By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Three Moises Padilla municipal government officials recently lamented Magdaleno Peña’s unsuccessful reelection bid in last month’s mayoral elections. According to the most recent returns, Mayor-elect Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo garnered 13,056 votes to Peña’s 5,493.
In a joint statement signed by Municipal Civil Registrar Jonalyn Diaz, Municipal Accountant Elsie Meguiso, and Municipal Agriculturist Ramonita Ronquillo, the three voluntarily tendered their resignations and revealed their partnership with the outgoing mayor.
The three credited Peña’s performance in constructing bridges, including the Barangay Macagahay footbridge; along with providing medical services, concreting roads, and earning a “drug-free” designation for the town.
“It [is] very unfortunate that he [can] no longer facilitate the concreting of the town’s main road,” the group pointing out. “[They have] not yet been repaired as Peña was still in the process of negotiating with [the] registered private owners of roadlots.”
They speculated, had Peña won, the road project would have been one of his first agenda items.
The mayor has since already filed a petition seeking a recount, questioning the results from 40 clustered precincts and claiming “illegal voting” took place.
Meanwhile, Garcia-Yulo earlier said she plans to remove a majority of current Municipal Hall employees claiming many are not local residents./DGB, WDJ