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By Frank Dosdos Jr.

and Sita Asequ, Correspondents

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LANAO del Norte––The mayor of PantaoRagat town on Tuesday announced she would run for governor in what  administration Liberal Party leaders in the province said would be an effort to loosen the Dimaporo family’s grip over Lanao del Norte politics.

PantaoRagat Mayor Neshren Eleanor Lantud said she has accepted the decision of the “original” LP leaders here for her to seek the province’s top seat.

Lantud would likely be running against a member of the family of  Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo of the province’s 2nd District whose wife Imelda is also a member of Congress. Abdullah’s son Mohammad Khalid is serving his third and last office term as Lanaodel Norte governor, and talk has it that Imelda would be fielded for the gubernatorial race next year.

Lantud however is also a Dimaporo. She is a daughter of the late Caromatan Mayor Sultan Naga Dimaporo, a brother of the late congressman Mohammad Ali Dimaporo, Abdullah’s father.

“Mayroon ng katapat (Here’s someone who can match),” said ex-congressman Abdullah Mangotara of Lantud’s announcement.

Lantud said she was pleased to have won the confidence of LP leaders.

“I will not say, ‘No retreat, no surrender.’ But certainly, I will not withdraw,” she said.

Lantud said she decided she would run for governor because there was a demand for change in the province.

“Leaders must serve the people, and true service comes from the heart, and not from the mouth,” she said. “Usually, individuals and families who have tasted no hardship in their lives would not understand and feel the hardship of the people. I once lived through difficulties and I know how it feels to be hard-up.”

If she makes it, Lantud said she would replicate in the province what she did in her town.

Lantud was the choice of the so-called “original” LP members in the province  during a gathering at Kutitap Resort in Maigo town on Saturday. Among those who decided were former congressman Mangotara, former provincial board member CasanMaquiling, board member Yusoph Omar, Mayor Rafael Rizalda.

They said Lantud has shown a “sterling record and performance” as Pantao Ragat mayor, and she has remained undefeated.

 

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