PALAWAN, Philippines — Narra town in Palawan has elected its first new mayor after more than 30 years of being ruled by the Demaala clan.
Mayor Lucena Demaala, who has been at the helm for 15 years, lost the 2019 mayoralty race to independent candidate Gerandy Danao by a measly 1,033 votes.
Danao garnered a total of 15,062 votes, versus the reelectionist’s 14,029 votes.
Located 92 kilometers south of Puerto Princesa City, Narra is a first-class agriculture town with a population of about 73,000. It is said to be the main rice producer of the province.
Demaala and her lawyer husband, Clarito, have between themselves held the mayoral post for the past 3 decades. Demaala sat as mayor from 1998 to 2007, and again in 2013 to 2019. In the 2016 elections, she won unopposed with more than 22,000 votes. Her husband had the post for 18 years, from 1986 to 1998 and 2007 to 2013.
“In my 15 years of service, I always aimed for excellence. I will step down with a firm resolve that no matter what, I was lucky to [have been] given the chance to serve Narra with all my best,” she told AdChoiceTV on Wed, May 15, after the proclamation of winners in the town.
Her son, Prince, was re-elected for his second term as municipal councilor. As in the 2016 elections, Prince topped this year’s race with 13,489 votes.
The young Demaala currently serves as the Palawan chapter president of Philippine Councilors League and Provincial Board’s ex-officio member. He’s expected to work his way up to bring back the mayoral seat to his family in the next elections.
Lucena, on the other hand, is the current Palawan chapter president of the League of Municipalites of the Philippines. She ran under the banner of ruling political party, Partido Pagbabago ng Palawan (PPP), headed by incumbent governor Jose Alvarez, who’s leading the gubernatorial race.
PPP is affiliated with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan. During the lady mayor’s leadership, Narra raked in numerous awards, including the “Seal of Good Local Governance” it received for three consecutive years.
But Lucena’s political life was without a challenge. In December 2017, the Sandiganbayan ruled her guilty of 14 counts of graft charges. She was then slapped with a jail term of 85 to 140 years, and also barred from assuming public office.
The case stemmed from the municipal government’s alleged anomalous purchase of office and sports supplies amounting to P93,512 from her the company of her daughter Arleen Diaz Barquilla-Cabando in 2000.
Danao, meanwhile, thanked Narranons for choosing him over his strong rival. “Thank you to all who helped and supported me in my candidacy,” he said in a text message sent to AdChoiceTV Wednesday, May 15.
When asked about his plans for the town in the next 3 years, the agribusinessman said that he will focus first on constructing farm-to-market roads and providing farm machineries to his constituents.
Meanwhile, on the eve of election day, May 12, a shooting incident involving supporters of both mayoralty bets occurred 11:30 pm in Purok Damayan, Barangay Panacan II.
According to a police report, Philippine Navy member Fred Danao, brother of the winning mayor, and a certain Petong Rendon, passed by the house of Andy Maala, a supporter of Demaala.
A heated argument between them followed resulting in a shooting incident that left both Maala and Danao sustaining gunshot wounds. The two were rushed to the hospital for treatment. - Sean Carpio, AdChoiceTV
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