AS COUNCILOR AND VICE MAYOR

AS COUNCILOR AND VICE MAYOR    

Dedicated public service is a fulfillment of our duty to other people. 

I was with the municipality and the city government as an elected official for quite a long time.  I had served Maasin, then a municipality, as a Sangguniang Bayan Member for two terms, 1992-1995 and 1995-1998.  Then became a Municipal Vice Mayor in 1998-2000 and the First City Vice Mayor in 2000-2001.  My last two terms as City Vice Mayor occurred in 2001-2004 and 2004-2007.

There was only one Samaco politician in the history of Maasin.  It was my uncle Eudaldo "Dandin" Samaco, the brother of my father.  He was a physician and practiced his profession "pro bono" when he was elected.

Politics was never been in my blood in my childhood.  Though in the College Students Supreme Council at Saint Joseph College, I ran as vice president and won by a landslide.  But I never joined the Kabataang Barangay, which was the stepping stone of some of my contemporary politicians. 

The lure of public service attracted me when some friends prodded me to join the race for the then municipal council.  I was a dean of the engineering department of my alma mater Saint Joseph College.  I felt there were no more challenges for me when we raised the percentage passing to a consistent rate of more than the national passing and had produced placers in the board examinations.

When the Local Government Code was passed in 1991 and was about to be implemented, local governments needed competent men and women to sit in the council.  Aside from being an academician I was also active in the environment protection advocacy, sports promotions and human rights. Then there was a very tempting offer for me to join the Sangguniang Bayan which I could not refuse.  As I thought I could do more for my advocacies if I would join the Council.  

I was elected No. 3 Councilor when I ran with the ticket of then incumbent Mayor Gerardo Dator in 1992.  Ruel Sibi, former DSWD and DILG employee of the municipality ranked No. 1 while the ever popular abaca and copra businessman Mauro Borres emerged No. 2.  Our party was Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) and our presidential bet was Speaker Ramon Mitra who lost to General Fidel Ramos of Lakas-NUCD.  Mayor Dator was not as lucky as I was.  There were two LDP bets for mayor that time, the other was Board Member Helen Yusingco.  There was a third group of LDP candidates without a mayor.  There were 7 candidates for mayor, 6 for vice mayor, and 72 for councilors.  Mayor Antonio Amit won the race for the chief executive under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).  The Vice Mayor was my former teacher and director of student affairs at SJC, Corazon Duarte of NPC.  

As a Sangguniang Bayan Member I chaired the Committee on Infrastructure.  I was vigorously monitoring the projects in Maasin, roving around the barangays riding only on my Yamaha 50 or Honda 70 motorcycle.  There were no service vehicles for SB members.  We organized the so-called SB Project Monitoring Committee in the legislative.

I was also active in the Task Force Bantay Dagat where we conducted seaborne patrols especially at night time without sleep.  There were no government paid Bantay Dagat personnel that time and all were volunteers so we had to join them to inspire them to work.  We were working with the Diocesan Social Action Center which was also very vigilant about the abuses in the environment.  It was headed that time by Rev. Fr. Tony Ong.

We were able to apprehend large fishing boats most notable was that of Lourdes fishing vessel from Negros Occidental which we caught fishing within seven kilometres from the shore, which is illegal for fishing vessels of more than three tons.  We also captured Carmelina fishing boat from Cebu with the same violation.

We also captured several liba-liba or trawl fishers from Bohol.  We also caught buso or fishing using compressor which was illegal in our ordinance.

I also worked on law-making and passed ordinances, like the Ordinance Regulating the Use of Transformers in Electrical Installations, the Ordinance Regulating the Distances of the Buildings from the Sidewalks,  and the Ordinance Imposing Rentals on Municipal Heavy Equipments.  I also passed several resolutions mostly related to my Committee on Infrastructure.        

Mayor Amit and we the LDP councilors were brought by Congressman Roger “Oging” Mercado before President Ramos and we took oath as new members of the administration party Lakas-NUCD.  

In 1995, I ran for reelection under the lineup of then Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Atty. Teopisto Rojas, Jr.  Mayor Amit lost in a convention of barangays captains and Atty. Rojas became the municipal standard bearer.  Again our mayoral candidate was unlucky but I won as No. 1 Councilor.  The winning mayor was Dr. Arturo Bascug of the NPC.  Former Mayor Dator was second and Atty. Rojas placed third.  Vice Mayor Duarte was reelected under the same NPC party.  For the second consecutive term, the Mayor and Vice Mayor were from NPC.  

I continued with my exploits in the first term to my second term.  The Chairmanships of the Committees of Tourism and Education were added to my tasks as Infra chair.  I was able to pass landmark ordinances and the most notable were the Comprehensive Fishing and Fisheries Ordinance, Public Safety Ordinance, and Comprehensive Traffic Ordinance.

I was still active in the fishery laws implementation with the Bantay Dagat.  I monitored infra projects from one barangay to another riding only in my small motorcycle.  Later I purchased a Yamaha DT 125 to penetrate to the mountain barangays.    

Then the brother of Oging, Damian Mercado won handily as Barangay Captain of Abgao.  We helped him campaign as Liga ng mga Barangay President and he ran unopposed.      

In 1998, Mian decided to run as Mayor under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).  I was selected by the party to run as Vice Mayor.  He was then unknown to the people and his selling point was he was the Congressman’s brother.  

Mercado won as Mayor over incumbent Dr. Bascug by more than 2,000 votes.  Former Mayor Dator placed a distant third.  But my win over SB Member Eric Macabuhay was a slim margin of 156 votes in a hotly contested vice mayoralty election.

During that election I thought I would lose.  The winner was decided right on the last day of the canvassing with the last ballot box.  There was even false information that I lost already.  But in the end I emerged victorious by the slight margin.  It was my first taste of a very close electoral fight.

Our tandem with the Mayor resulted in the cityhood of Maasin on August 10, 2000.  The people of Maasin approved the cityhood of Maasin on that day by a landslide vote of 19,273 for and only 1,422 against, with an approval of 92%.

Then we were overwhelmingly reelected in 2001.  I won over former Mayor Atty. Dator by over 6,000 votes in the vice mayoralty election.  Mayor Mian Mercado won by landslide over then Board Member Corazon Duarte.

In the 2004 elections, I was unopposed as City Vice Mayor and was able to finish my third and last term in 2007.  There was a unity forged between the Mercado camp of the Lakas-NUCD and the Yñiguez-Lerias camps of the NPC which resulted in the landslide victories for all administration candidates.  Oging won by a landslide against incumbent congressman Atty. Anecito “Odong” Saludo, Jr.  Mian won by a wide margin over then Board Member Helen Yusingco.

As Vice Mayor I brought the sessions to the barangays to have a joint session with the barangay councils.  We granted financial assistance of P100,000.00 per barangay where we held our sessions.  When the Mayor was out of town, I was always designated as the Officer-in-Charge and when it was the fourth day, as Acting Mayor in accordance with the Local Government Code. 

I was also appointed by the Mayor as Chairman of the Maasin City Sports Council when it was created in 2001.  I was on the forefront of the sports activities and the participation of Maasin athletes in provincial, regional and national competitions.    

My most notable achievement was the ordinance I authored creating the Maasin City College during my last term of office.  I was appointed by Mayor Mercado as the first College President upon the approval of the Board of Trustees.