BARANGAY captains and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) leaders in Tacloban City on Sunday, July 29, attended a special gathering to show support for and alliance with Tingog Sinirangan, a regional political party in Eastern Visayas region.
Of the 138 village chiefs in Tacloban, 136 showed up at the event.
Tingog Sinirangan regional chairman and first nominee Jude Acidre thanked the local leaders, called them the party’s “partners”, and assured them of priority projects and programs.
“We believe that in party-list, the party should be remembered and not the individual personalities. Tingog Sinirangan is more than its nominees,” said Acidre.
He said they conducted over medical programs and initiatives across the region despite their failed bid in the 2016 national elections. The latest is the free check-up and cataract operation from July to August.
In his speech, Acidre thanked Tacloban for giving them over 40,000 votes, which pushed the Tingog Sinirangan into an “advantageous position” among hundreds of party-list groups.
“Tacloban did not also disappoint us for giving us the biggest margin of votes. If Tacloban wasn’t there, we’ll not make it there, too. Maybe it’s not yet our time, but we’re not tired,” said Acidre.
“Whether we have a position or not, we remember Tacloban. We’re here to give you service,” he added.
According to Acidre, Tingog Sinirangan will serve as second “voice” to the congressional districts in the region.
Although a newcomer in the national party-list elections, Tingog Sinirangan has been in existence since 2012.
Lawyer Butch Corpin, its second nominee and current executive director of Lakas-CMD party, said that Tingog Sinirangan was formerly called as Tingog Leytehon, a provincial political party in Leyte.
Then Leyte First District representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, its chairman emeritus, pushed for its entry in the regional level to give “voice” to the region’s people and seek representation in the House of Representatives through the party-list system.
The Commission of Elections accredited Tingog Sinirangan through a resolution passed on Aug. 19, 2015, which qualified the party to run in the party-list elections in May 2016 national and local elections.
Acidre has been in a region-based party-list organization for over 10 years.
Tingog Sinirangan’s other officers are Glenn Capucion, president; Rachel Santiago, secretary-general; Cheryl Chu, party treasurer; and Lutgarda Barredo-Raagas, Jenifer Padual, Edmar Santiago, and Atty. Kaye Barreda, party plenum members; among other officers.
Meanwhile, Leyte First District Rep. Yedda Romualdez, who accompanied Acidre during the event, said they are “pushing for more projects and we’re doing many things.”
She highlighted the ongoing tide embankment, by-pass road and bridge projects in Tacloban City and Leyte province.
Romualdez assured many more projects will be undertaken in the City and in her district.
She said President Rodrigo Duterte and new House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are “very kind and close to us.”
Newly elected Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) President Eden Chua-Pineda and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president Thomas Diaz lauded Romualdez and Tingog Sinirangan for responding to the needs of the barangays in the city.