Pelaez announces third mayoralty bid

CEBU, Philippines – Lapu-Lapu City businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr. announced his candidacy for mayor come 2016, his third bid to the highest post on the island.

He will run under the Liberal Party and said he is confident that the party’s presumptive presidential candidate Mar Roxas will support him, and not the Radazas, in next year's elections.

"We're not political opportunists, we are the real thing," he said.

Pelaez, 66, said he will continue his crusade against corruption.

"This is a crusade nga nasugdan pag 2007. Dugay na ni nakong pangandoy sa Lapu-Lapu City. Ug kung unsa ang atong giawayan, mao ang katarungan, kadaugan, kontra sa kurakot ug ang tanang kahiwian sa Lapu-Lapu City," he told reporters in a press conference in a Chinese restaurant at the Grand Convention Center in Cebu City yesterday.

If he wins, among his priority projects will be a resettlement site for the informal settlers in Barangay Canjulao and building another hospital and classrooms in the city.

"Nalimtan na niya (Mayor Paz Radaza) sa iyahang SOCA, hantud karun wa gihapon (She forgot that in her State of the City Address. Until now, nothing has happened)," Pelaez said.

Pelaez said he will build the hospital because the existing district hospital in Barangay Gun-ob is far from the residents living in the northern part of the island.

Pelaez will team up with 62-year-old businessman Rene Espina Jr., who will seek congressional seat against the city's current lone district Representative Aileen Radaza, the mayor's daughter.

Espina, whose father was the governor of Cebu in 1963, said the city  is an "island with character." He plans to make the city as an international financial center to generate jobs for the residents.

"Atoang mga kababaihan ug mga lalaki di na kinahanglan molangyaw kay daghan naman trabahao (Our people will not have to go abroad to look for jobs)," Espina said.

Pelaez said, however, that they have yet to select a candidate for vice mayor and 12 councilors who will make up their lineup.

"We will have a full slate of our members by the end of September," Pelaez said.

Pelaez reiterated his call to the mayor about the improper disposal of garbage and the supposed neglected solid waste management in the barangays.

"Within two weeks, I will be re-filing a case against the mayor and the barangay captains under Ecological Solid Waste Management Act," Pelaez informed reporters.

Pelaez got 54,000 votes during the last elections 2013. He also ran against Paz in 2010 but also lost.

Meanwhile, Rep. Radaza, Mayor Paz, Vice Mayor Marcial Ycong and the rest of the incumbent city councilors were inducted as LP members in its headquarters in Quezon City, according to a text message of Jonji Gonzalez, the city’s public information officer.

"To the issues raised by Pelaez: Lisod pukawon ang nagmata. Lisod pasabton ang di gusto mosabot.  Kapila na naparot si Pelaez tungod kay dili katuhuan iyang pamasangil. Sige siya panawagan og  ‘Bangon Oponganon.’ The investors' confidence is back," read Gonzalez’ message to The FREEMAN.

Gonzalez mentioned that the city is one of the 43 local government units in Cebu that received the 2014 Seal of Good Governance: Good Financial Housekeeping from the Department of Interior and Local Government.

"The Mayor, in her five years in office, has institutionalized good governance. City's economic growth is unprecedented with billions in investments, making Lapu-Lapu a haven for investors," read his message further.

Gonzalez also said the city’s proof that it has pursued good governance  is when it was awarded by the Bureau of Local Government Finance for having the highest growth for locally sourced income among 16 cities in Central Visayas based on 2013 and 2014 collections.

Gonzalez added that the mayor is currently focusing on the city's inclusive growth so that the residents will feel the progress and the development made under the current administration.