Leyte mayor who lost by a vote has no plans of contesting poll result

SAN ISIDRO, Leyte —- She may have lost by a vote.

But San Isidro, Mayor Susan Ang has no plans of contesting the results of the elections, saying it’s time to move on.

“I concede that I lost. That’s the vote of San Isidro Labrador. All is I want is to have a peaceful San Isidro,” she said.

“Conceding is the only way to find peace because I love my town and I do not want to have more killings,” she added.

Ang, who ran under the administration’s PDP-Laban, had 8,828 votes, while her opponent, Remedio Veloso of the United Nationalist Alliance, had 8,829 votes.

Ang, however, said that her loss was caused by intimidation, harassment, and vote-buying in the municipality.

Last May 8, a gunman strafed the house of Ang, killing municipal administrator Levi Mabini, who just arrived on board a motorcycle.

Ang blamed Veloso for the shooting but her opponent vehemently denied it.

Veloso, on his part, welcomed Ang’s move not to file an election protest against him.

“The election is only for a day. Let’s move on,” he stressed. (Editor: Leti Z. Boniol)