CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama announced on Thursday, June 16, 2022, that he plans to run for president of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).
Rama told reporters that this move is already long overdue as he had already expressed the same way back in 2010.
“The national (officials) are aware about it, that I am running. It is not something new to me. That would have been a delayed and long overdue thing,” said Rama.
Aside from the LCP, Rama said he also offered himself to become the head of the national development council during his term in 2010.
The mayor did not divulge if he had been given the blessing of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., but he had already discussed this with other national politicians allied with the incoming administration like incoming Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos and incoming House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Rama also mentioned that he had already reached out to other mayors in the country to express his intention to lead the LCP.
Rama further said he will go to Manila on Thursday to meet with outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.
When he first won as city mayor in 2013, Rama ran for LCP president but decided to back out in favor of then Quezon City Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista, who was backed by the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
The current LCP president is Bacolod City, Negros Occidental Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
LMP
Aside from Rama, Consolacion town mayor-elect Teresa “Nene” Alegado said she is open to running for president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) in Cebu Province.
Alegado told reporters on Tuesday, June 14, that incoming Tuburan Mayor Democrito “Aljun” Diamante, who is also a former LMP-Cebu president, informed her that she was one of the officials considered for the post.
Alegado is no stranger to LMP-Cebu’s inner circle considering that she was previously the vice president of the league in 2013.
Liloan Mayor Christina Garcia-Frasco is the current LMP-Cebu president.
But with Frasco’s recent appointment as Tourism Secretary under the second Marcos administration, Alegado could be a shoo-in for the post, considering that she is one of LMP-Cebu’s most senior members.
Though she admitted she is not aspiring to lead LM
P-Cebu, Alegado said she is open to leading the organization as long as its members have a consensus.