Magpale gets Bakud green light

It’s entirely up to Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale on whom she wants to run with in next year’s elections, a group she’s affiliated with said yesterday.

Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III said this in response to reports of ongoing negotiations between Magpale and former Cebu City councilor Hilario Davide III of the Cebu chapter of the Liberal Party (LP).

Vice Mayor Nito, who chairs the Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud) Party in Danao, said their group gave Magpale the chance to choose which post to run for and her running mate, if any.

“She consulted me and Congressman Red (Durano) and I talked with the mayors. One thing is certain, she will stay with Bakud,” Vice Mayor Nito said in a press conference yesterday at Danao City’s legislative building.

Nito said as far as he knew Magpale, his cousin, doesn’t want to be affected by talk of political alignments.

“First is her work as governor. She wants to place politics in the back burner. She wants to work with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia first,” he said.

Magpale told Cebu Daily News that talks between LP and Bakud were put on hold due to the ongoing recall petition in Danao City.

Magpale’s son, Danao City Councilor Miguel Antonio Magpale confirmed the vice mayor’s statement.

“There’s no closure on what to do for next year because it’s all work for the vice governor,” he told reporters yesterday.

Magpale said the announcement about their plans for 2013 will be made in due time.

For his part, Vice Mayor “Nito” said he will run against incumbent Danao City Mayor Ramon “Boy” Durano Jr. once the Commission on Elections (Comelec) approves a recall election against him.

The vice mayor said he’s confident that there’s still “enough time” to beat the deadline before May 10 this year.

They are targeting to have the recall election set by April.

Nito showed a copy of the summary report of the conduct of the verification of signatures sent to Comelec Manila last week.  A copy of the document was given to local media.

A summary prepared by Danao City Comelec officer Ian Marigomen showed a total of 17,484 verified signatures.

Vice Mayor Nito expressed no worries that the Comelec might not have any budget for the recall election.  Provincial Comelec supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano told Cebu Daily News that only the Comelec en banc can determine if a recall election could push through.

A recall petition was lodged by Vice Mayor Nito and the Danao City Council against the mayor who cited “loss of public trust” as their basis for their case.

There are five surviving Durano siblings—Beatrize, Lydia Rodriguez, Boy, Don, Judy and Nito.

Former Sogod mayor Thaddeus Durano, the sixth of the Durano siblings, died of lung cancer in 2009.