The newly elected mayor of Alegria town took exception to reports that she was in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) for stage 4 cancer two days after she was proclaimed winner.
“I am physically healthy and well, (spreading rumors is what) the other people do when they couldn’t accept their defeat,” Alegria Mayor-elect Verna Magallon said in a phone interview.
She also sought an apology from dyAB reporter June Perez who came out with the report.
Last Thursday Magallon said she was shocked when a lot of people called her family asking about her health.
She said she was at Velez College attending her son’s graduation when she received the news.
Magallon who ran under the Liberal Party (LP) was proclaimed two days after the elections as the mayor of Alegria.
She won with 6,212 votes or 352 votes more than Millet Guisadio, wife of incumbent Mayor Raul Guisadio, who received 5,860 votes. A number of people filled the Alegria municipal hall grounds clad in yellow shirts to attend Magallon’s proclamation as mayor last Tuesday.
Magallon said her husband Dr. Gilbert “Maggie” Magallon and the rest of her family were dismayed when Perez called Commission on Elections (Comelec) supervisor and board of canvasser chairman Eddie Aba live on air and asked who would assume as mayor.
“I don’t mind for myself but I am very much concerned of my supporters because they are so worried when they received the false news,” Magallon said.
She said these reports shouldn’t be tolerated by the public.
“ I already called our lawyer to consult this matter since my family wants a public apology from him. The reporter should have asked us first regarding the issue if it was true or not before asking Chairman Aba,” the mayor said.
“Who would want to hear a loved one being told that he or she has a 50/50 chance to live? We don’t even know who this June Perez is, he should be fair and balanced because he’s in the media,” Dr. Magallon added.
Perez said they already made the corrections on air. “I think that was enough,” he said.
Magallon defeated Millet Guisadio, wife of Raul who ran as mayor in Alegria this year’s polls.
The Guisadio couple have dominated Alegria town from 2007 until this year. Correspondent Michell Joy L. Padayhag