Hagedorn files candidacy for special Puerto Princesa polls

Former Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – Former mayor Edward Hagedorn has filed his certificate of candidacy before the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) Tuesday morning, officially challenging incumbent Mayor Lucilo Bayron in the special elections set by the poll body on May 8.

Hagedorn vowed to unseat Bayron, a former ally who is serving his first term of office, “to bring back Puerto Princesa into the fast track of progress.”

The former city mayor was flanked by his wife and over a thousand political supporters who gathered in front of the city coliseum where the Comelec has been holding office.

Hagedorn’s supporters initiated a recall petition through a provision in the election code that allows citizens to demand a special election against any current official by gathering the required number of petition signatures from among locally registered voters.

His supporters blamed the current administration for an alleged rise in criminality and the decline of the city’s tourism sector.

City Comelec Officer Orlando Baalan said all roadblocks to holding a recall elections in Puerto Princesa City have been cleared by recent rulings of the Comelec en banc on a series of petitions filed by Bayron’s lawyers which questioned the validity of the recall elections.

“We will comply with the election law, whatever accusations are thrown at us,” Baalan said. He brushed aside accusations of Bayron and supporters that the poll body had shown bias towards the recall petitioners.

Baalan had been at the receiving end of Bayron’s wrath when the latter barged into a Comelec venue last month while the poll body was conducting a verification of recall petition signatures. Bayron tore apart an official Comelec document amid the cheers and heckles of his supporters.

He said they have scheduled a meeting with the Philippine National Police to consider beefing up police personnel considering the prevailing tension between the two camps as the election nears.

“We will address those security concerns depending on the recommendation of the PNP,” he said. CB