Garcia-Yulo to Peña: ‘Return home’ to Pulupandan
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Moises Padilla Vice Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo successfully unseated incumbent Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña in last Monday’s midterm elections. The Commission on Elections formally proclaimed the candidate after she garnered 13,056 votes to Peña’s 5,493.
Her running mate, Ian Villaflor, also won his race after defeating Antonio Suantenco by a margin of 13,612 votes to 3,714.
In a radio interview, Garcia-Yulo said the victory was “bittersweet,” as she lost her brother and nephew during the campaign period, and called on Peña to “return home” to Pulupandan, calling it “the town residents’ will.”
During an earlier meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, the outgoing mayor claimed he financed Garcia-Yulo’s earlier mayoral candidacy after losing two previous elections until she won in 2013.
Peña went on to assert, after Garcia-Yulo reportedly failed to eradicate drugs in the town and eliminate the NPA, he gave Garcia-Yulo a “second chance” in 2016, when he ran as mayor and she contested the vice mayoral post./DGB, WDJ
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