BAGUIO CITY – The leadership of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC) placed an end to the long standing rift on the party leadership in the city when it authorized former Rep. Bernardo M. Vergara to be the official party chairman in the city for the upcoming May 9, 2016 general and automated elections.
In a certification dated , 2016, NPC Chairman and Isabela Gov. Faustino S. Dy, Jr. stated that Vergara was appointed as City Chairman of one of the most influential political parties in the country today.
Dy added that based on his appointment as NPC City Chairman, he will be vested with the full authority and power pursuant to the party’s constitution and bylaws in his capacity as City Chairman of the political party.
“This authority supersedes any and all authorities, which may be in conflict with this authority,” Dy stated in the recently issued certification.
It can be recalled that prior to the filing of the certificates of candidacy (COCs) of aspiring candidates for the May 2016 general and automated elections, the NPC issued separate authority to Vergara and erstwhile mayoralty candidate Jose Molintas to be the city Chairman of the party and were authorized to issue certificates of nomination and acceptance to prospective candidates of the party in the local level.
Vergara has been a members of the NPC since joining politics during the 1988 elections up to the present.
He cited the recently issued authority to him by the NPC would already put an end to the long standing rift between him and Molintas on who is the legitimate city Chairman of the party in Baguio City.
“We are elated over the timely issuance of the clarification on the chairmanship of NPC in the city. We are optimistic that the latest party issuance will put an end to the question on who is the legitimate chairman of the party in the city. We hope we could get our acts together and start moving on considering that we are about to start the campaign period for the local elective positions,” Vergara stressed.
He was the representative of the lone district of Baguio from 1992 to 2001 before being elected as the city Mayor from 2001 to 2004 and then again came back as the city’s representative from 2010-2013.
The veteran lawmaker, together with incumbent City Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, were the leaders of the city who painstakingly worked hard to lift up the city from the rubbles of the July 16, 1990 killer earthquake.
Vergara appealed to the city’s electorate to elect those whom they believe will continue uplifting the status of the city to greater heights and not those who will only work for their own personal aggrandizement considering that the city serves as the gateway of the Cordillera.
By Dexter A. See