THE mayor of Kabankalan City on Wednesday, August 2, said he will retire from politics when his term ends in 2019.
“I am not getting any younger. I don’t have any political plans anymore. My 31 years in politics is already enough,” City Mayor Isidro Zayco said.
Zayco was the first city mayor of Kabankalan, which became a city on August 2, 1997.
He was also elected vice governor of Negros Occidental and succeeded the late governor Joseph Marañon for one term. He then went back as mayor of Kabankalan.
Zayco also mentioned that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has allocated P30 million for the construction of Kabankalan City airport runway.
DOTr’s technical personnel are preparing the program of works after they conducted a survey of the airport, he said.
Zayco said the City Government has allocated P30 million for the airport runway while the provincial government has also approved a counterpart of P30 million.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri has also committed P10 million for the airport terminal.
Comeback
Meanwhile, former Negros Occidental vice governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. will make a comeback in politics in 2019.
Alvarez’s daughter, Sixth District Representative Mercedes Alvarez, confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that her father will run for congressman in the next election.
The younger Alvarez, who is also Deputy Speaker for Visayas, is on her third and final term.
As for her next move, she said: “As of today, I would like to focus myself on being a simple housewife.”
The lawmaker said all of the local government units in her district have “no vacancies,” adding that only the district board members are expected to graduate from their terms.
She denied reports that she is running for a post in Hinobaan, and as for a provincial post, she said “daw wala pa man may gahagad (nobody has invited me yet).”
The elder Alvarez run for governor in the 2013 elections but lost to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr.