OZAMIZ
CITY—Acting Mayor Irene “Girlet” Luansing disclosed that she was dragging her
feet in taking on the reins as the city’s chief executive but then remembered on
her motivation to serve the people.
Luansing’s
words were said during her welcome address to delegates of the 64th National
Assembly of Diocesan Mission Directors opening ceremony last Aug. 14, 2017 at
the Royal Garden Hotel, this city.
In
her speech, she recalled the recent July 30 occurrence which affected the city
in all its facets and put residents in quandary and “emotionally charged” them
over the unpleasant incident.
“The
local government’s tenacity for handling a delicate transition was also (tested)
to its very core. With the death of our mayor, the vice mayor assumed office as
our local chief executive. But she was not able to serve since she was under
detention, and our first councilor has been on a prolonged leave of absence.
This puts me in the line of succession, being second councilor,” Luansing said.
She
described her new responsibility as mayor as an extraordinary switches of roles
as “all those in the immediate line of succession were not in the position to
discharge the duties of the office.”
She
admitted that she also did not have the immediate way of thinking of taking
over as chief executive because she was “drifting towards a semi-retirement
mode, hoping to join her children in the United States and enjoy life as she could,
free from the cares of local governance.”
And
yet, she was thrust with her new responsibility and it took a while for her to
come to the reality that she is to take control of the entire city, she added.
“Until
now, I am still not used to being called ‘Mayor’ or ‘Mayora.’ I have been
comfortable, only, to being called a councilor,” she declared.
“Upon
deep personal reflection and prayer, I was guided back to my main motivation in
running for public office: offering myself for the achievement of the public
good.” Luansing then said.
“This,
I surmise, was a vocation God chose for me, affirmed by the people’s trust
expressed at every election since 2001. Hence, I decided to respond to the call
of duty. I left to God the rest. And so far, we have been doing well in the
transition period.”
She
then asked the delegates for their constant prayers for God to continue to bestow
her personal strength to overcome the challenge of start over the drive of
public service, which is the principal reason public officials are given
political power.
“May
my local government team and I be instruments of God’s promise and God’s will
for achieving a better image for the city, and better lives for its people,”
she ended. (MICHAEL MEDINA)