Aquino eyeing Mindoreño to head governors' league

CALAPAN CITY , Philippines  – Carefully choosing a leader whom he can trust to head the local government units, President Aquino reportedly wants a governor from Oriental Min­doro to be the president of either the Provincial Governors’ League of the Philippines or the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).

Aquino, immediately after announcing he will temporarily head the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG), reportedly asked Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali Jr. to seek the presidency of either the two local government associations. 

Not only this, Aquino is making sure this will happen when leaders of the country’s 80 provinces convene sometime this year to elect its leaders. He also sent feelers to elected LGU leaders under his Liberal Party and other allied political parties to put the new Oriental Mindoro governor under the helm of the Governors’ League.

In a press conference in Bongabong town, Oriental Mindoro, shortly before he was to take oath of office Thursday, Umali told local newsmen that he was tapped by the President to vie for the presidency of ULAP.

According to Umali, Aquino, his longtime ally at the LP since the time they were both congressmen, wants a person whom he can trust and have confidence to be the leader of all LGUs. By tapping himself as temporary DILG secretary to judiciously manage the LGUs, the President would like a “real confidante” to support or assist him in dealing with the country’s local governments, Umali said.

Umali, one of the stalwarts nationwide of LP, is a first time governor of Oriental Mindoro. After finishing his third and final term as congressman of the first district of the said province, he ran for governor in the May polls and won over then incumbent Gov. Arnan Panaligan.