Saturday, June 28, 2008 Pelaez ‘won’t seek’ Congress seat If Lapu becomes lone district
BUSINESSMAN Efrain Pelaez, Jr. denied he will run for congressman if Lapu-Lapu City becomes a lone district before the 2010 elections.
“If I wanted to be a politician I would have done it long ago. Do you think I and my group are fighting the giant at City Hall because I wanted a political post to be the price? All we want is to change the system nothing more,” Pelaez said.
Pelaez name came up after Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu,6th district) confirmed she is courting a businessman to rival the ambition of Mayor Arturo Radaza to become the first congressman of Lapu-Lapu when the city becomes a lone district.
Ruiz did not name the businessman, but Pelaez and Radaza have been in a word war and counter charges before the court and the Visayas Ombudsman’s office for more than a year now.
Pelaez admitted he has several friends and business partners who tried to convince him to run for Congress against Radaza, who is serving his third and last term as mayor, but he did not entertain the idea.
Ruiz’s House Bill 1306 separating Lapu-Lapu as the 7th Congressional district is now up to plenary after the House local government committee approved it early this month.
Political observers said Radaza is likely to run for Congress, while his wife Paz will run for mayor, but the couple had also dismissed the speculations, saying it is too early to talk about the elections.
Pelaez also said that the political forum that the MICCI hosted the other day was not for the purpose of criticizing Radaza.
“It was not a political forum the people that have gathered there wanted a change because the honorable mayor is not doing his job,” he said. (AIV)
