LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines – The mayor who made Donsol, Sorsogon the whale shark capital of the world died Thursday while being treated at a hospital after suffering from heat stroke.
Mayor Jerome Alcantara, who was running for re-election under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), was campaigning last Tuesday when he collapsed from heat stroke.
Alcantara, 77, was rushed to the Estevez Memorial Hospital and was later transferred to the Aquinas Hospital where he succumbed to complications of the stroke at 11:25 a.m. on Thursday.
He is the third victim of heat stroke in Bicol. A barangay tanod and a councilor had earlier died while they were campaigning in Canaman town in Camarines Sur.
Corazon Verata, a physician at the Aquinas Hospital, told The STAR yesterday that Alcantara’s death could have also been aggravated by his diabetes and old age.
Alcantara’s wife Edith said her husband was suffering from other illnesses including diabetes and pneumonia.
Mrs. Alcantara said no member of the family will be the substitute candidate for her husband.
Alcantara was in politics for 16 years, starting out as a barangay captain.
His family had been urging him to retire, but the late mayor was challenged to run for his last term to prove his political rival wrong.
His opponent was reportedly telling Donsol residents not to vote for him anymore because he was already weak.
– With Cet Dematera