Basilan mayor, wife file candidacy papers

LAMITAN CITY, Basilan -- Mayor Roderick Furigay and his wife, Rosita, filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) on Wednesday before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here.

The couple, left shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday from their house in Barangay Malinis and walked to the Comelec office at Oval Site, downtown, passing through the main thoroughfare in Matibay village.

They were accompanied by hundreds of their family members, friends and supporters.

ZAMBOANGA. Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay (left) and wife Rosita (2nd from left), accompanied by their supporters, troop to Comelec on Wednesday to file their candidacies for the 2013 polls. (Bong Garcia)

Furigay, who is on his last term of office, filed his COC for vice mayor, while his wife filed her candidacy papers for mayor.

The couple filed their COCs under the banner of the administration’s Liberal Party (LP).

Furigay’s uncle, former Lamitan mayor Wilfrido Furigay, waited for them at the Comelec office to show his support on the couple’s candidacy.

The elder Furigay, who was elected in 1980, was the first elected mayor of the then Lamitan municipality.

In an interview, Rosita said she decided to run for mayor to ensure continuity, if ever she will emerge victorious, of the programs and projects implemented by her husband.

Rosita serves as the city chairperson of the City Tourism Council that works hand-in-hand with the mayor for the implementation of beautification projects and other tourism-related undertakings.

The mayor said there should be continuity in the implementation of program and projects since this city is still in the infancy stage “which is too young to be left alone.”

Lamitan City is a fifth class city in Basilan, which is composed of 45 villages with a population of 82,074 as of the 2008 census conducted by the National Statistics Office.

Lamitan finally became a city when the Supreme Court upheld on February 17, 2011 the cityhood of Lamitan and 15 other towns in the Philippines. (Bong Garcia)