Husband-and-wife team reelected to Lamitan City hall

LAMITAN CITY, Basilan -The city board of canvassers here has officially proclaimed the incumbent mayor and vice mayor, who happen to be a couple, the winners in elections in this bustling young city in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Rohaida Dia, city election officer and CBOC chairperson, proclaimed Mayor Rose Furigay and her husband Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay. They ran unopposed in the May 9 elections.

Despite running unopposed, Vice Mayor Furigay said he and his wife competed to see who received the most votes.
“I lost to my wife by 200 votes,” he said in jest.

The mayor garnered 29,850 votes against the vice mayor’s 29,668 votes.

Dia also proclaimed 10 winning members of the city council as canvassing at the Sangguniang Panglunsod building in the city government complex ended.

Vice Mayor Furigay said all eight candidates for councilor whom he supported won. The remaining two seats were won by the opposition.

Furigay said he believes he and his wife were unopposed because of the projects they implemented during their terms and because of the unification efforts exerted by ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman among the local executives in the 11 municipalities and lone component city in the province.

Vice Mayor Furigay said the city received around P3 billion in infrastructure projects under Hataman's administration. “The very tangible projects have even [earned us] the trust of the opposition and [they] gave way to us,” he said.

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