Soon-Ruiz: I will run as Mayor of Mandaue City

It’s Mandaue, not Lapu-Lapu: Nerissa
Posted in Sunstar 12/13/2008

RIGHT post, wrong city.

Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu Province, 6th district) denied yesterday that she is running for mayor of Lapu-Lapu City in 2010 and added that the announcement may be meant to confuse voters.

She reiterated she will run for mayor of Mandaue City and also admitted that her husband, Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Lito Ruiz, might run for mayor of Lapu-Lapu—if residents and their ward leaders ask him to do so.

Lapu-Lapu City Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Leo Mercado earlier announced that Ruiz will be running for mayor of Lapu-Lapu.

“Panglawgaw,” was how Ruiz described the announcement, saying it was intended to create confusion among her supporters.

She added that her late father Dr. Restituto Soon’s wish was for her to run in Mandaue City. That was why she ran for mayor in 1995 against Thadeo Ouano, she said. (Ouano won. Ruiz, also a former Provincial Board member, eventually returned to Congress.)

Ruiz’s husband Lito, who recently transferred his registration records to Lapu-Lapu, might run for mayor there, “kon hangyoon gyud sa katawhan nga padaganon didto (if the people there request him to run).”

While she admitted her husband is getting ready to meet requirements in case he does run, the undersecretary still needs to consider many other factors, Ruiz added.
She was reportedly asked to consider running for mayor of Lapu-Lapu by Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and her father Rep. Pablo Garcia.

Paz Radaza, the wife of incumbent Mayor Arturo Radaza and an incumbent barangay captain, is gunning for the highest post in that city in 2010.

“Ako taga Mandaue jud ko bisan unsaon, and based on the law on domicile, I am from Mandaue,” she told reporters yesterday.

When asked if it will complicate matters if both of them will run in two different cities, the congresswoman said it will be up to the people to decide. (OCP)