The Eastern Samar Chapter of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) had their election last August 2, 2007 at the Eastern Samar Development Foundation (ESADEF) Gym. Former Association of Barangay Chairpersons (ABC) Provincial President Thelma Uy Nicart got elected as the new President. The councilor who hails from San Policarpo, north of this Province, got 148 votes out of the 218 votes cast.
The other candidates for the position of PCL Eastern Samar Chapter President were Hon. Luz Japzon of Gen. MacArthur who got 61 votes and Hon. Leonilo B. Apita of the City of
Borongan who got 7 votes.
Honorable Nicart is from San Policarpo,
Eastern Samar. She was the incumbent ABC President until she run for the regular council seat of San Policarpo during the May 14 elections. Having won as regular councilor she relinquished her position as ABC President. Hon. Isagani Lisaca of San Julian now represents the punong barangays to the Provincial Board.
Hon. Japzon was the former mayor of Gen. MacArthur. Having completed her three terms in office as mayor she settled to run for councilor of the town last May 14 elections. Hon. Apita is a former judge.
For the position of Vice-President, Hon. Claro Ramero Garado of Guiuan defeated Hon. Reynaldo Padit of Salcedo and Hon. Nieves Manuela Barbo-Ty of Llorente. Hon. Angel Balderama of Balangiga won the position of Secretary-General over Hon. Melquiades Consultado, while for the position of Treasurer Hon. Arnold Gesite of Balangkayan edged Hon. Susanna Lourdes Gaylon.
Completing the list of officials are the following who ran unopposed: Hon. Sonny Niño Carpeso of Dolores as Auditor, Hon. Nelencia Clarito of Sulat as Business Manager and Hon. Elmo Abayan as PRO.
The following councilors who filed their certificates of candidacies for the position of members of the Board of Directors automatically won their respective seats since the PCL requires eight members of the Board: Honorable Councilors Primitivo Waniwan, Solomon Robiene, David Co, Norma Dacuyan, Lucila Corado, Ireneo Abris, Jr., Vilma Germino and Pepe Acebias.
Before the election proper the candidates were given a few minutes each to introduce themselves and proclaim their respective platforms of government. At about 2:00 in the afternoon the election started. Since the voting was by LGU, the right wing of the gym was set up to accommodate ten people, corresponding to the number of councilors for every LGU, sitting far enough from each other to ensure the secrecy of the voting. DILG Provincial Director Eastanislao N. Quelitano announced the municipality which councilors will get their ballots from the designated member of the Election Committee before they proceed to the voting area and elect the candidates for the various positions. The councilors of the northern municipalities were called first followed by councilors from the southern municipalities. The municipalities of the central municipalities including the councilors from the City of
Borongan were the last to cast their votes.
Most of the councilors did not even wait for the casting of votes to finish. After casting their votes they would directly go out of the gym, proceed to their respective municipal service vehicles and leave the area. This prompted the provincial director to comment jokingly that “candidates who will win will not be proclaimed.” He also tried to stop the exodus of councilors by announcing that the certificates of appearance will only be given right after the proclamation. But when all the votes have been cast only about seven LGUs remained to witness the counting.
Before the counting, the members of the election committee with the respective watchers of the three councilors running for president witnessing counted the number of ballots and separated into four files of fifty ballots each with the last file numbering 68 since the ballots counted totaled 218.
The first file of ballots alone already showed that Hon. Nicart would dominate the counting. She got 48 votes while Hon. Japzon has two (2) and Hon. Apita, 0. With that result Hon. Apita sensed that Hon. Nicart would win the election so he stood up and went to the table of the councilors from San Policarpo and shook hands with Hon. Nicart congratulating her. After that he went out of the gym and went home.
During the reading of the third file of ballots, Hon. Jesse Solidon, a member of the election committee, suggested to stop the counting already since it was already evident that Hon. Nicart and the other candidates for the other positions would win. However, PD Quelitano said that for records purposes it is necessary to finish the counting.
DILG Provincial Director Estanislao N. Quelitano acted as Chairman of the PCL Election Committee with Hon. Jesse C. Solidon of the City of Borongan and Hon. Urbano Barbo of Balangkayan as members. It was actively supervised by Hon. Beatriz Lopez-Reyes, the incumbent PCL president who ran for the provincial board and won last May 14 elections.
It was witnessed by Hon. Ricardo J. Jordan, Vice-President of the PCL NCR Chapter. He was the authorized representative of the National Office of the Philippine Councilor’s League (PCL). He proclaimed the winners of the exercise in behalf of the PCL National President.
Former Borongan councilor and past President of the PCL ES Chapter Evangeline Cainday was present during the counting. Board Member Aldwin Uy Aklao, a relative of Hon. Nicart, also attended the counting. Some mayors and vice-mayors also came before the election proper took place to extend moral support to their councilors. The LMP Eastern Samar Chapter has a scheduled meeting that day at their office at the Provincial Capitol. The vice-mayors also had their gathering in a separate venue.
The election was attended by 218 newly-elected councilors, city and municipal presidents of the Association of Barangay Chairpersons and city and municipal federation presidents of the Sanggunian Kabataan. Unlike the Mayors and Vice-Mayors Leagues, there is no distinction for city or municipal councilors hence the city councilors of the City of
Borongan actively took part in the activity.
About 12 kagawads were absent during the activity including former PCL president Victor L. Franco, a third term councilor of the City of Borongan who was on official travel to Tacloban City.
Lance AC Acampado is Presently a columnist - sugob ni longino - in the local paper, ES Reporter, and a blogger - http://sugobnilongino.blogspot.com . Also works at the City Government of Borongan, a family man, and a former cadet, seminarian and youth minister.
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