Comelec proclaims Hagedorn

After one recall election, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) officially proclaimed Edward Hagedorn yesterday as mayor of Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

Prosecutor Alberto Trinidad, Dr. Eduardo Lopez and lawyer Joselyn Postrado of the Comelec Board of Canvassers proclaimed Hagedorn during rites at the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.

Also present at Hagedorn’s proclamation were Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco, whose area of jurisdiction includes Southern Tagalog region, where Palawan is located.

The Supreme Court earlier dismissed the petition filed by Hagedorn’s rivals, ousted Puerto Princesa Mayor Victorino Socrates and Vicente Sandoval Jr., who challenged the decision of the Comelec to allow recall elections to take place on Sept. 24, 2001.

Socrates and Sandoval also questioned Hagedorn’s qualifications, despite the fact Hagedorn won consecutive terms as city mayor. Hagedorn ran for governor in Palawan in 2001 but lost.

The SC decision also dismissed the petition of three Puerto Princesa residents who also challenged the Comelec decision allowing Hagedorn to run for office.

During a press conference, Hagedorn thanked the High Tribunal for its decision allowing him to sit as mayor of Puerto Princesa City.

Hagedorn ran again in Puerto Princesa’s 2001 recall elections, where he garnered 20,238 votes to Socrates’ 17,220 and Sandoval’s 13,241.

"Justice won," Hagedorn said of the SC ruling.

Hagedorn said he would immediately work for the healing process and reconciliation between himself and his rivals immediately upon his return to Puerto Princesa and added he would work for the unity of his constituents. "We must be united."

The newly proclaimed Puerto Princesa mayor said he would work to find an immediate solution to the city’s serious outbreak of dengue fever.

According to Hagedorn, this is the first time any dengue fever outbreak had gotten so bad, adding that during his tenure as city mayor, dengue fever never got so bad as to verge on an epidemic.

Hagedorn also vowed to solve the peace and order problems of his city.

He also said he will focus on the rising incidence of dynamite and cyanide fishing that threaten Palawan’s waters.

As the case dragged on for 16 months, Hagedorn said, he has only one year and six months left to work on these problems. "The big problem is the peace and order situation. One and a half years is not enough, but I hope that we would be able to attract investors and tourists during my term."

Hagedorn said he cannot tell whether politics or mismanagement was a factor in all the problems that besieged Puerto Princesa after his first three terms as city mayor, during which its tourist trade flourished and the city was the cleanest and greenest in the country.

He also said he would ask Socrates and Sandoval to help him solve these problems. "Let’s avoid jeering and let us be united."