Lady lawyer replaces Gomez as councilor for Lapu-Lapu City

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed lawyer Jeannify Tan-Dungog to fill in the vacant post in Lapu-Lapu City Council following the death of councilor Damian Gomez Jr. last March 2.

A copy of the appointment letter dated September 4 obtained by The FREEMAN was signed by Duterte, copy furnished the Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Duterte asked Dungog to furnish copies of her oath of office to the Office of the President, the Civil Service Commission and the Commission on Elections.

Dungog is the wife of lawyer Ferdinand Dungog who ran for city councilor but lost in the last May 2016 elections under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) led by Duterte as party chairman.

Section 45 of the Local Government Code of 1991 states that, “the appointee shall come from the same political party as that of the Council member who caused the vacancy and shall serve the unexpired term of the vacant office.”

Gomez ran and won under Liberal Party (LP) in the May 2016 elections along with the entire LP slate led by Mayor Paz Radaza.

Broadcaster Carlito “Tantan” Sabalones, also a candidate for city councilor under PDP-Laban, said Jeannify had taken her oath as LP member before Governor Hilario Davide III, the party’s provincial chairman.

A month after Duterte assumed office, Lapu-Lapu City officials had all switched allegiance to the ruling party, PDP- Laban.

Radaza said their decision to join PDPLaban is for the good of their constituents, as the city government’s programs, particularly on their campaign against illegal drugs, is similar to Duterte’s advocacies.