THAT was a lovely and lively forum held last Friday at Bale Balita. The guests were Magalang Mayor Romy Pecson and his running mate three-term Councilor Koko Gonzales. Questions flooded the floor as veteran broadcaster Mario Garcia propounded series of questions and more from the media persons in attendance, the likes of Joey Pavia, Joe Cortez, Ashley Manabat, Noel Tulabut, Eric Jimenez, Jojo Due and few more others. It was an interesting morning.
The Friday before Pecson and Gonzales were at Bale Balita, Pecson’s opponent former Mayor Malou Paras Lacson was the newsmen’s guest. She discussed the alleged failure of the Pecson administration in the last three years. So it was on those points the questions were raised. Pecson made a summation of what he was able to accomplish during this two years and brushed aside the accusation that the town ‘slept under Pecson’s care’. Pecson said the town achieved despite the pandemic business activities never seen before.
To recall, Pecson edged Lacson with only 27 votes in the 2019 elections. A real slim margin. So it is expected that in the forthcoming 2022 mayoral race it will go down the wire again. It was a long agonizing wait for Romy Pecson as the PCOS machines were malfunctioning. It took some days when the counting was finally over. He won by a Pecson life story is one for the books.
Many people barely know who is Romy Pecson. Broadcaster Mario asked. ‘Why will the electorates vote for you? What makes you different from your opponent? Pecson in all humility attempted to draw the line between him and Lacson. He is a nice person like Malou. Both are kind, generous and are deeply committed to public service. I was Pecson’s vice president when he was president of the Rotary Club of Angeles some years ago. For one whole year at close range, we worked together in rendering community services. His generosity and desire to help others knows no boundaries.
I suppose when God made a man with so much humility Pecson came out. Many friends who know Romy will give credence to the declaration. Romy is Mr. Humble from head to tow. In his life he suffered a lot of false starts. It is a checkered life. He was a monte card dealer in his youth, when he never gambled in all his life. He took automotive course when his hands are too fragile to move a monkey wrench. He was jobless when he got married, and was forced to be a tricycle driver to support a family. God loves his creatures who are humble so He blessed Romy a good life when his family was growing.
From few kilos of meat, he started in his Marisol Village residence a modest meat processing plant in February 1985.In a short period of time, his meat company, the Roels Food Corporation made good strides and needed an expansion as the sales grew to millions.
He was known more in his hometown of Magalang as Roels, more than his real name. In year 2007, when news spread that he will run for mayor against the popular and well entrenched Mayor Lyndon Cunanan,and the common question among the electorates was,Ninung Romy ( Romy who)? When I learned he was having plans of entering Magalang politics, I suggested to him during a break in a fellowship meeting to make the rounds in his town and if possible cover every square inch of the territory. I warned him that public service is a very demanding job and thankless at that. But he was determined. He won the elections but was able to occupy the mayoral seat only in 2009 when his electoral protest proclaimed him winner against Cunanan. Years later, they became good friends. Cunanan was his campaign manager in the recent elections. It was a smooth sail in his reelection bid in 2010 and breezed through again but lost to Malou Lacson in one mayoral contest.
Magalang despite its urban setting now coming from a lethargic town in the fifties, it still maintain its curious little town characteristics. It cannot be said that this peaceaful town is not marred by crime, though. To recall, two of its previous mayors were felled by assasins' bullets. The killing of former mayors Butch Dayrit and Dan Lacson came far and between though. Today everything is quiet in Magalang town except its politics.