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| Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Farinñs administers the oath of the new barangay officials in the city. (Doms dela Cruz) |
By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Laoag
City—The city’s 53rd charter day
celebration on June 19, 2018 turned emotional as officials, led by Laoag mayor
Chevylle V. Fariñas, remembered the late Laoag vice mayor Michael V. Fariñas,
who died in car crash on June 6, 2018 and buried on June 15, 2018.
Originally, the city’s
celebration would have featured signing of sister-city accords with various
cities. The late Mr. Fariñas personally visited the concerned cities earlier to
forge initial agreements.
Mrs. Fariñas disclosed that
the cities’ officials have signified that they will personally attend the
charter day celebration to sign the agreements. Among those include Del Monte
in Bulacan, Baguio City and Vigan City, among others.
Also schedule to attend were
Telavi, Georgia officials to attend the event to formalize the union, which
both the cites’ officials signed on August 8, 2017.
The Laoag government, however
temporarily postponed the signings due to the Mr. Fariñas’ death. The city
government, though, has not announced its plans for this.
Despite the vice mayor’s
death, his wife, Mrs. Fariñas decided to push through with the event. The city
government, however muted the celebrations.
On June 18, 2018, the mayor
led the inaugurations of the village-type rice mill at the city agriculture
office; RHU 2 and 3 at Barangays 27 and 2; the evacuation center at Barangay 1
and the retirement home and “Bahay Pag-asa” at Barangay Cabungaan-A.
On June 19, 2018, Mrs.
Fariñas administered the oaths of all newly elected barangay officials of the
city. This served as the main highlight of the event.
Laoag City government administrator
John Michael “Jami” V. Fariñas, son of the late vice mayor, welcomed all the
newly elected officials as he shared the love he learned from his father and
the love his father shared with the people of Laoag.
In her speech, Mrs. Fariñas was
emotional noting the absence of her late husband, knowing his support and love for
the barangays.
She shared what she learned from
the late vice mayor as her husband, as a father of their three children and as a
politician.
“Michael loves all of you so
much and I love Michael so much. I love all of you so much. So, there’s nothing
left for me to do but to be strong for the people whom Michael and I love and
for the people whose love us back,” the mayor said.
She congratulated the
barangay officials stressing that no matter what: “Rigat, nam-ay, liday, ragsak, walang iwanan and that will forever
remain’’.
She then appealed for their
help to continue what her husband started.
Laoag Liga ng mga Barangay
president Mary Michelle Louise “Mikee” V. Fariñas, daughter of the late vice
mayor, also congratulated her fellow barangay officials.
The young Fariñas said she
hopes the current city administration will continue to enjoy the full support
of all the barangay officials despite the death of her father.
“Itul-tuloy tayo kadi appo a padak a barangay officials iti pinag-kaykaysa, pinaggi-innayat,
pinagkakapia. Let us not make anybody or anyone ruin the unity, the
friendship and the family that we have,” she said.
Meanwhile, new Laoag vice
mayor Franklin Dante A. Respicio, the former senior Laoag councilor, also
lauded the new set of barangay officials.
He also shared his
experiences and friendship with the late vice mayor, whom he said he treated
like a brother.
The new vice mayor then asked
all the barangay officials to rally behind the mayor’s leadership.
Malacañang declared June 19,
2018 as a special non-working holiday in the city.
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