Mandaue Mayor Cortes on Barangay, SK elections: Share your dreams, help make city prosper

Voters at the Cabancalan 1 Elementary School get their precinct number at the Voters Assistance Desk at 8 a.m. today to cast their votes.

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — Two top Mandaue officials agree that Mandaue is for all Mandauehanons and for everyone to share their dreams and help make the city prosper.

These are the hopes of allies Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and Congresswoman Emmarie “Lolypop” Ouano-Dizon as Mandauehanons cast their votes for the Barangay and Sangguniang Elections today.

Both officials, who are allies support separate candidates, for this election.

READ: LIVE UPDATES: 2023 Barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan elections

No political color

“After this, rest assured wala ra na sa ako, ilaha nang choices, unta wala tay political color mas nindot, after all we are all Mandauehanons, Para nako, ang Mandaue dili ako, dili kang congresswoman kundi atoa ni’ng tanan. So let us share our dreams…to make Mandaue resilient and prosperous,” said Cortes.

(After this, rest assured this is nothing to me, those are their choices, I hope there will be no political color and that will be better, after all we are Mandauehanons. For me, Mandaue is not me, it is not congresswoman’s but for all of us. So let us share our dreams … to make Mandaue resilient and prosperous.)

READ: Senior citizens, PWDs hit ‘lack’ of accessibility support staff in precincts

No untoward incident

Mayor Jonas Cortes also arrived at the Cabancalan 1 Elementary School at around 8 a.m to cast his vote. He was with his daughter.

Cortes said that the process was orderly.

The mayor said that there were no reports of major untoward incidents that he received. 

However, he said that there was an isolated case reported about a small commotion in Barangay Mantuyong.

READ: Rama suggests separate voting place for seniors

Progress for Mandaue

Congresswoman Emmarie “Lolypop” Ouano-Dizon, on the other hand, was able to cast her vote at Don Gerardo LL Memorial National High School in Barangay Opao at past 7 a.m. She was with her son and husband Nixon “Jojo” Dizon who is running as barangay captain in Opao.

“So far okay ra man gihapon, wala may anything. Ang atoang ra’ng katuyuan is para gyud sa kaayuhan, progress mahatag nato sa taga-Mandaue,” said Ouano-Dizon about her and Mayor Cortes relationship as allies.

(So far it is okay, there isn’t anything. What our goal is for the good of all, progress that we can give to those in Mandaue.)

As for some Mandauehanons, some of them went to the voting precincts early. 

READ: First-time voters in Bohol share their Barangay, SK election experiences

Early voters

As early as 7 a.m, voters flocked to different schools in the city assigned as voting centers. 

Unlike in the automated national and local elections, the the Barangay and SK election is manual where voters will write the names of their preferred candidates on the ballots.

One of those who cast their votes early is Rudy Baltonado, 51, from Barangay Opao.

Baltonado cast his vote around 8 a.m. 

“Para sad may lugar, usa sad PWD ko, para sad dili kaayo init,” said Baltonado.

(So that I can have a spot, another thing I am a PWD, and also so that it would not be hot.)