Paulus to run for council seat in Mandaue

CEBU, Philippines — Mandaue City College (MCC) director Paulus Mariae Cañete is eyeing a seat in the Mandaue City Council.

His early announcement came after he received a lot of questions on whether he will run for Congress again or for a seat in the Cebu Provincial Board.

He said he chose Mandaue City.

"Ang mas maayo nakong serbisyohan kay ang kining Mandaue. Naa pud akong eskwelahan sa Mandaue. Mas gusto mo na mas molapad ang akong serbisyo sa Mandaue," Cañete said.

Cañete ran for Congress but lost to Rep. Jonas Cortes in the 2016 presidential elections.

If he wins as city councilor, Cañete said one of his priorities is to make MCC into a university.

"Known naman ko sa education. So akong main target is education gyud. Gani, wala pa tay local university sa Mandaue nya ang Mandaue dako gud ni nga siyudad, kinahanglan ni og university. So, tingali, posible, I will file for universityhood of a local college in Mandaue," Cañete shared.

While Cortes said in previous reports that he aims to make Mandaue City a lone district similar to Lapu-Lapu City, Cañete said he is thinking of filing a measure to push for two districts - Mandaue North and Mandaue South.

Mandaue City and Consolacion will be under Mandaue North while Cordova will be under Mandaue South.

He believes that there will be equal and fair distribution of services if there are two representatives from the proposed districts.

Cañete is affiliated with One Cebu Party, an ally of PDP-Laban, but he still cannot tell which party he will be under next year.

Earlier, Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing has announced that he is seeking reelection but he wants to prioritize serving the Mandauehanons rather than focusing his attention on his possible political rivals.

Quisumbing said there are many concerns that the city government needs to address and resolve.

"There are so many problems that continue to face and my job, my focus, and priority is to make sure that I'll do what I can to solve these problems. If there are some groups that prefer to make politics there number one priority, naa ra gyud na nila," Quisumbing had said. (FREEMAN)