ONLY one of the 15 elective posts in Cebu’s first district was not won by the Gullas political clan-led Alayon-Nacionalista Party (NP) in the last May 13 midterm elections.
The district is composed of the cities of Talisay, Naga and Carcar, and municipalities of Minglanilla, San Fernando and Sibonga.
Alayon candidates won the district’s congressional seat, two provincial board seats, six seats for mayor and five seats for vice mayor.
Only the winning vice mayor of Minglanilla town is not an ally of Alayon-NP. Loben Geonzon, of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), defeated incumbent Vice Mayor Robert John Selma, the Alayon-NP bet for vice mayor.
Geonzon got 23,541 votes while Selma got 22,172 votes.
Majority of the councilors are also Alayon-NP members.
Last Thursday, June 6, 2019 the victors took their oaths of their respective offices before outgoing first district congressman Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. at the Carcar City Hall.
Senators-elect Cynthia Villar and Imee Marcos graced the event to thank the voters of the first district for their votes.
Villar and Marcos left early as they were set to join President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City for the celebration of Eid’l Fitr.
Outgoing Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas, Gerald Anthony’s grandfather, took oath as the incoming representative before Villar, whose husband Manuel heads the NP.
Marcos and Garcia stood beside each other during the elder Gullas’s oath-taking rite.
During her speech, Garcia thanked Gerald Anthony and the voters, saying she owed them a debt of gratitude for supporting her.
“Sa mosunod nga tulo ka tuig, ako kanang pagapamatud-an kay ako gyong barogan ang dakong pagsalig kanako ni (In the next three years, I will prove my worth because I will not shortchange him for the huge trust given to me by) Cong. Samsam,” she said.
Gerald Anthony took oath as Talisay City’s new mayor before Carcar City vice mayor-elect Nicepuro Apura. He was with his wife Rhea and other mayors.
“Kon magpabilin ta nga lig-on, ang mga national pa mao nay moari diri nato mangayo og tabang. Karon nga eleksyon, gipakita nato nga kon mobarog ang grupong NP-Alayon, makapadaog man gyud diay ta og kandidato (If we stay strong, the national candidates would come to us and ask for our help. During the elections we showed that if the NP-Alayon alliance persists, we can assure the candidate’s victory),” he told his partymates in a speech.
Gerald Anthony said he chose Apura to administer the oath because he got a huge chunk of votes (72 percent of registered voters) in Carcar when he ran for the House of Representatives in 2016.
Also, it was his way of honoring Apura, who is now in his third and last term as Carcar’s mayor. Apura’s wife Mercedita is the city’s incoming mayor.
The mayors who took their oaths before Gerald Anthony were Elanito Peña of Minglanilla; Valdemar Chiong, Naga City; Lakambini Reluya, San Fernando; and Lionel Bacaltos, Sibonga.
During the oathtaking ceremony, San Fernando vice mayor-elect and Reluya’s son Ricci was carrying the framed picture of his father Ricardo, whose candidacy he substituted after his death during an ambush in Talisay City last January. (From SCG of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)