INCUMBENT Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Peña has decided not to seek a third and final term in the May 2022 elections.
The town official will seek the vice mayor’s post next year.
He will be running alongside his partymate in Alayon, Municipal Councilor Rajiv Enad, who is gunning for the mayoralty post.
Peña and Enad filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) for vice mayor and mayor before the local Comission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.
Enad, in an interview, said his allies in Alayon Party, including Peña, agreed to let him run for a higher position in the 2022 elections.
“I am currently the first councilor and I was initially planning to run for vice mayor, but after a meeting with our barangay captains and Mayor Samsam Gullas (Talisay City), it was agreed I would lead the race,” Enad said.
Peña did not give his reason why he agreed to run for vice mayor in next year’s elections.
Enad said among his plans is to achieve cityhood for Minglanilla, as well as solve the traffic problem.
“Part of my plans is that we want Minglanilla to be a thriving locality that will embrace the characteristic of adopting a work-live-and-play concept, making it competitive,” said Enad.
According to Enad, he started politics in 2002 as the head of the town’s Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).
He served as municipal councilor from 2007 until 2016. He then ran again for a seat in the Municipal Council in 2019 and won.
According to the Comelec, Enad is the second candidate to file his COC for mayor in Cebu Province.
The Province of Cebu has 44 municipalities and six component cities.