CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Gov. Lilia G. Pineda of Pampanga renewed her call for solidarity, as the newly elected local officials here are set to start their new term in July.
“Now that the election is over, we must get back to serving the public and work together,” Pineda said in a statement.
The governor said the province’s voters choose their political leaders on the basis of their individual performance not on political alliances and endorsement of anybody.
“We should learn from the past elections, all political leaders who want to aspire for another term or other positions should individually work and give their best for the satisfaction of the people whom they pledged to serve,” she said.
Pineda said she gave the Capampangans the “free will to select their leaders” because, she added, “the essence of democracy is people empowerment.”
In the recent elections, only 11 candidates for mayor supported by Pineda won, while the three bets for congressman that she supported lost. The other congressman, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, ran unopposed in her district
“You let the people decide for themselves. Ours are just suggestions and manifestation of support, but the people’s will and decisions shall be done at the end of the day. That’s what I want and what I did in the last election,” the governor said.
“Kahit sinong nanalo, sa Kambilan [her local political party] man iyan, sa NPC [Nationalist People’s Coalition], sa Lakas [Arroyo’s party], sa LP [Liberal Party], o kahit na anong partido, kasama at makakasama naman natin lahat iyan pagdating sa serbisyo publiko,” she said.
Pineda said, “Now that the people have already spoken, it’s time to work together whatever political affiliations they came from.”
“The election is just one day but the bulk of work ahead of us for development we need to undertake cannot be done overnight. We need a lot of cooperation and support from among the people and other stakeholders,” she said.
“We are very grateful to all the Capampangan who chose to trust us once again. Rest assured that we, your elected officials, will continue our efforts in delivering much-needed services here in Pampanga,” added Pineda, who ran unopposed.
“The Capampangan have spoken, our new mayors-elect were chosen by the constituents. They know best who deserves to lead their respective municipalities and cities and we respect that,” Pineda stressed.
The unopposed and third-termer governor garnered a total of 737,481 votes in the recent polls, more than 80 percent of the total number of valid ballots canvassed in the province.
Her running mate, unopposed Vice Governor Dennis Pineda, also the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) provincial chairman, got 650,006 votes equivalent to more than 70 percent of the total votes.