Nacaya leads majority

By SHEILA MAE BUTLIG and LITO RULONA
Correspondents

ERSTWHILE Emano loyalist Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya did not merely join the group of Mayor Oscar Moreno–he has become the leader of a coalition of councilors who are now the local legislature’s new majority.

The city council yesterday elected Nacaya, who won a fresh first office term in the May elections under the Padayon Pilipino, as the city’s majority floor leader.

Before he was named as the city council’s new majority leader, Nacaya announced that he and other members of the city council agreed to form a new majority bloc in the legislative body to support the programs of the Moreno administration.

Councilor Leon Gan was named as minority floor leader.

Aside from becoming majority floor leader, Nacaya was also named chairman of the city council’s committees on economic enterprises, and laws and rules.

Nacaya’s standing in the Padayon Pilipino remained unclear but his election as the council’s majority leader was widely seen as a statement that he has severed his political ties with the party founded and led by Moreno’s political enemy ex-mayor Vicente Emano.

The returning councilor has been known as a loyal political ally of Emano and a Padayon Pilipino member since the 1990s. He even challenged the reelection bid of the then congressman Rufus Rodriguez in 2013 with the support of Emano and the Padayon Pilipino.

Nacaya said the new city council majority include councilors Eric Salcedo, Teodulfo Lao Jr., and Edna Dahino. Salcedo and Lao ran for city council seats under the Centrist Democratic Party (CDP) while Dahino, like Nacaya, campaigned under the Padayon Pilipino ticket.

“Gusto nako nga duna ko’y direksyon sa akong panerbisyo. Independiente lugar kaming duha karon ni Dahino nga mi-uban sa new majority bloc kauban sa duha gikan sa Centrist Democratic Party og nahimo na kini nga coalition,” Nacaya said.

Nacaya said, “The objective of the coalition is to support programs for the common good.”

He however said that Moreno cannot expect all his proposals to get the support of councilors who would carefully tackled issues.

“This is a critical collaboration,” he said.

He said he informed the Padayon Pilipino councilors of his decision to coalesce with Moreno’s group during a meeting on Friday.

Nacaya said he asked for the “blessings” of the Padayon Pilipino, and the party supposedly respected his decision.

“Akong tindoganan dili ma-sanction sa usa ka partido kay ang akong intention is my conscience that will work and lead me to make any decision in favor of the people,” he said, adding he has nothing against the Padayon Pilipino.

Nacaya added: “We are still independent councilors.”

Earlier, Councilor Ocon claimed that two other Padayon Pilipino members–Annie Daba and Councilor Suzette Magtajas-Daba–have committed to join Moreno’s group.

Magtajas-Daba however said she would remain a member of the Padayon Pilipino. Dahino said the same thing in an earlier interview.