Thursday, April 05, 2007 Petitions earn Leyson support as underdog
REELECTIONIST opposition Councilor Alan Bucao yesterday described the new petition seeking to disqualify Gabriel Leyson from the mayoralty race in Talisay City as a wrong political strategy.
“They’re ill-advised because the petition will only bolster the candidacy of Leyson and strengthen our group,” said Bucao.
The outspoken legislator added that many will sympathize with Leyson because the petition makes him an underdog in the three-way mayoralty fight.
Leyson, a former Cebu City councilor, is challenging reelectionist Mayor Socrates Fernandez and businessman Johnny V. delos Reyes for the city’s top elective post in the May 14 polls.
But Bucao has a strong message against Fernandez’s group, which he suspected to be behind the filing of a new petition against Leyson at the Cebu Provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“It’s a clear manifestation that they are scared of Leyson’s candidacy. Why only now? Maybe, they have realized that Leyson is not a weak candidate and the only way to defeat him is to disqualify him from the race,” he said.
The petition filed by balut vendor Leonides Obejero and eight others questioned the residency of Leyson in Barangay Lagtang.
They claimed that Leyson, who comes from a landed clan in Talisay City, has not occupied the house he built in a family-owned vacant lot in Lagtang.
Sought for comment, Fernandez denied that he is behind the filing of the petition against Leyson.
“It’s not mine,” Fernandez, standard-bearer of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party in Talisay City, told Sun.Star Cebu.
For his part, Kampi reelectionist Councilor Rodi Cabigas also had no clear comment on the newly filed petition when reached by phone.
But he took exception to Bucao’s claim that their group is scared of Leyson’s mayoralty bid and his slate.
“Wa uy...Hadlok gud tawon (We’re not scared),” he said.
In a separate interview, Leyson considered the petition as merely a rehash of an old issue, which was already settled by the Talisay City Comelec.
He said the local Comelec had already approved his application for transfer of residency last year to Zone 3, Sitio Ilang-Ilang, Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City.(GC)
