ROAD TO MAYORSHIP

ROAD TO MAYORSHIP 


Not all those who dreamed of becoming Mayor were successful.  The position of the chief executive of a town and even more of a city entails a lot of sacrifice and hard work.  Winning a mayoralty race plus performing beyond the expectations of your constituents, are big challenges faced by those who are in the much sought position.      

I was a reluctant candidate for City Mayor of Maasin, though I was with the municipality and the city government as an elected official for quite a long time.  But the thought of becoming a Mayor was very far from my mind.  I may have the competence and experience.  But the mayoralty candidacy entails a lot of financial resources which I don’t have.

From councilor to vice mayor to mayor; changing function from legislative to executive.  I traveled the path to being a local chief executive, with the manner a famous song goes, “I did it my way.” 

When the 2007 election was nearing, the Lakas mayors were endorsing Mayor Damian Mercado to run as Governor of Southern Leyte.  Mian and Rosette Lerias were both in their last terms as Mayor and Governor, respectively.  Congressman Roger Mercado was still in his first term as Representative.

So there were series of meetings called to settle the conflict between the two political clans.  The Lerias camp wanted Rosette’s daughter Dundeet would be the coalition’s candidate for Governor, while Oging and Mian would exchange positions as Mayor and Congressman.

The Mercado camp countered that Rosette and Mian would instead change places as Mayor and Governor, respectively.  Rosette said she was not interested in running as Maasin City Mayor.

Oging proposed that he would sacrifice and would slide down to the position of City Mayor to accommodate Rosette as Congressman and Mian as Governor.

Rosette was persistent at holding the Capitol for the Lerias family.  Her loyal supporters cited sentimental reasons that it was her father who created the province and her mother was its longest serving governor.  

Mian countered that he was not interested at running for Congress and proposed that Oging and Rosette would change places as Congressman and Governor and that he would not run for any position.  The Lerias camp did not agree to the proposal.

The group of mayors brought the case to Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. at the House of Representatives.  The conflict was not settled and we elevated the dispute to Malacañang where we were heard by Political Affairs Secretary Gabriel Claudio, but to no avail.

The matter was brought to Bishop Precioso Cantillas together with the presence of all municipal mayors of the province.  The bishop tried to presrve the unity of the coalition and exhausted all means of amicable settlement.  Still no solution was arrived at. 

So the Lakas-NPC coalition broke and the Lakas Party agreed that Oging will run for reelection as Congressman while Mian will run as Governor.  Over at NPC, Engr. Robert Castañares who was a Liberal Party (LP) candidate for Congressman was also adopted by the party.  Dundeet Lerias was the official candidate for Governor while Rosette Lerias was the candidate for City Mayor.

The Lakas Party is now finding a candidate who can face Rosette for the mayorship.  The sister of Oging and Mian, Emily Mercado was considered.  But she was not interested of the position.  The party had no other logical candidate to field for the mayoralty election.  The barangay captains endorsed me.

At first, I was not really interested at running for City Mayor.  I was considered by Mian for the vice governorship or Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member.    But the turnout of events resulted in my filing the certificate of candidacy for City Mayor.  

The Governor running as Mayor seemed to be the strong choice against the Vice Mayor who ran as Mayor.  I called it a “David and Goliath encounter.”  Rosette had more than 20 years of political experience under her aside from being the daughter of former Speaker Nicanor Yñiguez and former Governor Salvacion Yñiguez.  While in our family, I was the only politician.

She was Governor for three terms and was once a Congressman of the Lone District of Southern Leyte.  She was also the incumbent Regional Development Council Chairman and Regional Peace and Order Chairman.  In other words she had the control of all government offices through the regional directors and the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 

Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought of one day facing one-on-one a political giant and a descendant of the famed Oppus clan of Southern Leyte.  Political detractors considered me as nothing compared to the status of my
 political opponent for City Mayor.  Plus I don’t have the financial war chest to face the more established resources of the Governor.

I thought of a “nothing to lose and everything to gain” situation in this election.  If I lose, my head will still be held high as my opponent was the incumbent Governor.  But if I win, it will be a big political success for me.  I had the backing of 63 of the 70 Barangay Captains of Maasin City.  Only the Chairmen of Barangays Acasia, Bactul 1, Isagani, Mambajao, Maria Clara,  Nonok Sur and San Jose.  Plus the support of the Congressman and incumbent City Mayor running for governor gave me added mileage.

