RECOGNIZING his “limitations,” incumbent village official of Macasandig Richard Nixon Baban has officially withdrawn from the mayoralty race yesterday and throws his support to Pompee La Viña, the rumored mayoral candidate of the Padayon Pilipino party.
Baban, a former ally of Mayor Oscar Moreno during the 2016 elections, said he finds La Viña “more competent and who has a greater chance of pulling a political upset on the incumbent city mayor.”
Baban took a jab at Mayor Moreno saying he has failed to provide an improved quality of life for the Cagayan de Oro people, especially the marginalized.
He said the mayor has “no clear and long-term policies that can protect and preserve our environment,” citing that the farm to market roads in the hinterlands have already suffered damage because they have now become quarry to construction site roads.
“The progress that the present administration has been boasting about is a pure delusion to the ordinary Cagay-anons whose opportunities are tapered because of weak government policies that fail to uphold the interests first of the Cagay-anon stakeholders against opportunistic fortune seekers,” he said, adding that Moreno instead favored big developers such as the MetroPac which has resulted to water rate increase.
He said he met La Viña by chance whom he said has remarkable credentials, a non-traditional politician.
Baban clarified that there has been no agreement between him and La Viña like running under the Padayon Pilipino.
City Commission on Elections officer lawyer Ramil Acol said Baban has already filed his statement of cancellation Tuesday morning, October 16.
Acol also urged other candidates who wish to withdraw their candidacies to send in the statement of cancellation/withdrawal only until Wednesday, October 17.