We look forward to continuing our work with Mark on improving city services, fighting for good jobs, and moving Cerritos forward,” Bauman said.

Pulido has lived in Cerritos for more than 40 years and has served his hometown as a former member and former president of the ABC Unified School District Board.

He lives with his wife Gloria and their two children in Cerritos.

The Mayoral Transition and Swearing-In Ceremony will take place 7 pm on Wednesday, March 11, at Cerritos City Hall and will be immediately followed by a reception at the Sierra Room of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.