Lamitan teachers on poll duty 'elated' over unopposed husband-wife reelection bids

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Teachers in Lamitan City are looking forward to stress-free election duties in May next year with the unopposed reelection bids of their husband-and-wife mayor and vice mayor.

Aida Alih, superintendent of public schools in Lamitan City, said teachers were elated upon learning there is no contest at all for the city’s mayoral and vice mayoral post during the May 2016 elections.

“There will be no tension in the polling sites in the city during next year's election day," Alih said.

She said teachers are most vulnerable to harassment by supporters of local candidates during the actual polling day.

“Supporters of local candidates are oftentimes very aggressive during the election day. In most cases, teachers are harassed by them, not by the candidates, putting the lives of teachers on the line,” Alih said.

No one from among qualified politicians in Lamitan City contested the candidacy for a second term of the couple, Mayor Rose Furigay and her vice mayor spouse, Roderick.

The Furigays are seeking reelection as official candidates of the administration’s ruling Liberal Party (LP).

“It is something that never happened before in the long history of Lamitan City,” Mayor Furigay said on Monday.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, regional figurehead of LP, said the Furigays filed their certificates of candidacy last Friday as running mates, both as administration candidates.

“Until the office of the Commission on Elections in Lamitan City closed for the weekend break last Friday not one ever filed candidacy for mayor or vice mayor other than the Furigays,” Hataman said.

Lamitan City began as an ordinary town created by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1974, along with five other municipalities in Basilan, then a city. It became a city seven years ago through a legislation initiated by then House Deputy Speaker Gerry Ajul Salappudin, who had served as congressional representative of the province for three consecutive terms.

Hataman said it was for the good governance practices and the political solidarity of the Furigays with their constituents in Lamitan City’s 45 barangays that no one had stood to challenge their separate bids for a second term as mayoral and vice mayoral tandem.  

Vice Mayor Furigay said it was also partly for the efforts of Hataman and his older sibling, Basilan Rep. Jim Hataman to solidify the ranks of the city’s administration and opposition politicians that paved the way for his unopposed candidacy along with his wife.

Vice Mayor Furigay was mayor of Lamitan City for three consecutive terms before his election as vice mayor on May 13, 2013. Mayor Furigay, a neophyte politician, was first elected city mayor during the same electoral exercise.  

Vice Mayor Furigay said city officials and all of their 45 constituent-barangay chairs support the candidacy of Hataman for a second term as ARMM governor, as LP’s official regional gubernatorial candidate.

"Even if elections are held next week, Gov. Hataman will win overwhelmingly in Lamitan City just the same," the vice mayor said.