Gov. Petilla, Mayor Torres Gomez among nominees
TACLOBAN CITY-Mayor Alfred Romualdez of this city is among the contenders for the chairmanship of the Regional Development Council (RDC) for Eastern Visayas.
This was confirmed by Romualdez himself who admitted that his name was included among the list of contenders upon the encouragement of his cousin, Leyte congressman and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“They told me that they will endorse my name so I said okay. Wala naman akong ambisyon pumunta sa mga posisyon. Si Speaker Martin ang nagsabi na gawin ko yan,” the city mayor said.
“Kung saan tayo makakatulong, tutulong ako,” Romualdez added.
The two are cousins of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. who has the last say who will be named as RDC chairman.
Romualdez is serving his first term as mayor of Tacloban. He had earlier served as mayor of the city for nine years which ended in 2013.
Aside from the Tacloban city mayor, also nominated by the RDC-8 council to Malacañang were Leyte Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla and Mayors Lucy Torres Gomez of Ormoc City; Naccional Mercado of Maasin City and Carlos Cari of Baybay City.
Incidentally, all contenders backed the presidential bid of President Marcos during the May 9 elections.
And of all the contenders, only Petilla had served as RDC chairman.
He was named as RDC chairman in 2011 but was cut short after he was appointed as energy secretary in 2012.
The RDC is the highest policy-making body of a region wherein its major programs and projects are endorsed to concerned departments mostly for funding purposes.
It is not yet known when Malacañang will announce who will be the RDC chairman for Eastern Visayas vacated by former Leyte governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla.
JOEY A. GABIETA
