Ate Vi: Give me one more week to decide

LIPA CITY – Faced with her throng of supporters and Batangas officials pressing her to run for governor yesterday, Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto asked for more time to rethink her earlier decision not to challenge her brother-in-law, Vice Gov. Ricky Recto.

"Give me one more week to think," she said in a rally staged by the provincial Lakas-CMD chapter in front of City Hall.

"I don’t want to speak with finality today because I’m emotional. All that I am thinking about is that God would enlighten me to make the right decisions," she said.

Mayor Vi, as she is fondly called, earlier said she would give way to her brother-in-law, gubernatorial bet of the Genuine Opposition, thus avoiding a brewing rift within the Recto clan.

She said her decision next week would be final and she expressed hope that her followers would support whatever it is.

In a statement, her husband, re-electionist Sen. Ralph Recto, called on Batangueños to give his wife the "peace and quiet that she needs to arrive at a decision all of Batangas is waiting for her to make."

"Her constituents have spoken. It is time for her to listen to what her conscience says," he added.

Recto said he would support whatever decision his wife would make, be it a "well-deserved retirement" after more than four decades in the public limelight, or "postpone it by making one last foray in public service."

Former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, Lakas vice president and provincial chairman, threw his support behind Mayor Vi’s gubernatorial bid and called on Vice Gov. Recto, his running mate in the 2001 polls, to give way to his sister-in-law.

At least 24 mayors of Batangas’ three cities and 31 towns were expected in yesterday’s rally but only nine attended. – With Delon Porcalla and Aurea Calica