Loot, 20 barangay captains support One Cebu Party

CEBU, Philippines - Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot showed that her town is solid in supporting One Cebu’s gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial bets in the coming elections.

Yesterday, Loot and all the 20 barangay captains of her municipality met with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia at the Provincial Capitol.

They were accompanied by Vice Mayor Renator Te, Provincial Board Member Sun Shimura, Loot’s son, and her municipal councilors.

Loot and Garcia reconciled in September during Daanbantayan’s Haladaya Festival.

Their three-year spat that started after the 2010 elections made them known rivals and Garcia even filed administrative complaints against Loot.

However, Loot and Garcia patched things up through the efforts of mayoralty candidate for Bogo, Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung.

But even with the reconciliation, Loot was categorical in saying that she will support Liberal Party’s gubernatorial bet, Hilario “Junjun” Davide III, and not One Cebu’s candidate, 3rd district representative Pablo John Garcia.

But a change of heart was confirmed by Loot when Davide’s party formally placed their bet to run against her.

Yesterday, Loot assured Gov. Garcia that they will be supporting Pablo John and his runningmate for vice governor, Ramon “Boboy” Durano IV.  

Loot said that she wanted to make things clear and deliver their message personally because the falling out in the past was also due to misinterpretations caused by information conveyed to Gov. Garcia by those in the opposition.

She said that their support for Pablo John’s candidacy is also due to their high respect and love for Pablo John and Gov. Garcia’s father, Deputy Speaker Pablo “Pabling” Garcia, who was instrumental in making Daanbantayan a first class municipality.

Gov. Garcia welcomed Loot’s party yesterday stating how happy she was to be in good terms with Loot again.

She cited Loot as one of the few people who believed in her and supported her when she was still paving her way for a seat as governor.

Garcia said that she wanted to make up for the municipality for the times when their support did not reach them. After Loot was cut off from One Cebu in 2010, she reported that they have not received any assistance from the provincial government.

But Gov. Garcia, during the Haladaya Festival, turned over P500,000 and P250,000 to Loot and Te.

She said that the barangay captains will now be getting the 350 bags of cement per barangay under the counter-parting scheme for concreting projects.

She also added that projects have already been started while more are coming like the circumferential road and the solar lighting in Malapascua.

Pablo John for his part said that he is grateful for the reconciliation which he knows is an answered prayer for his father.

He said that the support is a great boost in his campaign and assured Daanbantayan that their support will not be forgotten.

While his father has made Daanbantayan a first class municipality, Pablo John said he hopes he can make it a city under his term. – (FREEMAN)