Other important contributing factors were I was born, raised and educated in Maasin from kindergarten to master’s degree.  I worked all my professional years in Maasin also.  The family name Samaco is purely of Maasin origin while in contrast, theirs is not.

The Governor had the issue of the mishandling of the relief goods and funds for the landslide victims at Guinsaugon, Saint Bernard.  She categorically denied this through and through.  Plus the issue on her inability to deliver projects for the barangays in Maasin, which Mayor Mercado and myself had built during our three terms. 

They accused me also of being a “puppy” of the Mercados.  That I would also bow down to the whims of the Congressman and Mayor.  My answer to that was unity, solidarity and teamwork, the Congressman's motto, would fast track development. 

My 15 years of serving exclusively for Maasin, then a town now a city, worked also to my advantage.  While Lerias’ coverage was provincewide and she preferred to give her pet projects to Sogod Bay, Pacific and Panaon Areas and not to Maasin, citing the reason that Maasin has a bigger internal revenue allotment.

I campaigned vigorously in the 70 barangays including big puroks and sitios.  Surveys were almost even.  Rosette leads in the poblacion area and I was equally strong in the rural areas.  Betting was very rampant and all in all the total gamble could reach a million pesos The mayoral contest was conceived as a very close fight.    

May 11, 2007.  Election Day.  I voted with my wife Chona at our precinct in Barangay Tunga-tunga.  I was prepared for any eventuality and had learned to condition myself that if I lose, I would still be
 proud of myself. 

Voting was very intense in the mayoralty contest.  Information on vote buying even up to the time when voters lined up at the precincts were reported.  There were heated arguments among supporters almost everywhere.  An incident happened at Barangay Lunas where our barangay captain and her principal-wife were harassed. 

The counting was even more heated.  As expected, Rosette led in the poblacion barangays while I got more votes in the rural barangays.  The results were unpredictable even from the start of the counting at 3:00 P.M.

The next day at about 4:00 A.M., news broke that I was already winning as City Mayor!  Many leaders
 visited me at home to congratulate me and I had no sleep entertaining them.  I preferred to stay at home but later went to the residence of Cong. Mercado when reports reached us that he was still about even with his opponent though he was very much ahead in Maasin.  Later we learned that the Congressman was reelected.

But security told me that the supporters of my opponent would not about to accept defeat.  Citing the manipulating of the results by teachers, many demonstrators trooped to the plaza facing the city hall posting placards denouncing the alleged cheating of the mayoral elections.  Their barkers were shouting at us using megaphones.

These protestors wanted to prevent my proclamation.  So we positioned a firetruck and a barricade of city employees in front of the city hall if in case they would storm into the area where the counting was done and where the imminent proclamation would happen.        

The situation was very tense.  I had enough courage to face my detractors, but security told me to just stay inside my vice mayor’s office.  The rallyists converged at the Rizal monument at the plaza facing the city hall. 

Tension arouse as we had not been proclaimed yet.  Because if a candidate is already proclaimed as winner, it would be very complicated to file a protest in the COMELEC and it would entail a lot of expenses.  

Rosette showed up at the protestors and
 reportedly pacified the group resulting in their dispersal after two days of rallying.  She later conceded defeat in the polls. 

The final tally showed:  Samaco, Maloney L. 18,105; Lerias, Rosette Y. 17,207.  My winning margin was a slim 898 votes.  But in the NAMFREL tally, I was ahead by 1,015 votes.  The NPC legal counsel could not find any irregularity in their copy of the certificates of canvass as compared to the COMELEC copies.  It paved the way for my proclamation.

There was a huge crowd in front of the city hall, this time they were my supporters.  Gone were the protestors.  I thanked everybody for the support and vowed to work for the improvement of the city and the continuation of the programs started by now governor-elect Damian Mercado.

My first term is not without political intrigues.  After I took my oath of office, cynics said that I could not finish my term and that I will only be up to the month of August because my opponent would take over.  My supporters just laughed it out because the former Governor did not file an electoral protest at the COMELEC.

