Jonkie formally picks Carlo VM

The battle for Mandaue City has finally taken shape after two crucial team-ups have been defined.

Jonkie Ouano, the son of Mayor Thadeo Ouano, yesterday officially announced his choice of councilor Carlo Pontico Fortuna as his runningmate in his bid to succeed his father.

With the announcement, their match-up against the tandem of councilors Jonas Cortes and Glen Bercede has been firmed up. Cortes and Bercede made a formal announcement of their team-up last week.

As far as intent is concern, the battle for mayor in Mandaue City remains a four-way fight, considering that Vice Mayor Amadeo Seno Jr. and veteran former councilor Magno Dionson having made similar announcements.

But with neither Seno nor Dionson having, as of the moment, any official runningmate, all eyes in that burgeoning economic powerhouse in Cebu will be on Ouano, Fortuna, Cortes and Bercede.

Interestingly, with all four of these young politicians being between their early 30s and early 40s, they are roughly about the age of the city they want to lead.

Mandaue City became a chartered city on August 30, 1969 and thus will only be 38 years old this August. When it became a city, the four were probably still in short pants or were not even born at all, as in the case of Jonkie, 32.

But as young as they are, they can trace their roots to some of the most formidable old political families in Mandaue City.

Jonkie is not only a son of the incumbent mayor but is a grandson of a former mayor as well, the patriarch of the Ouanos - Alfredo. Fortuna is a son and namesake of a former councilor while his grandfather was also a former mayor, Alejandro Seno Fortuna, for whom one of the longest streets in the city is named.

Cortes is a son of former mayor Demetrio Cortes Sr., the man who oversaw the successful transition of Mandaue from town to city and orchestrated that young city's policy of attraction widely seen as responsible for its emergence as the commercial and industrial hub of Cebu.

Prior to yesterday's announcement, Fortuna was reported as being interested in making a run for one of two provincial board seats allocated for the Sixth District. At the time, Jonkie was reportedly eyeing either Cortes or Bercede as his runningmate.

But when Cortes and Bercede pulled a surprise and bolted the Ouano camp to team up as mayoralty and vice mayoralty candidates, Ouano was forced to consider other options. Fortuna, president of the city councilors league, loomed large among those options and it was not a surprise that Jonkie eventually chose him as runningmate.

The Ouano-Fortuna tandem was formally announced in a news conference as Power Team 4, apparently in reference to the previous Power Teams that saw Mayor Thadeo Ouano through three successful runs at the mayorship. The tandem promised to pursue the same push for a balanced economic growth and urban renewal.

Jonkie said his youth and that of Fortuna will not be a hindrance to their governance as " both me and Carlo are achievers in our own respective fields. "

Meanwhile, Mayor Ouano said he is inclined to support former councilor Noel " Kiwi " Soon in his bid for a seat in the provincial board representing the sixth district. According to Ouano, Soon's expertise in economics will be a boon to the district.

His support for the reelection bid of Rep. Nerissa Soon Ruiz, younger sister of Soon, is however still subject to discussions considering that Ruiz's husband Lito, a DILG undersecretary, has problems with the Ouano family.