Incumbent City Mayor Lucilo Bayron filed for re-election at the Puerto Princesa COMELEC office on Saturday, accompanied by other incumbent members of the City Council.
City Information Officer Richard Ligad conveyed that the city government’s programs would continue under Bayron’s platform, the Mega Apuradong Administrasyon.
“Tuloy-tuloy pa rin natin ang makalingang programa… ang imprastrakturang programa, andiyan pa din, pero ito nga, yung sabi natin, ito na ang kaniyang huling termino,” Ligad added.
He also denied any tension within the current city administration, noting that incumbent Vice Mayor Maria Nancy Socrates had publicly declared her intention to run for Bayron’s position earlier in the year.
Bayron declined to give an interview to the press.
Bayron’s party, Alyansa Bigkis, includes his running mate and current council member Raine Bayron, as well as councilors Luis Marcaida Jr., Gerry Abad, Roy Ventura, Herbert Dilig, Patrick Hagedorn, Jonjie Rodriguez, Erwin Edualino, and Bitoy Oliveros.
Two other council members were unable to attend the mass filing. Elgin Damasco had filed earlier on October 2 due to attending his father’s funeral rites, while Matt Mendoza filed later on Saturday afternoon after a meeting in Manila.
All members of Alyansa Bigkis belong to the national party Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, except for Damasco, who remained with PDP-Laban.
“Bagamat iisang grupo pa rin kami, nagpaalam naman ako sa kaniya na kung maaari ay manatili ako sa PDP-Laban, dahil malaki din ang utang na loob ko kay Senador Bongbong sa tulong na ibinigay niya sa Puerto Princesa [sa pamamagitan ng aking opisina],” Damasco explained.
Third Congressional District candidate Baham Mitra showed support for Bayron’s party on October 5 at the Edward S. Hagedorn Coliseum, stating that he would collaborate on revisiting proposed infrastructure projects with the city and province, such as the fish landing facility in Buenavista and a world-class terminal for the underground river.
