New Mt. Province guv calls for unity

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- After being proclaimed as the new governor of the province, lawyer Kathy Jyll Mayaen-Luis called for the public’s support for her leadership.

In her message, minutes after she was proclaimed as the new governor of Mountain Province, Mayaen-Luis expressed her gratitude to the political leaders and the people for making her a part of the history of the province.

“This is a first for me, in fact this is a first in our province,” Mayaen-Luis said, who became the governor after filing her certificate of candidacy as substitute to her father, the late Governor Leonard Mayaen who died in the middle of election campaign on March 30.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity to continue and finish what my father started,” she added as she calls for cooperation from local leaders.

Among the priority projects of the late governor were infrastructure development including the construction of roads and bridges that will link the ten municipalities of the province.

Eco-tourism, health and education were also among the top programs of the late governor.

The Commission on Election has proclaimed Mayaen-Luis around 10 in the evening of May 10, Tuesday, at the conference hall of the Provincial Board at the capital town of Bontoc.

The lady lawyer filed her COC for substitution on May 5 but was denied by the Comelec en banc.

The Provincial Board of Canvassers, however, took the cudgels to proclaim Mayaen-Luis as the new governor starting June 30 on the basis that there was no election protest filed against the appeal for substitution.

The late governor was running unopposed and an independent candidate, which was the basis of Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista in announcing earlier that a special election is likely to take place in the province.

Bautista said the election law says independent candidates are not allowed to have substitutes, citing Section 19 of Comelec Resolution No. 9984.