BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Councilor Ursecio Inodeo, with the most votes in the last elections, took over as vice mayor of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental.
Inodeo formally replaced Vice Mayor Samuel Gavaran who passed away Monday morning due to complications from a kidney disease.
He took his oath before Mayor Alejandro Mirasol and Judge Leticia Bon-Trigue of the Municipal Trial Court at the Binalbagan Convention Hall.
Inodeo was joined by his aunt, the town’s councilors and department heads of the municipal goverment.
Mirasol, for his part, said Gavaran’s demise was abrupt but they needed to have a vice mayor for the town as they face the coronavirus pandemic.
The mayor likewise thanked Gavaran for “his service and love for Binalbagan, and for being one of the best leaders the town had.”
“Vice Mayor Gavaran was a religious man. His family is asking for prayers for his soul,” the mayor added.
In 2017, Gavaran was included in the arrest order issued by Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana due to the vice mayor’s alleged links to the Mindanao-based Maute group.
But Lorenzana subsequently cleared Gavaran after knowing that “Samuel Gavaran” on the list of wanted terrorists was just a namesake of the vice mayor./PN
