Cotabato City’s mayor-elect to appoint sectoral deputy mayors

COTABATO CITY – Mayor-elect Mohammad Bruce Matabalao today said he will name four deputy mayors once he assumes as the city’s chief executive on July 1.

_{Cotabato City Mayor-elect Mohammad Bruce Matabalao (center). Photo from Matabalao’s Facebook page}

“These deputy mayors will take charge of the issues of four major sectoral groups of Muslims, Christians, Chinese and Indigenous Peoples,” Matabalao, of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), said in a phone interview.

“It was my election promise that I will be serving all Cotabatenios,” he said, reiterating his campaign slogan, “Bruce Matabalao para sa lahat (Bruce for all).”

Matabalao, a three-term city councilor, was backed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to foil the reelection bid of Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi (NPC), the city’s first and only female elected mayor.

Matabalao garnered at least 29,818 votes while Guiani-Sayadi obtained 22,939 votes.

The four sectoral deputy mayors, Matabalao said, will also form part of the city’s Council of Leaders who will serve as advisers how to effectively and efficiently manage Cotabato City governance.

Matabalao has not yet revealed the names of the incoming deputy mayors but said “I already have their names.”

Then Davao City Mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte also had deputy mayors representing various sectors that served as members of his advisory body. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)