ILOILO City – A mascot of Mayor Jose Espinosa III unveiled to the public during the recent Senior Citizens Day in line with the city’s 81st Charter Day celebration sent some people’s tongues wagging.
Was the mascot for political purposes?
Far from it, according to Espinosa who is believed dead set on running for mayor in next year’s election although he has been coy about it.
“Tito Mayor Joe III” – that’s the mascot’s official name – would be joining the city government’s information dissemination campaign in schools against illegal drugs, said Espinosa.
But the mayor did not say if the mascot itself would also hold lectures before students. When he unveiled the mascot to senior citizens, all it did was dance; it had no audible audio.
Espinosa hoped to make “Tito Mayor Joe III the symbol of his administration’s anti-illegal drugs program, “Utos ni Presidente, Utos ni Mayor.”
Tito Mayor Joe III and a team under the program would be visiting public elementary and high schools and conduct discourses on illegal drugs.
“Maayo gid may presentasyon nga amo sina so that you can communicate with the young better. Ma-catch ang attention nila,” said Espinosa.
Iloilo City has 65 public elementary schools and 16 high schools.
The drive against illegal drugs is a priority, said Espinosa.
It was not clear if the city government itself spent for the mascot’s creation – and for how much – or if the funds were from the mayor’s own pockets.
Private elementary and high schools will also be visited by Tito Mayor Joe III, said Espinosa.
“We will educate the schoolchildren. Illegal drugs are bad,” he stressed./PN
