2022 PH local races

Congressman Klarex Uy wins race for Cagayan de Oro’s mayoral seat

Herbie Gomez

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Congressman Klarex Uy wins race for Cagayan de Oro’s mayoral seat

CAGAYAN DE ORO'S NEXT MAYOR. Cagayan de Oro 1st District Representative Rolando "Klarex" Uy talks to a supporter. Uy has been proclaimed winner in Cagayan and Oro's mayoral race.

Klarex Uy Facebook page

It is a bittersweet victory for Cagayan de Oro Representative Rolando 'Klarex' Uy as his vice mayor-son Reineir Joaquin lost his bid to succeed his father as representative of the city’s 1st District

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Representative Rolando “Klarex” Uy of Cagayan de Oro’s 1st District was proclaimed the winner in the city’s hotly-contested mayoral elections on Tuesday afternoon, May 10.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared Uy the winner after he garnered 157,575 votes, giving him a comfortable lead in the race for the seat that would be vacated by his political ally, Mayor Oscar Moreno.

His strongest rival, former Phividec Industrial Authority administrator Jose Gabriel “Pompee” La Viña, trailed with 128,071 votes.

Moreno lost, too, in his bid to reclaim his old gubernatorial seat in Misamis Oriental province against former congressman and Gingoog City Vice Mayor Peter Unabia, a position he held for nine years before his election as Cagayan de Oro mayor in 2013.

Uy succeeded in his second attempt to win the mayoral post. He ran for mayor in 2010 as an underdog against the late local political kingpin Vicente Emano and lost in his bid by a slim margin of over 2,000 votes.

But it was a bittersweet victory for the Uy family. His son, Vice Mayor Reineir Joaquin “Kikang” Uy, lost in his bid to succeed his father as representative of the city’s 1st District.

The younger Uy, who garnered 62,262 votes in the congressional race, lost to Councilor Lordan Suan who won with 75,140 votes.

The loss is seen to weaken the Uy family’s political grip on the congressional district where the mayor-elect’s wife Lorna is chairperson of Cagayan de Oro’s most populous and most vote-rich barangay, Carmen.

Uy’s running mate, Councilor Edna Dahino, also lost the vice-mayoral race to Councilor Jocelyn Rodriguez who won with 174,851 votes over her opponent’s 99,017.

Rodriguez’s brother, Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez, won reelection by a landslide against Uy’s bet, former Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Oro Chamber) president Irene Floro.

Rufus garnered 126,106 votes over Floro’s 23,153.

Mayor-elect Uy’s bittersweet victory came just six months after he and his family suffered a personal tragedy – his eldest son, Carmen barangay councilor Roland Sherwin “Tawee” Uy, was murdered by still unidentified gunmen at his quarry site in Barangay Pagatpat, Cagayan de Oro, on November 11, 2021. – Rappler.com

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Herbie Gomez

Herbie Salvosa Gomez is coordinator of Rappler’s bureau in Mindanao, where he has practiced journalism for over three decades. He writes a column called “Pastilan,” after a familiar expression in Cagayan de Oro, tackling issues in the Southern Philippines.