TWO Cebu City councilors opted to forgo seeking national positions in the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) elections next week to help Vice Mayor Michael Rama in his quest for the Vice Mayor’s League of the Philippines (VMLP) presidency.
Rama and Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna are vying for the same post, unavoidably dividing the Visayas and Mindanao votes for the April 17 to 19 elections.
City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said Rama informed him of the “realities” regarding his campaign for the VMLP position, so he decided to help the vice mayor.
Easy
Jakosalem said that in not running for VMLP national public relations officer, Rama gets the support of a certain group.
It was an easy decision, he said, because he also had reservations in running, seeing that if he gets elected, the job would require him to be away from Cebu City most of the time.
Inevitably, he said, he would end up neglecting things here that should be given attention.
“It (request not to run) was a blessing in disguise... (because) to run for a national position in the league takes away the concentration that should be given to the city. You have to go all over the Philippines (as PCL national official),” said Jakosalem.
He heads the council committee on energy, transportation, communication, and other utilities, and the committee on youth and sports development.
In a separate interview, Councilor Hilario Davide III said he, too, decided to withdraw from running as PCL national executive vice president.
It, however, was not in exchange for support for Rama by groups in the VMLP, he said, but for him and the other Cebu City councilors to concentrate on the task of helping the vice mayor in his campaign.
“We want the vice mayor to win so we will help him. I don’t think this will be a missed opportunity because we will only be concentrating on this,” Davide said.
It was made more important, he said, because somebody from Cabancalan, Negros Occidental is also seeking the same position.
“I want to preserve the majority of the Visayas votes. I don’t want to be the one to cause disunity (among the Visayas councilors). I freely decided that it will be for the good of the Visayas if only one will run,” Davide said.
In a separate interview, Rama declined to say that Davide and Jakosalem’s withdrawal from the PCL elections was in exchange for support he could get for his candidacy in the VMLP.
He also said that he and Fortuna have not discussed recently the possibility of one withdrawing from the race, barely 30 days into the elections.
Both officials earlier said that they will assess their respective campaigns and would entertain the possibility of one withholding his candidacy to support the other.
“Wala mi nagka-estorya. I have not stopped him (from running). He has not told me that I should withdraw,” Rama said.
In past interviews, Rama had said the real “enemy” is not Fortuna but Antipolo Vice Mayor Danilo Leyble, who is allegedly being supported by the administration, specifically by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The agency has been accused of conducting surveys about the upcoming VMLP elections while trying to endorse Leyble, an allegation the DILG denied. (RHM)
