Lawmaker to run for mayor

THE declaration of House Deputy Speaker Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar to run for mayor of Zamboanga City in 2013 was not a surprise.

As Mayor Celso Lobregat put it, “she has just responded to the call of her constituents.”

Salazar, who is this city’s first district congresswoman, made the declaration shortly after she led the groundbreaking of a project on Wednesday in the village of Santa Maria.

Lobregat said he and his brother Jomar called a joint meeting between the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) and Adelante Zamboanga Party (AZAP), respectively, to purposely discuss their preference for the mayoralty post.

“We all knew Beng (Salazar) did not express her intention yet, but I told her that we will be meeting (Tuesday night). Our initial decision was to invite her and hear her thoughts and views on the matter. So last Tuesday night after the meeting it was almost a unanimous decision that members of the LDP and AZAP directorates would prefer her to run for mayor,” he said.

Salazar, who is on her second term in office, will run under President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s ruling Liberal Party (LP), while Lobregat and the rest will run under LDP and AZAP.

“But we will coalesce. We still have to discuss the details of the working coalition,” Lobregat clarified.

Lobregat, meanwhile, refused to publicly declare what position he will run for in 2013, though many say he will run as representative of this city’s first district, which will be left vacant by Salazar.

Lobregat is still hoping that second district Congressman Erico Basilio Fabian would reconsider his position.

Fabian, who is in his last term of office, said he is 80 percent inclined to run for mayor next year regardless of his opponent. (Bong Garcia/Sunnex)