Saturday, May 18, 2013
TACLOBAN CITY– Leopoldo Dominico “Dominic” Petilla was proclaimed by the Provincial Board of Canvassers as the new governor of Leyte. He ran unopposed.
The 48-year-old new governor was proclaimed at 10 p.m. Thursday by the board of canvassers, chaired by Leyte elections supervisor Richard Alvin Japzon, after the town of Calubian was able to transmit their result at 8:10 p.m.
Petilla garnered 394,243 votes while his vice governor, outgoing board member Carlo Loreto, obtained 315,528 votes.
The new governor of the province is the younger brother of former governor Carlos Jericho Petilla who is now the Secretary of the Department of Energy.
“I would like to focus on economy of the province to compliment the projects that my brother did during his term,” Petilla said when asked what would be his priority programs.
He added that if he focuses on development and improving more the economy of the province, this would mean better relationship with its neighboring local government units that include Tacloban City.
The Provincial Government has a hostile relationship with the government of Tacloban, a highly urbanized city (HUC), which is administratively independent from the former.
“Even if you are now an HUC, you still need the help of other local government units to compliment your economy; the city needs people from the province and the province needs Tacloban to grow. In that sense we both need each other to grow and both of us needs to grow,” Petilla said.
Mayor Alfred Romualdez said that he is hoping that the city and the province under a new governor would enjoy a good relationship.
Romualdez acted as wedding sponsor of the new governor. (Roel Amazona/(Leyte Samar Daily Express))
Accessed on May 19, 2013; 3:18PM. Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/tacloban/local-news/2013/05/18/dominic-proclaim-new-leyte-governor-282998