Reluya to head Gullas' district extension office

CEBU, Philippines - Although she was unsuccessful in her reelection bid, a public position is awaiting outgoing San Fernando Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya.

She will head first district Rep. Eduardo R. Gullas’ extension office in San Fernando.

Gullas announced this before town residents and guests during the simple launching of the first water system in barangay Balud, San Fernando yesterday.

The veteran lawmaker, in an interview, said he has chosen Reluya for the post so that there will be someone who will ensure that the projects that have been started will be continued, and that future ones will get to the town.

Reluya is a first-term mayor who sought reelection last May 10, but was defeated by Vice Mayor Antonio Canoy, who was the lady mayor’s predecessor.

It was Reluya, who first broke the political dynasty in the town when she defeated Canoy’s wife Rene in the 2007 election.

It was however not a walk in the park for Reluya during the last three years of her term, she said, as Canoy, elected vice mayor, and the council, of which majority is opposition, thumbed down practically all her proposed projects.

Looking back, Gullas said he had offered projects to San Fernando, which is one of the six local government units in his district, but were never accepted by Canoy, who served as mayor for three consecutive terms before Reluya.

Gullas said the latest of which was the refusal of the council to accept the donation of 5,000 square-meter lot in barangay South Poblacion by the Benedicto brothers to the town for the sole purpose of converting it into a school campus.

In order for the town to get the donation, Reluya and Gullas devised a plan by bringing in the Department of Education into the equation.

It was the DepEd that accepted the property, and allowed the town to build high school and public college buildings there.

At the municipal hall yesterday afternoon, Gullas and Reluya signed a memorandum of agreement with DepEd 7 through its director Recaredo Borgonia and the Cebu Technical University represented by its president Bonifacio Villanueva, which allows the town to use the property for the next 25 years.

With the agreement, SFC now becomes a satellite school of CTU, which provides teachers and training facilities to it.

In his speech, shortly after the signing, Gullas, who was recently given a new mandate by his constituents in the first district, assured to support the construction of the P30-million three-story building that will house the San Fernando College.

Last week, the town welcomed the first batch of students, about 100 of them, to the college.

They are temporarily placed at the South Poblacion Barangay Hall.

For this school year, Reluya said SFC offers Bachelor in Elementary Education major in General Education, Bachelor in Education major in English and Bachelor of Science in Information Technology—a ladderized curriculum—major in Computer Technology.

The public college is the third in Gullas’ district, the first being the Talisay City College which was opened in 2004, and the second is the Sibonga Community College, which was established last year. (FREEMAN NEWS)