Then rumors again circulated that I would only be up to the end of 2007 as my opponent would take over and many other related gossips.  But I was able to finish my term in 2010 and was reelected.

A retired Major General of the Philippine Army and Philippine Military Academy alumnus was urged by the opposition to run as mayor against
 me.  But he did not push through his candidacy citing family reasons in the United States. 

There was also a misinformation from them that I would not be allowed to run for reelection by the Mercado brothers, but instead will be taken to run as Vice Governor, as the Congressman’s son Liga ng mga Barangay President Nacional Mercado will allegedly be the candidate for City Mayor. 

But again detractors were proven wrong as I filed my candidacy for reelection as City Mayor as official candidate for Lakas-Kampi-CMD.    

Again Rosette filed candidacy to challenge me in the mayoral election in 2010.  She hurled a major issue of high prices of commodities, berating my slogan “Maasin Atong Siyudad Atong Mahalon.”  Giving it another meaning that because of the slogan, prices went up uncontrollably.  They accused this as the cause of the people’s poverty.

But people were wise enough to understand that high prices resulted from the rising fuel prices and it’s a worldwide phenomenon, not only in Maasin.  Out of the 70 Barangay Captains, 69 supported me in the first automated elections of the country.  Only the village chief of Lonoy was on their side.   

I was accused of not giving permit to Liberal Party Candidates Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas to stage a rally at the City Gym when they arrived in Maasin.  But actually the Gym was already booked by a non-government organization for Noynoy called Pilipinas Natin.  We gave them the permit for the city stage but their local candidates wanted to make it more dramatic by holding the rally in front of the cathedral, trying to win the sympathy of the voters.

The national candidates especially Mar Roxas got mad at me and City Administrator Atty. Feorillo Demeterio, Jr.  But he was later informed by LP Southern Leyte chairman Engr. Castañares of the real incident.  He apologized later through his staff.

Engr. Castañares spoke during our meting de avance.  He disclosed the real happening and was able to explain the real scenario of what happened during the LP rally.  The LP Southern Leyte Chairman endorsed my candidacy together with Gov. Mercado and Cong. Mercado as adopted LP candidates.  During the elections, Noynoy and Mar won in Maasin and Southern Leyte.     
     
The final tally of the 2010 mayoral race showed:  Samaco, Maloney L.  26,561; Lerias, Rosette Y.  13,798; the winning margin was 12,763 votes.  I won by a landslide and convincingly our whole Lakas-Kampi ticket won from Congressman down to all City Councilors.  They accused us of vote buying but most people just laughed it off.

Our proclamation was delayed because of the damage of the flash cards of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine resulting to the interruption of the counting of the two remaining precincts.  With the arrival of two new flash cards two days later, we were finally proclaimed close to midnight.  

It was the hitch of automation as we could have been proclaimed earlier if the counting was done manually.  But nevertheless all’s well that ends well and we were ready to serve our second term of office.

Then the elections for 2013 came.  Oging had served his last term as Congressman and was looking for another position to run.  Mian, who had one term left as Governor, was ready to join the Liberal Party, the party of Pres. Aquino, upon the invitation of LP stalwarts, most notably Occidental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali.

Dundeet Lerias became the LP Chairman for Southern Leyte replacing Atty. Rico Rentuza, the incumbent mayor of St. Bernard who was the highest ranking LP elected official that time.

Dundeet worked closely with DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo in the "Kaya Natin Movement."  She became the Congressional bet for the dominant party as a result.

On the other hand, Oging had joined the newly-formed National Unity Party (NUP) as Secretary General of more than thirty congressmen and some governors and mayors with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. as honorary chairman.  It was supported by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.

An LP Dundeet for Congressman and Mian for Governor ticket was about to be launched. However Mian had to consult the mayors of So. Leyte of such a move.  The mayors, vice mayors, councilors, barangay officials and sangguniang kabataan officials already signed a petition endorsing Mian for Congressman and Oging for Governor.

There were conflicts in the allocation of LP slots in the city and municipalities.  They want to replace some incumbent mayors affiliated with the Mercados who could still run with their original LP party mates.  A 50-50 sharing in the council by Mercado and Lerias candidates was also proposed by LP which incumbent councilors readily opposed.

