SINCE the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has prioritized the anti-drugs campaign in the country, the League of the Cities in the Philippines (LCP) is planning to create a special position or a focal mayor on anti-illegal drugs.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, a newly elected LCP president, said yesterday that the current administration has prioritized the anti-drugs campaign and it’s time that the LCP will create a special position or focal mayor on anti-illegal drugs.
“The LCP should be aligned with the administration’s goals and objectives because we are an organization of the chief executives,” he said.
Leonardia was elected as the new LCP president during its 68th General Assembly and Election of National Executive Board held at the Edsa Shangri-La Manila in Mandaluyong on Friday, for the period of 2019-2022.
Leonardia, who succeeded Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, said that he’s thankful to all his fellow city mayors for choosing him to be the new LCP president.
“I am thankful to them because in spite the fact that there’s so many mayors who could be a president and there are even mayors who have much bigger cities than Bacolod,” he said.
He added that he was openly endorsed by Pamintuan as well as their chairman Mayor Lani Cayetano.
Leonardia recalled that they also held a meeting with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Leonardia is the first mayor from Bacolod to be elected LCP national president in the league’s 31-year history.
Also elected were Edgardo Labella of Cebu City as national chairman; Ronnel Rivera of General Santos City, national vice chairman; Joy Belmonte-Alimunung of Quezon City, executive vice president; and Arnan Panaligan of Calapan City, secretary-general.
Other mayors from Negros Occidental elected to the National Executive Board were Mark Andrew Golez of Silay City as the regional representative for Region 6 (Western Visayas); Nicholas Yulo of Bago City, deputy secretary-general for the Visayas; and Francis Frederick Palanca of Victorias City, deputy PRO for Visayas.
“I also told my colleagues that I would like to have a very participative league of cities and we will make an assessment survey because we would like them to give to us their ideas, plans, concerns, and even their problems because I believe that it should be a case where it is the city mayors telling the league of cities what to do than the league of cities telling the mayors what to do,” Leonardia said.
He said they will hold their first assembly in September, which composed of 145 cities across the country, in Davao City.
“We would like to see that this batch of league officials and even the members will be very cohesive and should live in harmony because in harmony there’s always going to be productivity,” he added.
Meanwhile, Leonardia along with the other officials in the country attended a post State of the Nation Address (SONA) meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday night.
Leonardia said that was the biggest assembly of local government executives he has ever seen which composed of 81 governors, 1, 412 municipal mayors, and 145 city mayors. (MAP)