Thursday, June 05, 2008 Lito, Nerissa ‘eyeing’ top posts in Mandaue, Lapu for 2010 race
INTERIOR and Local Government Undersec-retary Lito Ruiz will be running for Lapu-Lapu City mayor in 2010, officials said yesterday. Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, his wife, will be running for Mandaue City mayor.
Lito, however, has denied the report.
If he runs for the post, Lito will likely be up against Paz Radaza, the wife of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza. Arturo is on his last term.
While there were reports that Lapu-Lapu City Vice Mayor Mario Amores is considering running for mayor in the next elections, he immediately denied this.
Amores said their group’s decision, which he welcomed, is to field Paz for mayor. Amores said he’ll run for reelection.
Amores told Sun.Star Cebu that he did not find any reason to turn away from the group he and Arturo formed in 1998, when he ran for councilor and Radaza lost in his bid to become the mayor.
He said he even spurned an offer by the late mayor Ernest Weigel Jr. to join his group.
It was Amores who revealed Lito’s plan to run for mayor.
Former Lapu-Lapu vice mayor Norma Patalinjug, who ran against Arturo in the last elections, said she also believes that Lito will be running for mayor in 2010.
Patalinjug said Lito sought her permission to meet with her political leaders in his regular visits to the different barangays with Basak Barangay Councilor Isabelito
Darnayla.
Visit
Darnayla also confirmed to Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that Ruiz is indeed planning to run for mayor. Darnayla is the former barangay captain of Basak and is among the leading critics of Radaza.
Darnayla said that Lapu-Lapu residents invited them to visit their communities to express their demand for a change in the city’s leadership.
According to reports, Patalinjug will be Lito’s runningmate.
When asked, Patalinjug said she was still “weighing my options.” Still, she said she already told her political leaders all over the city to welcome Lito in his visits to the
different communities. She also said that she gave them the leeway to decide on their own.
In Mandaue City, opposition councilor Victor Biaño said Nerissa called for a meeting with barangay leaders and constituents in her house in Casili last May 24, 25 and June 1.
Nerissa is on her third term as the sixth district representative to Congress. The district covers Consolacion, the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and Cordova town.
During that meeting, Ruiz reportedly announced her intention to run for mayor in 2010 against Mayor Jonas Cortes.
Biano said these three meetings were part of the first of three rounds of meetings with political leaders. They will be holding a second round of meetings in big sitios and a third round in smaller sitios.
He said there was no mention of former mayor Thadeo Ouano’s intention to run for Congress during these meetings.
Plan
The plan is reportedly for Ouano and Nerissa to change positions in 2010—the former mayor will run for a congressional seat while she will run for mayor.
Biaño said the ombudsman’s decision barring Ouano from holding public office over the Asean Summit lamppost scandal is not yet final. He said Ouano still has legal
remedies against the decision.
When sought for reaction, Cortes, through consultant Edmund Sanchez, said he feels that it is still too early to talk about politics. Sanchez said the mayor is busy solving problems left by the previous Ouano administration and would rather solve these problems than engage in early campaigning. (OCP)
