Mandaue City mayor-elect Jonas Cortes (5th from right) and members of his Team Mandaue pose for a photo before their proclamation as winners in Monday’s election. /Photo from the FB page of Rep. Jonas Cortes
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – Mandaue City mayor-elect Jonas Cortes has made a commitment to bring his government closer to city residents when he assumes office starting on June 30.
Cortes said that he wanted to practice a consultative type of government under his administration.
“Usa ra akong ikapasalig that I will bring the government closer to the people. Gobyerno para sa katawhan ug alang sa katawhan,” he said.
(I will make a promise to bring the government closer to the people. A government that is for the people and by the people.)
Cortes was officially proclaimed winner in the mayoral race in Mandaue City past midnight today, May 14. He garnered a total of 101, 641 votes as against the 58, 842 votes of outgoing mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing.
Team Mandaue’s vice mayoral candidate and outgoing Provincial Board Member Glen Bercede also won in the election with a total votes of 89, 846 as against the 67, 586 votes of outgoing vice mayor Carlo Fortuna.
It was a landslide victory for members of the Team Mandaue since all of their candidates for councilor also won in the election.
Records from the Commission on Elections in Mandaue City show that a total of 174, 192 of the city’s 226, 091 voters went out to vote in Monday’s election and Cortes received an overwhelming majority from the voters.
Cortes said he was thankful that Mandauehanons continued to believe in his leadership brand.
He said that the support that got from Norberto Quisumbing Jr. , mayor Quisumbing’s grandfather and Norkis founder, was an added boost to his candidacy.
Now that election is over, Cortes said that he would welcome suggestions including those coming from Quisumbing and Fortuna on how to he could best run his administration. He said he wanted to listen to all available ideas in order to implement the best programs for the city.
“Dili man na nga kita ang mayor, kita na lang ang naka mao,” he said.
(It does not follow that because I am mayor, I already know everything.)
Cortes recalled having tapped the help of Fortuna and former 6th district representative and now incoming City Councilor Nerissa Soon-Ruiz as City Hall consultants during his earlier term.
Also, he plans to bring back the “business friendly” atmosphere that the city was known for during his past administration.
“Ibalik nato ang business friendly atmosphere sa dakbayan sa Mandaue because in the first place ang atong dakbayan nag salig gyud sa mga negosyante. They are the backbone of our economy so ato ning paningkamutan nga dunay participatory type of governance,” he said.
(We will bring back the business friendly atmosphere that Mandaue was known for because in the first place our city depends so much on businesses. They are the backbone of our economy so we will try our best to implement a participatory type of governance.)
Cortes was elected mayor in Mandaue City for three terms: in 2007, 2010 and 2013. When his third term ended in 2016, he decided to run for 6th district representative and gave way to Quisumbing to take over the city’s reign.
List of Mandaue City winners in the election:
Mayor:
Jonas Cortes – 101, 641
Vice Mayor:
Glenn Bercede – 89, 846
Councilors:
Nerissa Soon-Ruiz – 98, 424
Malcolm Seno – 91, 164
Jimmy Lumapas – 89, 320
Cynthia Remedio – 80, 835
Maline Cortes – Zafra – 80, 349
Ting Sol Cabahug – 77, 106
June Del Mar – 75, 011
Jun Arcilla – 72, 487
Joel Seno – 71, 867
Anjong Ouano-Icalina – 66, 400