Local News

Bas patriarch ‘to retire’ from politics next year

Justin K. Vestil

TALISAY City Councilor Arturo Bas will not run for reelection in next year’s midterm elections.

Bas, a senior member of the administration Alayon Party, decided to shy away from politics following the deaths of his son, Mark Ferdinand, and grandson, Art Stephen, said Vice Mayor Alan Bucao.

Bucao told reporters yesterday that he received a text message from Bas right after Art Stephen, a neophyte barangay councilor, was gunned down on the Cebu South Coastal Road last July.

The veteran legislator also filed a leave of absence after his grandson’s death.

He is expected to return to work in December, Bucao said.

Bas reportedly told Bucao that he was emotionally affected by his grandson’s death and he wanted to spend some time with his family.

Bucao said Bas’s emotional state was further worsened when his eldest son, a former Lagtang, Talisay City barangay captain, was murdered in Sibonga earlier this week.

Bucao admitted that with Bas out of the picture next year, they will lose an important member of the party.

“Anugon gyud na siya, especially nga big leader man na siya sa Lagtang (It’s such a waste that he’s not running, especially since people in Lagtang look up to him as a leader). Pero para namo, maayo sad nga dili siya mubalik para mutabang og clear sa pangalan sa iyang pamilya (But for us, it’s better this way so he can help clear his family’s name of the drug allegations),” Bucao said.

Bucao said that when Talisay became a city in 2001, Bas was one of the first members of the City Council.

He served three consecutive terms from 2002 to 2010.

He ran for city councilor during the 2016 national elections in which he and the rest of his slate, led by Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas, secured the majority.

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