Friday, March 30, 2007 Val wants to be Carcar City’s first mayor, vows to help preserve heritage of the community By Gingging A. Campaña Of Sun.Star Cebu
AN award-winning choreographer and heritage conservationist is dancing his way into a new role—a political one.
Valentino “Val” Sandie-go, with his family, friends and relatives wearing red T-shirts in tow, arrived at the Carcar Commission on Elections (Comelec) office to file his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor of the southern Cebu town.
Frustrated over the incumbent local officials’ “neglect in supporting their visions in preserving the heritage of Carcar,” Val, a choreographer and art director, “spent sleepless nights with fervent prayers before finally deciding to answer his calling.” He is running as an independent candidate.
He heads the Carcar Heritage and Conservation Society (CHCS) and the Sandiego Dance Company.
For the Sandiegos, Val’s decision to run and challenge Mayor Mario Patricio “Patrick” Barcenas in the May 14 polls is a “sacrifice because he had to leave his business in the city to go home to Carcar and serve the Car-caranons.”
“I don’t have the money but I believe that the Carcaranons vote intellectually. For me, this is a turning point, magtarong lang aron matunong. Kung masayop, we’ll have to maneuver the wheels to keep it on the right track. There is still hope for Carcar if given the right chance,” he told reporters yesterday.
Mayor Barcenas, who ran uncontested in the last elections and who is seeking his last term, admitted that he did not expect that somebody will challenge him this time.
But he is not surprised that people are interested to lead Carcar as it is already attractive to politicians, especially since the town is already on its way to becoming a city.
“I did not expect but I was not surprised. We cannot stop people who want to serve. Maybe he has his visions for the town. Maybe he just sees it is already nice because Carcar is about to be declared a city,” Barcenas told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview at the mayor’s office yesterday.
As of press time, Sandiego was the 22nd candidate to file his COC at the local poll office.
Except for a non-registered voter who filed his COC for mayor as an independent candidate, only Barcenas and Sandiego will face off in the May 14 polls.
Only registered voters can qualify to run for public office.
Although Association of Barangay Councils president and Councilor Nicepuro “Nice” Apura filed his COC as vice mayor and has a complete councilorial slate for Alayon last Wednesday, they do not have a candidate for mayor.
It was not officially known, however, if they will adopt Barcenas as a common candidate or invite Sandiego as a guest candidate.
Val, for his part, said he is open to negotiations with Apura’s camp as long as they will adopt his platform of government. Although he has his business in Cebu City, Val, CHCS president, said he goes home to their ancestral home in Carcar often. Sandiego, 45, is the son of Rafael Alcoseba Sandiego and Luz Mancao.
“I feel bad because we conceptualized the festival in the past five years and pushed for the recognition of Carcar as a heritage town so everybody will be benefited, but even the LGU has not done anything to recognize this effort. I am here to promote kausaban para sa kauswagan. I want change,” Sandiego said.
He added that Carcar is already on its way to becoming city but still it lacks a clean public toilet, a clean public market, a transport terminal and a diversion road to take traffic away from the National Highway.
