Mindanaotoday.com | 40% of Oro barangay leaders get reelected
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
Of the 80 punong barangays (village chieftains) in Cagayan de Oro, 32 were reelected on Monday’s grassroot elections, three had served previously, while 45 are newbies though some had stints as village council members.
All proclaimed winners in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections officially assume their respective offices today, November 1, as announced by the Commission on Elections earlier.
Former City Vice Mayor Joaquin Rainier “Kikang” Uy is one of the 45 neophytes in village governance as punong barangay (PB) of Carmen, the city’s biggest village of over 80 thousand residents. He got 22,893 votes or roughly 77% of those who cast their votes.
Kikang is City Mayor Rolando “Klarex” Uy’s son. He took over the seat vacated by his mother, Rosemary Lorna who, this time, ran and topped the race for the seven-member Barangay Council. All 14 other candidates aligned with the Uys, including those in SK, won.
In Barangay Nazareth, it was a walk-in-the-park for lawyer Regine Rodriguez, daughter and chief-of-staff of District 2 Representative (Congressman) Rufus Rodriguez. She ran unopposed to replace her cousin, Maximo Rodriguez II.
There were 11 others who ran for the punong barangay seat uncontested, all from numbered barangays except in Barangay Taglimao where PB Reuben Obsioma handily got fresh mandate.
Other villages whose PB got proclaimed winners without challengers are Barangay 1, Barangay 3, Barangay 4, Barangay 10, Barangay 16, Barangay 20, Barangay 24, Barangay 28, Barangay 38, and Barangay 40.
In Barangay 40, incumbent Association of Barangay Council President and City Councilor Yam Lam Lim kept the punong barangay seat as nobody contested his reelection bid.
But there were villages where the topmost post was highly contested with three or more aspirants. In Barangay Lumbia, reelectionist Alexander Torralba had five challengers. Newly-minted PB Rudy Lago of Barangay Bayabas had five contenders.
Barangay Canito-an’s new PB Lancelot Padla had to unseat the sitting PB Joshua Taboclaon and three other candidates. In Barangay Consolacion, newly-proclaimed PB Derby Pacudan had four opponents, similar to that of PB Malou Aldequer of Barangay Cugman and PB Marlon Bonggay in Barangay Indahag.
Of the five candidates from local media, only Ronello “Jao” Gumapac of Radio Mindanao Network DXCC made it as the new PB of Barangay Baikingon.