3 NEW KIDS IN MALE DOMINATED CITY COUNCIL

May 17, 2025 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY

One who was denied a seat in the barangay level in November 2023, one who was egged on to take the mantle of a family tradition of public service and one from a family of educators who tries to duplicate the feat of a fellow son of educators are the new kids on the block in a city council that welcomed back many stalwarts on a term where women have the least representation since 1986. Lower Quirino Hill
barangay chair Van Oliver Dicang, former National Economic Development Authority staffer Yuri Weygan and University of the
Cordilleras Paolo Salvosa come July 1 are the newest members of the city council after they finished seventh, 11th and ninth in the midterm elections last Monday.

Dicang immediately joined congressman-elect Mauricio Domogan for a pictorial after the proclamation then whispered to the former
congressman and mayor that he was inducted as Sangguniang Kabataan chair. Dicang was at front row as three of their running mates
under the Good Governance Alliance led by mayor Benjamin Magalong were proclaimed by Commission on Election – Baguio’s John Paul Martin in a process that lasted only six hours. It was 1AM and the bright eyed multi-awarded barangay chair took the second step into
becoming a city councilor, a thing that was denied him in November 2023 when he ran as Association of Barangay Council chair which he lost by several votes despite the support of Magalong and vice mayor Faustino Olowan.

“I had no plans of running but the mayor asked me to do some tasks that eventually saw me filing my candidacy (in October last year),” said Dicang, who could be the first councilor who completed the process as serving first as an SK, then move on to become a barangay chair before finally entering City Hall. The closest who could come to that is councilor Leandro Yangot, Jr., who placed fourth, who was a youth council chair and Pag-asa Youth president before he was elected barangay chair for Bakakeng Central then as ABC chair thus a city council seat and finally as a councilor. Weygan is the grandson of the late councilor Galo, an accountant, who served for 18 years, before he passed on the baton to her daughter Philian Weygan-Allan, aunt of the councilor elect. They are the first three generation family to get elected.

The Taboras come close with patriarch Alfonso as mayor, his grandsons Nicolas as vice mayor and Antonio as councilor, now an assistant secretary, and son Jesus as councilor. However, Alfonso was an appointee as well as Nicolas, whose daughter in law, Jacqueline Balajadia-Tabor ran for councilor. His father, the late Andrew, a printer, is Galo’s son and he was only urged by her aunt to run to continue the family’s legacy of public servants. The aunt said: “It was me and my husband who actually who forced him into believing that he will be able to pull it through.” She added: “I did run the HQ (headquarters) remotely since I am in California (United States). He had difficulties but deep down I know he will make it but of course along the way we doubted – but at same time we cannot afford to fail.”

Weygan-Allan failed to crack the top 12 the last election. Salvosa is a third generation of the Benjamin Salvosa family, founder of the Baguio Colleges – Baguiio Colleges Foundation – UC, one of the three post World War II founded higher education institution here.
While the Salvosa patriarch’s close friend and University of Baguio founder Fernando Bautista, Sr. has already sent two of his family members to City Hall, it was the first that a clan member ran and won. Leonides Bautista was the first to make it to City Hall in the mid-70s where he was able to bring the World Chess Championship here between Anatoly Karpov and challenger Viktor Korchnoi in 1978 at the then newly built Baguio Convention Center.

In 1997, a third generation Bautista, Reinaldo Jr. or Peter Rey filed his certificate of candidacy for councilor and won. He repeated in 2001 and went on to become a vice mayor the next election by beating then vice mayor Betty Lourdes Tabanda. With the suspension of then mayor Braulio Yaranon in 2006, he was named OIC mayor. In 2008, he ran and won as mayor. Bautista went on to run for Congress after his single term but lost to a then returning former Rep. Bernardo Vergara, Jr. Bautista was only 27 when he filed his candidacy and 28 when he became a councilor, thus much younger than Salvosa, Dicang or Weygan.

Last Woman Standing
With councilors Mylen Yaranon, who ran for vice mayor (she lost), and Lilia Farinas graduating, only Tabanda was the remaining female legislator to seek re-election and win. Former four time councilor Elaine Sembrano made a return under the Maka-Baguio team of Rep. and wife Mark and Soledad Go, but only managed to land 15th with 36,657 votes some 8,000 behind the 46,036 votes of incumbent councilor Elmer Datuin who placed 12th. “As it stands, I am the only female councilor now,” said Tabanda before she was proclaimed with the six GGA councilors, her four Go-led team and the lone Team Domogan winner Vladimir Cayabas. The most the city council had was five in 2019, with her as third, followed by Sembrano (4th), Yaranon (5th), Farinas (11th) and Weygan-Allan (12th). Tabanda finished at 10th spot with 47,807, some 800 votes behind Salvosa and some 800 ahead of Weygan.

Even the post-EDSA Revolution city council has more female legislators in the late judge Nelsonida Marrero and the late Leonora Guinid.
Team Go bets are tops, GGA leads council 6 to 5 While Magalong’s team finished with one up on the Go led group, the latter took the top two spots with former vice mayor Edison Bilog at number one with 58,218 nods, followed by former ABC chair Joel Alangsab (57,174).
The best “fight” is between councilors Jose Molintas and Yangot where the former squeaked past the latter by a measly 224 votes. Molintas mustered 56,196 votes against the 55,972 of the latter. Cayabas collared 53,461, followed by Peter Fianza with 51,602 to complete the upper six, who have 50,000 plus votes. Dicang leads the bottom six with 49,434, Fred Bagbagen (48,642), Salvosa (48,544), Tabanda
(47,807), Weygan ((47,054) and Datuin (46,306). All but Tabanda and Datuin are GGA candidates. Former ABC chair Michael Lawana landed 13th, some 5,000 votes behind Datuin, while Esther Litilit, Sembrano and Jacqueline Balajadia-Salvosa took the 14th to 16th spot and at 17th is mediaman Edong Carta.

Pigeon Lobien