Husband-and-wife team files candidacy for Lamitan City mayor, vice mayor

COTABATO CITY — The couple whose leadership was thrice cited for good governance in the past three years is again seeking reelection for mayor and vice mayor of Lamitan City unopposed.

Rose Furigay and spouse Roderick are aspiring for their third and last terms as mayor and vice mayor there, respectively.

They both acknowledged on Thursday the role of their political principals, Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and his older brother, Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman, in convincing potential contenders to let them stay for three more years to ensure the continuity of the domestic socio-economic and peace efforts of the Lamitan City government.

Salliman is also seeking reelection as Basilan’s provincial governor.

Lamitan City is the new capital of Basilan, one of the five provinces of ARMM.

The reelectionist Furigay couple was accompanied by Hataman and Salliman in their filing of their certificates of candidacy at the office of the Commission on Elections in Lamitan City on Wednesday.

The city’s local government unit, covering 45 barangays, received the vaunted Seal of Good Local Governance for 2016, 2017 and 2018 from the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in recognition of its efficiency in addressing community issues, including peace and security concerns, through participatory governance.

The Furigays were first elected to office in tandem in 2013 with what then seemed only as “token opposition” by less influential challengers.

They were reelected unopposed in 2016, their first unchallenged tandem candidacy for Lamitan City’s mayoral and vice mayoral slots.  

“We are thankful to the ARMM leadership and our provincial governor for supporting our peace and development efforts. With them around, we made considerable breakthroughs. We will try to achieve more in the next three years with their help,” Mayor Rose told reporters via text message Thursday.

The office of the ARMM governor has spent no less than P1.5 billion for infrastructure projects in Lamitan City alone in the past five years.

Lamitan City is the capital of Basilan, which also covers 11 municipalities.

Hataman, still serving a second term as ARMM’s regional chief executive filed on Monday his COC for the lone congressional seat in Basilan.

Hataman’s wife, former Anak Mindanao Party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, also filed a COC for the mayoral post of Isabela City, the old provincial capital of Basilan.

Thirty of the 45 barangay captains in Isabela City had solidly manifested support for her candidacy, something that she decided to pursue only this week, yielding to clamors by local community elders, Muslim and Christian religious leaders and other sectoral representatives there.

The Furigays in Lamitan City and their relatives in other big clans in Basilan have promised to help campaign for her and ARMM Gov.Hataman, who first ventured into public service as Anak Mindanao Party-list congressman almost two decades ago.