The seven honorable men and three distinguished ladies from Cebu

We are sending to the House a pretty good contingent, a good mix of veterans and neophytes, someone old, someone new, and someone borrowed.

As the incoming Congress opens its session this month, there will be seven honorable men and three distinguished ladies from the premier province of Cebu. They will answer the first roll call and grace the august halls of Congress in their well-tailored suits or barongs for the gentlemen and ternos or gowns for the eminent ladies. They are the worthy successors of famous Cebu legislators who represented the Cebu constituencies since more than a century and two decades past.

The most senior among them is the distinguished gentleman from the 1st District, the biggest congressional district in terms of population and the richest in terms of income. We refer to the most durable Cebuano political leader, Honorable Eduardo Rivera Gullas, unsurpassed in number of years in public service and the most-respected, highly-esteemed former governor of Cebu, multi-termed solon, father of the Talisay City Charter, and also president of the oldest university of Cebu, the University of the Visayas, which is celebrating its centennial this year. Congressman Eddiegul got 81.32% of the total votes last polls. His opponent didn’t win a single barangay, much less a single municipality.

The next honorable member of Congress representing the second district is the man of the masses, the congressman from the mountain barangay, Willy Caminero, from my hometown, Argao. He got 56.45% of the votes. The third district is represented by a Bar topnotcher, Pablo John Garcia, son of another topnotcher, and brother of the new governor. He got 51.68% of the votes. Representing the fourth is Madam Janice Salimbangon who garnered 56.89% of her district's total votes. The fifth will have Duke Frasco who garnered 56.61% of the votes and ended the Duranos’ seven-decade rule in that district. He can easily be the youngest among Cebu's ten.

Another young representative is Lollipop Ouano, who garnered 78.93% of the 6th District's votes, a stunning feat for a neophyte in Congress. Peter John Calderon got 66.30% in our district in the seventh, defeating Nelson Garcia even in Dumanjug. The two incumbents in Cebu City will return to Congress. The north will again have the perfect attendance solon, Raul del Mar, who got 61.33% of the votes. The south will have Bebot Abellanosa again. With his superior logistics, he beat my friend Atty. Joy Pesquera who got no less than 103,000 votes, Bebot got 55.22%, not really impressive for an incumbent who has a lot of money to burn. In Lapu-Lapu City, former mayor Paz Radaza managed to win as representative with a thin 52.38% while her husband lost to Ahong Chan for mayor.

I hope that these 10 distinguished members of Congress will vote wisely for the next speaker of the House. I hope, too, that they set aside their party affiliations and work together as Cebuanos to bring home the bacon for our province and all its independent and component cities. My group here in Manila will closely watch their performance and report them to you in due time. Taxpayers are spending billions for too many members of Congress. I hope they will work hard and do what is right.