ILOILO CITY — The group of incumbent Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa was the first to file their certificates of candidacy (COC) for the May 2019 elections at the city’s Commission on Elections (Comelec) office on Thursday.
Espinosa, seeking his first term as mayor of this city, was joined by former councilor – now his executive assistant for education – Perla Zulueta, who will vie for a congressional post, and incumbent councilor R. Leone Gerochi, who will run for vice mayor.
Espinosa became full-fledged mayor in October last year by taking over the post vacated by former mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who was dismissed from service due to issues on his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Running under the Nacionalista Party, Espinosa was also joined by five incumbents and a councilor, who is making a comeback and will vie for a Sangguniang Panlungsod (City Council) seat. They are incumbent councilors Candice Magdalane Tupas, Eduardo Peñaredondo, Lyndon Acap, Mandrei Malabor and Liezl Zulueta Salazar, and former councilor Rodel Agado.
The mayor said there is “continuous negotiations” because there are other groups that are still interested to join their slate. However, he emphasized that they will not settle for the “ordinary.”
“It’s better to have a solid group like ours now,” he said during an interview after they filed their COC at about 8 a.m.
In his message, he asked the public to give him and his group a chance to serve them.
Prior to their filing, they were joined by their supporters as they heard mass at the San Jose Parish Church. They then proceeded to the Comelec office at the second floor of the Iloilo Terminal Market. After the filing, they signed the “Integrity Pledge”.
Iloilo City Elections Officer Renier Layson said the pledge binds them to observe fairness in doing their campaign, follow the process of the Comelec, and follow the rules and prohibitions as provided for by the election rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, he said he could not comment on whether or not there is a watch list of election hot spots in the city.
“I don’t want to pre-empt any declaration of our RJSCC (Regional Join Security Coordinating Council) with regards to the declaration of hot spot areas in the city of Iloilo,” he said. (Perla Lena/PNA)
