The new mayor and vice mayor of the municipality of Zarraga officially assumed their posts after taking their oath before Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. on Wednesday, Oct.22
Sangguniang Bayan member Jeffrey Silveo replaced former Mayor Jofel Soldevilla, while Municipal Councilor Laurence John Sortigosa took the helm from former Vice Mayor Michael Omar Lacson.
Soldevilla and Lacson were dismissed by the Ombudsman for grave misconduct.
Silveo was joined by his sisters, Ma. Reme Silveo and Mary Antonette Silveo-Solas, while Sortigosa was accompanied by his wife Mariel Valerie, his mother Lynie Brazas-Sortigosa and his uncle, former Zarraga Mayor Gregorio Brazas, when they took their oath at the provincial capitol.
Silveo said they will now start normalizing the operations of the local government.
“Basic services and any programs and projects, I will study them and hopefully they will not be hampered or delayed,” he said in a media interview.
He added that he will first fill the seats of the heads of critical offices because transactions could not work without them.
Also meted with six months suspension for simple misconduct were municipal accountant Era Lerdon, budget officer Glezil Mae Lozañes and municipal treasurer Leonora Pauya.
Sortigosa, meanwhile, urged the people of Zarraga to support the new mayor and give him their full trust and confidence.
He also announced that they will push through with their free legal aid activity on Nov. 8 at the municipal covered gymnasium.
“It will cover all our indigents and most vulnerable residents in Zarraga. We will have private lawyers from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines – Iloilo chapter, for free legal consultation, free drafting of affidavits and notarization,” Sortigosa, a lawyer by profession, said.PNA
