Yogi Ruiz poses for a photo opportunity showing his COC on Monday at Comelec Cebu City. | CDND Photo by Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City mayoral aspirant Yogi Ruiz officially filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) on Monday, October 7.
However, it could be observed that Ruiz did not have a running mate.
Ruiz said that having no vice mayor aspirant with him was “a matter of choice” because he said that his “brand of politics” was about quality not quantity.
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He added that his team was already in discussion regarding the prospective vice mayor who would join in their slate. But he opted not to delve further into it.
Ruiz reiterated that his reason for running as Cebu City mayor was to see progress that the present and past administrations took years to accomplish, as what he had observed when he was still a commissioner at the Bureau of Customs.
“This is my first time to run for public office but I have been in government for 18 years,” Ruiz said, recalling his previous experiences in the Customs and as former regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Ruiz said that his experiences would be put into waste if he would not use it to serve Cebu City.
He added that he was representing the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) which was founded by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
“In my entire political career, I will not be a politician who is transferring from one party to another party just to benefit his name,” Ruiz said.
It can be recalled that in April, Ruiz took his oath as a member of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), a party of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
But Ruiz was quick to explain to the reporters after he filed his COC on Monday on the circumstance that made him transfer to KBL.
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“Ang nahitabo, pag naa nay gamayng gubot-gubot, I was instructed to join KBL. Why would I insist nga naa namay usa ka kandidato nga sige siya’g insist nga siya kuno ang standard bearer. Nganong ako pa man ipugos akong kaugalingon?” Ruiz said.
(What happened, if there is a small misunderstanding, I was instructed to join KBL. Why would I insist when there is already a candidate who always insist that he is the standard bearer. Why would I force myself on them?)
However, he did not mention any names of the certain candidate he was referring to.
Ruiz said that he was also instructed by the President to join KBL after seeing the problem at hand in Cebu City.
To support his claim, Ruiz showed a video of President Bongbong where the latter welcomed the new members of the KBL.
Five aspirants for councilors Cebu City South District and two from the North District also filed their COCs on Monday namely Bonel Balingit, lawyer Renil Oliva, Arlene Salahuddin, Emmanuel Maranga, Omar Kintanar, Niceforo Irony, and Clarissa Otadoy.