Retired police major ends clan’s 37-year reign in P’sinan town

ROSALES, Pangasinan — A political clan’s 37-year stranglehold of this town has ended with a young retired police major winning his uphill battle for the mayorship.

Retired Chief Inspector Ricardo Revita, 44, initially thought it was impossible to fight a political giant that was the Yu clan.

"It was like David and Goliath," he told The STAR, noting that he was a neophyte in politics, had no strong political machinery and resources to back him up and was not "anointed" by the Iglesia ni Cristo.

Revita chose to retire from police service last December, saying he was "demoralized" after he was assigned as police chief of Mangatarem town. He blamed politics for his transfer.

He was in the police service for 22 years, starting in the defunct Philippine Constabulary. He was the only police officer from the reserved rank who luckily made it as company commander four times.

Revita served as company commander of 106th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) in Alaminos City, and later the 107th PMG in nearby Tayug town.

During his stint in Tayug, his company was adjudged the most outstanding in Region 1 twice.

In the May 10 polls, Revita was pitted against re-electionist Mayor Julieta Yu. He trounced her by a margin of 2,391 votes.

Yu’s husband, former mayor Remigio Yu, ruled this municipality of 37 barangays and about 27,800 voters for many years, dating back to the Marcos administration.

Yu took a break after Marcos’ downfall in 1986 when he was replaced by an officer-in-charge.

Since then, the husband-and-wife tandem had controlled the municipal government. Julieta was aiming for her third and last term when Revita defeated her.

The canvassing of votes took three days, rendering Revita’s supporters almost impatient.

"Pag sila ang nananalo, kinabukasan pagkatapos ng eleksyon alam na agad kung sino ang nanalo (When they were the ones winning, the day after the elections, we already knew who won)," one of Revita’s followers said.

But when Revita posted a 2,000-vote lead over Yu, the incumbent mayor, through her daughter Patricia, who was present during the canvassing, conceded defeat.

Revita said he decided to challenge the Yus because the townsfolk have been clamoring for change.

"I felt their need so I grabbed the opportunity when the opposition encouraged me to run," he said.

"Of course, I heard many nasty remarks like ‘ambisyoso daw ako (I’m too ambitious)’ or ‘sayang ang career ng batang ito (we feel sorry for his career)," but then I felt that I can do something for my town," he said.

Revita earlier ran under the banner of Aksyon Demokratiko but in the last hours of the campaign, he joined the administration ticket and supported President Arroyo.

"Being a former tactical and intelligence officer, I assessed the situation like my strengths and weaknesses in every barangay," he said. "Timing, proper planning and execution were the major factors why I won."

In his first 100 days, Revita said he would like to focus on the drive against illegal drugs, noting that the police have tagged Rosales town as the most drug-infested in Region 1.

Barangay Carmen here is known to be the distribution area of prohibited drugs in the eastern part of Pangasinan.