In Line with Government's priority to safeguard the environment, Karol Aquilina, a new Nationalist local council candidate for Siggiewi, has the environment high on his agenda if elected on Saturday.
"I will work hard to see that any development in Siggiewi is sustainable and will continue to help the council serve as a watchdog which is a continuity of what my father Carmelo, known as Nenu (former mayor of Siggiewi), had started and worked hard for."
Over the years Siggiewi has developed into a town with some 8,000 residents surrounded by quarries which, together with other "unsustainable" development in the area, including a proposed cement factory and landfill, have been the cause of many battles waged by the Siggiewi council.
Carmelo was elected in the first Siggiewi local election in 1994 with the highest number of votes, but did not become mayor. This was a great feat considering that he had just recovered from leukemia, for which he had to undergo treatment for four months in a London hospital, where he received a bone marrow transplant.
Former secretary of the St Nicholas Band Club, Carmelo was re-elected with the highest number of votes in 1997 and after no fewer than 45 ballots, and with the backing of a former independent (Labour) candidate, was finally elected mayor.
Carmelo's biggest battle came in March 1999 when his council was informed that an application had been made for the building of a cement factory in his constituency, which, he says, would have been detrimental to the health of all Maltese and Gozitans and not just to Siggiewi residents.
In a few days, Carmelo managed to form a united front and collected some 20,000 signatures for a petition which was presented to Parliament.
"It was a very intense campaign, but with the backing of other local councils, most of the constituted bodies, the unions, and the Curia, which had spoken out in favour of the environment for the first time, we managed to achieve our goal and the application was withdrawn".
Another victory for the Siggiewi council is the relocation of a proposed landfill in Siggiewi to an alternative site, a decision expected to be taken by the Cabinet on Tuesday, he said.
Although Mr Aquilina suffered many injustices, including a transfer in 1996 which was detrimental to his health and which he managed to win after he wrote to the Ombudsman, Mr Aquilina battled on and worked hard for the community in Siggiewi.
"If elected I would like to work more to rekindle the community spirit, especially now that many from outside Siggiewi have settled here," his son Karol said.
In November 1999 Karol was elected to the executive of Studenti Demokratici Maltin (SDM), a University student body. He was responsible for councils and branches until a year later, when he was appointed secretary-general, a post he held till 2001, when he was appointed president.
He left SDM to join the Nationalist Party Youth Movement (MZPN) in October 2001 as an executive committee member and was appointed vice-president in October 2002, a post he still holds.
He is also a students' representative on the University senate; a member of the KSU education commission; and a member of the Junior College board.
In January 2003 he was appointed president of the National Youth Council (KNZ).
As president he was an ex-officio member of the Civil Society Committee of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) and the Youth Support Programme Committee within the Ministry for Youth and the Arts.
Between March 2003 and March 2004, he was projects co-ordinator in the Prime Minister's private secretariat.
Karol Aquilina graduated BA in Legal and Humanistic Studies in June 2001. He received his diploma notary public in June 2002, and will be awarded his LL.D. upon completion and approval of his doctoral thesis entitled 'The Principle of Equality of Arms in Maltese Criminal Law'.