Davide Meca
Barely three months before the schedule for the filing of Certificates of Candidacy for the mid-term elections on May, 2019, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III announced that Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) Chief Carmen Remedios Durano-Meca is his top choice to be his running mate.
Davide said that he had been considering Durano-Meca since Vice Governor Agnes Magpale announced her plans to leave government service after the 2019 polls.
Davide, who will be running for his third term as governor in next year’s poll, said that he will also consult Magpale and the rest of their allies in the Liberal Party in Cebu.
Magpale was the governor’s running mate for the past two elections. But the vice governor had emphasized on several occasions that she has no plans to run for any position in the 2019 polls.
“I considered her (Durano-Meca) sa una pa (even before) because of her experience. Daghan ma’g factors nga
i-consider,” Davide said.
Durano-Meca, the daughter of Danao City Mayor Ramon Durano, joined government service as village chief of Barangay Guinsay, Danao City in 2001 and was reelected in 2004.
She was elected councilor of Danao City in 2007 and subsequently served as the chapter president of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) Cebu Province and sat as an ex-officio member of the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) from 2010 to 2016.
In 2015, Durano-Meca authored the provincial ordinance which created the province’s anti-drug office.
She was also the vice chairperson of the PB Committee on Tourism & International Affairs from 2013 to 2016.
Another name that was floated as Davide’s possible running mate was Tuburan Mayor Democrito Diamante.
However, Davide and Diamante shared the same sentiment that the town mayor could do better if he ran for congress.
Despite being in separate parties, Davide said that he would personally support Diamante for his congressional bid.
Diamante used to be a member of the Liberal Party with Davide, but he transferred to Partido Demokratikong Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) upon the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.
Diamante said that he will still wait for the advice of the heads of PDP Laban as to the position that he would vie for in next year’s polls.
Diamante , who is already in his last term as Tuburan mayor, said he is also willing to run as vice mayor if he will not be graced by the party with a congressional bid.
The town mayor told reporters that he still wants to focus on Tuburan and Cebu’s third district to make sure that his pending projects will push through.