Dondon swears in as vice mayor before brgy chief

CEBU, Philippines — Without fanfare, Councilor Donaldo “Dondon” Hontiveros yesterday took his oath as full-fledged vice mayor of Cebu City before Tagbao Barangay Captain Ana Tabal.

The simple ceremony was witnessed by Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cebu City director Dr. Neila Aquino, Councilor Philip Zafra, Hontiveros’ mom Lydia and sister Ave.

Zafra said the vice mayor opted to take his oath before Tabal being one of the longest serving barangay captains in the city. It was allegedly symbolic for Hontiveros because the latter believes in the importance of the barangay as the foundation of government.

“He wanted to start his vice mayorship with the people in the grassroots thru the barangays,” Zafra told The Freeman.

Barangay Tagbao is an upland barangay with less than 2,000 population based on the 2020 census.

Taking his oath as the city’s vice mayor was a “repeat history” of sort for Hontiveros having ascended to the same position in 2021 through succession following the death of then mayor Edgardo Labella.

Then vice mayor Michael Rama assumed the mayorship while Hontiveros, being the number 1 councilor, took over the position vacated by Rama.  

Despite being vice mayor already, Hontiveros opted to run for councilor during the 2022 elections where he again topped among the winning candidates. And as luck would have it, Hontiveros was again designated as acting vice mayor sometime in May this year after Rama was placed under a six-month preventive suspension in connection with the administrative cases the four City Hall employees have filed due to alleged illegal reassignment and withholding of salaries for 10 months.

But before Rama could finish serving his preventive suspension, the Office of the Ombudsman found him guilty of nepotism and meted the penalty of dismissal from service with the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding any government office.

The anti-graft order pave the way for vice mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia and Hontiveros to assume the mayorship and vice mayorship, respectively. (CEBU NEWS)