CEBU, Philippines - He may be in the tail end of surveys, but third-term Talisay City Councilor Serrie Restauro, the administration bet for the Provincial Board first congressional district seat, is confident he would win in the May 10 elections.
Although Restauro, in an interview, admitted that reelectionists PB members Julian Daan, a popular broadcaster, and Juan Bolo, both from One Cebu Party, are leading in the surveys, he still believes that if he succeeds to reach out to people in his district he can still change the tide. “I have never underestimated my opponents.
I may be new to this, but I’m not saying I’m giving up. It is stupid for you to run if you believe you’ll lose,” he said.
This is the first time that Restauro is running outside Talisay, and that even if he was elected second councilor in the last 2007 local election, he still considers this latest political fight as a “big challenge” to him, especially that the money he spends for his campaign comes from his own pocket.
“I may want to go out and campaign the whole day everyday, but I also have to work to earn the money which I will need to pay for everything: the posters, the medicines which I distribute to the people.
That is why mo-practice gyud ko,” he said.
Restauro, who is on his third and last term as Talisay City Councilor, is a practicing eye, ear, nose and throat specialist (EENT). He is backed by the administration’s Alayon-Nacionalista Party together with its guest candidate Daan. Apart from them and Bolo, former Talisay Mayor Dehlia Tiu is also one of the contenders for the two PB seats in the first district.
But even with all that, falling short of campaign funds and even lagging in the surveys, Restauro said he still sees “the light at the end of the tunnel,” as while his rivals paid thousands of pesos for posters to campaign for them, he goes from sitio to sitio to give free medical assistance, free cataract operations, and medicine to the indigents there.
Restauro said that given the chance to become a board member, he will establish a program in the entire district that will teach even the lay people what steps to take in emergency situations even without the presence of a physician. That way, even the farthest barangay, or even those in the upland areas will have their own “medical team” to respond to emergency cases at all times, he said.
The city councilor, who used to be chairman on Talisay City Council committee on Health, was the first councilor to conduct a free cataract operation in the city. He also leads the anti-dengue task force there. (FREEMAN NEWS)