Town mayors across the country want Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Luis “Chavit” Singson to run for a Senate seat in the 2022 elections and represent them in national policy and decision-making processes.
In a statement, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), of which Singson is president, said a large number of town mayors nationwide “expressed their collective aspiration to rally behind and support local governance stalwarts and champions of local autonomy and decentralization who will vie for national positions.”
The common sentiments among these mayors, as verbalized during a series of the LMP Regional Planning events, “point to a united stand to help catapult into the national scene one from among its ranks,” it added.
LMP spokesman Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil of Lingayen said this would ensure “that needs and concerns of local government units, especially the municipalities and the barangays, are well represented” on a national level.
Bataoil said there are “movements on the ground” that seek to push and call for Singson to run for the Senate next year. He ran for the Senate in the 2007 elections but did not make the magic 12.
“Crossing political party lines and regional aggrupation, municipal mayors across the country are trying to convince Mayor Chavit to be the advocate of local governance in the Senate of the Philippines,” the LMP statement added.
Since October 2019, when Singson assumed the post as LMP National President, “he has introduced programs and initiatives that proved to be beneficial for our members – the municipalities and the constituents our mayors serve,” it said.
“As the LMP National President, he has been instrumental in pushing for policy reforms particularly those concerning local government units,” the group added of the former Ilocos Sur governor.
“We believe that his representation in national legislation will bring more benefits to the LGUs. Being a Local Chief Executive and former National President of the Philippine Councilors League, he is aware of what’s happening at the grassroots level, and this is the kind of Senator that the country needs,” they said of Singson.
His experienced leadership “that is effective, compassionate, encompassing and quick-to-respond – as manifested during these trying times of the pandemic” is the kind of leadership they want the nation to experience, the mayors said.
They articulated their fervent appeal to Singson to heed their clamor and their firm commitment “in rallying the Filipino people to fully support the man who will champion local governance, autonomy and decentralization towards countryside development and progress,” the LMP added.