ILOILO – A day after the passing of her father Mayor Oscar “Oca” Garin Sr., Vice Mayor Jennifer Garin-Colada assumed as Guimbal’s chief executive.
On Monday, Colada was sworn in as mayor by her younger sister AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin in front of their father’s urn.
“Bittersweet… This is for you, Tatay,” said Colada. “I do not expect things to happen this way. Tatay, ‘mu dya akon fate? All I feel is that I am missing you.”
Teodora Sumagaysay, director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) here, said there was a permanent vacancy due to the death of the Garin patriarch.
“The vice mayor automatically succeeds the mayor and issue a notice of assumption through an executive order,” Sumagaysay told Panay News.
On the other hand, number one Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member, Mary Ann Lujan of Nacionalista Party (NP) becomes the new vice mayor.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. will appoint someone to fill the vacancy in the SB.
Since Lujan is a member of NP, a member must come from her party, according to Sumagaysay.
LATE MAYOR OCA
The Garin family confirmed their father’s body was cremated Sunday night.
After a mass in their house, the body was immediately taken to a crematorium in Iloilo City.
On Monday morning, the late mayor’s urn was brought back to Guimbal.
In an interview with Panay News, former 1st District congressman Richard Garin said they have yet to announce the schedule of their father’s burial.
The Garin family had planned to put their father’s urn in their house for a few nights.
HALF-MAST
In honor of the late mayor, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. issued Executive Order No. 447, requiring all edifices, hospitals and other facilities owned by the Iloilo provincial government to fly the Philippine flag in half-mast for seven days.
“Mayor Oca will be long-remembered for the pioneering projects he initiated that shaped the first district into what it is today,” Defensor said.
Garin Sr. served as congressman of the 1st District of Iloilo from 1987 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2004 and became mayor of Guimbal.
“His legacy will live on in the infrastructure services he delivered, the relationships he built, and in the lives he touched over the course of his long career as a public servant,” added Defensor.
In Guimbal town, starting Sunday afternoon, the Philippine flag was at half-mast in all government offices./PN
