Unabia who?

Everyone in Gingoog City knows the newly elected mayor, Erick Caniosa. To use a metaphor, the 37-year-old former vice-mayor is bent on turning the city upside down. Meaning? He’s deadly serious about, if he can, putting the city Gingoognons love on the world map.  He’s in his office till late evening; his door is open to rich and poor, he listens to tales of woe of residents, and gives cheer by promising realizable, not out-of-the world, solutions. City Hall here is alive and friendly. And this Christmas season, the breathtaking décor reflects that mood.  

There is yet a new figure creating a whir in the city’s political landscape: Vice-Mayor Peter Unabia. Not too much was known about him, except his being the millionaire who owns Senor Pedro Litson Manok.  We sought him out for a chat that lasted for four hours; he admitted he earned millions through the chicken litson branches found in many parts of the country. 

But Unabia, 57, is no stranger to politics; for three terms, beginning in 2010 up to 2019, he served as Representative of the First District of Misamis Oriental. At the end of his term, he ran, and readily won the Gingoog vice-mayor’s seat in last May’s local election. His ascent to Congress and as local executive story makes interesting read.

He was born to rice farmer Graciano Unabia, who originally resided in Carcar, Cebu, migrated to Davao, then finally to barrio Managok in Malaybalay, where his wife owned a small piece of land. There the couple strove hard to raise their 11 children. “We experienced hardship,” recalls their eighth child, Peter. Every day the small boy plowed the fields behind a carabao, and during harvest time, he drove away maya birds from the ripe palay by beating an empty metal can. 

After finishing his secondary education at the San Isidro High school in Malaybalay, he said although he was not bright, he applied for college scholarships at Mindanao State University-Marawi, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology,  the University of the Philippines-Los Banos, and Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. He was accepted by all four schools, but he chose to enrol in Xavier, which offered free tuition and other amenities.  In addition, he would enjoy free lodging in CDO, in the home of his sister, who was connected with the National Housing Authority, and whose husband was employed with Filinvest.

After graduation, instead of looking for a job, Peter joined the Jesuit Volunteer Philippine program in Caitan, Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, where for one year he was a rice technician teaching Mangyans better methods of rice production, and did community organizing. The experience had an impact on his disposition: he learned “the virtues of humility and simplicity.” It struck him that when some Christians who moved to the locality were noisy and often in a state of drunkenness, the Mangyans, preferring peace and quiet, moved away, to the hinterlands.  Although he received only an allowance, money was far from his mind. “I was happy there, I was content,” recalls Peter.

After his volunteer work, he joined the workforce as a salesman of a veterinary company, but although he was earning a lot, after five years, he decided to set out on his own, selling kitchen needs, from salt to cooking oil, eggs, dressed chicken and Spam products. His previous performance as a top veterinary product sales supervisor was the harbinger for his successful entry into the poultry business.

It was his brother, Antonieto, a good cook, who introduced his exclusive Sr. Pedro Lechon Manok recipe in Malaybalay. A hit, a second branch was opened in CDO, and 17 years later, today, 500 branches are operating across the country. Right now, all siblings are part of the business, but it’s Peter who is its top honcho. As to the store’s name, Sr. San Pedro is not named after Peter Unabia, but after St. Peter holding a cock in his arm. It’s funny too, that the Vice-Mayor is a cockfighting aficionado. But whenever he cites a  positive development, he points a finger upward in thanksgiving. 

Although there are big poultry companies  in the country, Sr. Pedro is the only company dependent on backyard poultry raising, enabling 1,000 private families/entrepreneurs to make money. The company, says Unabia, uses the integrated approach – from breeding eggs, to dressing the chickens, producing its own feeds, and marketing (through the outlets).  More than a million chickens are broiled and sold in the outlets every day. 

Peter entered the political ring as a provincial board member in 2007. He ran for Representative of the First District of Misamis Oriental three times, beginning in 2010.  At the end of his term in 2019, he chose to run for vice-mayor of Gingoog, and allowed the eldest of his three children, Christian, to replace him as representative of the first district. He said Christian, 31, was the choice of mayors of the first district to continue his father’s legacy. 

Congressional records show Unabia filed several bills, but the former congressman points to his co-sponsoring the Free Irrigation Act as the most important in his legislative work. “We have many good laws, we do not need new laws,” he told me last Monday. “I am biased for agriculture and micro-small-medium entrepreneurs.”

There is one area that the vice-mayor and I are in disagreement: He is against, I am strongly for, the Reproductive Health Law. 

Until now, Vice-Mayor Unabia is waiting for the decision of the Comelec to remove or not to remove him from his   post, based on the disqualification petition filed by former Gingoog City Mayor Mike Paderanga (who happens to be one of my favorite past mayors) questioning his not meeting the residency requirement. Unabia produced utility bills he paid as evidence of his having lived in Gingoog within the prescribed period.  

Convinced that he will remain in the post, Unabia works alongside Mayor Caniosa in making things better for the city.  Not to downgrade, but to improve on the past city administration’s accomplishments. Erick and he are mutually convinced of Gingoog as an agricultural, not an industrial city. That’s why focus is being directed on a good part of the city’s budget (P1.1 billion) devoted to agricultural development. The

budget for agriculture has been raised from P28 million to P128 million, with focus on the development of coffee, banana, cacao and dairy production; 400 farmers have been given incentives in coffee production, including free seedlings, fertilizers and rice.  He is hoping for the creation of an agricultural processing and trading complex to help farmers boost their production and sell their products at competitive prices.

The city needs investors, said Unabia. “We welcome public-private partnership. There is urgent need, he said, to decrease the cost of electricity, so “we are waiting for the investor to start developing the Odiongan hydroelectric project located in the city.”   As of now, electricity supplied by a utility company  costs P14 per kilowatt, while another supplies electricity at  only P7.65. 

 As to tourism being a potential money-earner, such natural resources as the Badinaging picnic site and Tiklas Falls are to be developed in cooperation with the City Tourism Council. Already, a weekend food and musical expo at the beach front is attracting tourists.

Words of praise are being heard from department heads, who are being given a free hand in their budget programming, and being sent to meetings and trainings.

As for future plans, Unabia does not hesitate to say he is eyeing the governor’s seat in the 2022 election. He would like Erick to be city mayor for the next two terms. Erick has always been his choice for chief executive.

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