3-cornered fight for CdO mayorship seen

CAGAYAN De Oro City — A three-cornered fight is seen in the mayoralty race of this city after a defeated mayoralty candidate in the past election announced on Thursday that he will be the third alternative candidate in the 2025 midyear local election next year.

Jose Gabriel “Pompee” Lavina, former administrator of the Phivedec Industrial Authority, said in a radio interview he will be running for the third time as the third alternative candidate in the city mayoralty race.

“After the Holy Week, I completed my Visita Iglesia and my decision is to file my candidacy in October,” he said in Visayan dialect.

He said when he first ran for mayor in the 2019 election, he got only over 90,000 votes and in 2022, it increased to 130 votes so he is expecting about 180,000 votes and the incumbent mayor Rolando “Klarex” Uy and former Mayor Oscar Moreno who also announced his candidacy will get the remaining votes.

Among the issues he said he will immediately address is the looming water crisis in the city due to the legal dispute of the Cagayan de Oro Water district and Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc.

“Give me just one chance and water will be flowing in the city,” he said without elaborating.

Lavina is a former Tourism undersecretary, SSS commissioner and the social media director of former President Roodrigo Duterte presidential campaign in 2016.