In Maasin City, I was considered as their mayoralty candidate if the merger would push through.  I would  have run unopposed.  But they had plans of getting five slots for city councilors and the position of Vice Mayor Effie Sabandal for their LP party mates.

If in case the proposed LP oath taking did push through, I was willing to offer my mayoralty to Oging had he decided to run for City Mayor and I intended to slide to the vice mayoralty position with Vice Mayor Sabandal running as councilor.

But our barangay captains signed a petition endorsing me as their City Mayor candidate and Effie as their City Vice Mayor candidate for the 2013 elections.  They cited continuity of programs and harmony in the city hall as the main reason.

The failure of Sec. Robredo to attend as guest speaker during the 12th Maasin City Charter Day Celebration on August 10, 2012 added fuel to the volatile political situation.  The Mercado supporters were about to take oath as LP members but were prevented to do so.  Eight days later on August 18, 2012, Sec. Robredo died of a plane crash.

The Mercado group took oath of membership with the NUP during the first national convention on September 26, 2012 at Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Pasay City.  Our NUP So. Leyte chapter committed to support the Team Pnoy senatorial slate with the arrangement that the LP would declare Southern Leyte as a free zone.

For the third time, I faced Rosette, the LP official candidate for the city mayoralty contest.  Inspite of
our ticket NUP campaigning for the Team Pnoy
senatorial candidates, President Aquino came to Maasin personally endorsing Rosette "as the next mayor of Maasin City."

"Huwag po nating kalimutan, ang susunod na mayor ng Maasin City, si Manay Rosette Lerias. Taglay po, ng atin pong Manang, ang pusong laging nakatuon sa serbisyo; sigurado po, bilang dating gobernador, tiyak na itutuloy niya ang pagpapaangat ng antas ng buhay ng mga Southern Leyteño—tututukan niya rin ang edukasyon, kalusugan, at lilikha ng matibay na ugnayan upang sabay-sabay na tumulak tungo sa kaunlaran ang inyong lalawigan," said President Aquino during his endorsement.

Mar Roxas, the apparent LP standard bearer became the new DILG Secretary also came to Maasin. They had the support of Philippine National Police as one week before election the City Chief of Police was replaced. He was forced to take a sick leave and an ally of them was installed to take over.  Our leaders were followed anywhere by the PNP upon instructions by LP to confiscate our funds.

The LP team used the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P's) in their campaign alleging that the DSWD will course the additional beneficiaries through the LP.  They listed voters who would want to avail of the monthly subsidy through the DSWD and let them fill up forms with the pictures of the LP major candidates at the second sheet.  They threatened those existing 4P's beneficiaries who would not vote for LP candidates alleging that they will be phased out from the program because they have connections with Malacañang.

When the President came he warned of candidates using the 4P's for their political propaganda.  "Sa aking pananaw kasi, itong mga nagsasabing tatanggalin kayo sa programang ito, may ‘k’ sila. Pero hindi ho karapatan, meron ho silang ‘k’ na kakapalan. Kung gusto ho niyong simpleng sagutan na lang ho dyan, pag meron hong nanakot sa inyo ha, mga kababayan natin—meron raw hong mga sa upland areas yata niyo hindi man napababa ‘tong araw na ‘to, pakisabi na lang sa kanila—pag sila tinakot, ito ang sasabihin nila: Number one, kung saka sakaling kaya niyo kaming tanggalin, paano niyo kami tatanggalin sa programang yan eh malapit na ang eleksyon, kayo muna tatanggalin namin. Pangalawa, kung takutin pa kayo, ipaalam lang niyo sa akin, ako na ang bahala," PNoy said.

They also enticed the voters of the funds through the National Anti-Poverty Commission citing that we the incumbent officials could not give it to our constituents because we were not the official lineup of the president.

There were four Barangay Captains who were not with us during the elections, that of Dongon, Ibarra, Lonoy and Mantahan.  All the other 67 chairmen campaigned for NUP candidates.

The voters of Maasin voted according to performance and track record.  When election time came the result was: Samaco, Maloney  28,638; Lerias, Rosette 12,436.  The margin increased to 16,202.

I was given the privilege to serve as Mayor of Maasin for three terms which only two former governors Alfredo Bantug and Damian Mercado were able to accomplish.