College teacher wants to be next governor of Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY—Philip Nielo maybe dreaming when he filed his candidacy for governor of Leyte province for next year’s elections.

But the 30-year-old college professor is willing to go some extra mile to somehow make his dream a reality.

“I am just an ordinary part-time professor in one of our government universities. I don’t have money to bankroll my candidacy. But I am willing to do the best I can to reach out to our voters and (get) elected,” Nielo said after he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) last Oct. 15 at the provincial office of the Commission on Elections.

He had no companions or groups of supporters when he filed his COC, unlike the other candidates. He is running as an independent candidate.

In fact, he came unnoticed and left on a motorcycle-for-hire or MCH, the most common public transport in Leyte.

“I don’t have vehicles that I could use during the campaign. But it’s not really a worry for me. I can commute. I am so used to it anyway,” the part-time professor at Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) said.

Aside from commuting from one town to the next during the campaign sortie, Nielo said he would also reach out to the province’s more than 1.08 million voters through social media, particularly Facebook.

Nielo will compete with reelectionist Gov. Leopoldo Dominico Petilla who belongs to the clan that ruled the province for more than 20 years now.

Nielo, whose exposure to politics was when he ran as a supreme student president at Leyte Normal University and as a sangguniang kabataan chair in his village of Likud, Tanauan town, said he decided to run for governor because he wanted to make a difference and help the poor people of Leyte.

“Poverty remains a problem in the province. It appears addressing poverty is a not an immediate concern of (the present administration),” Nielo said.

He said poverty in the province of more than 2 million people had worsened after the devastation of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in 2013.

He himself was a survivor of Yolanda as their house in Likud was destroyed. He and his 64-year-old mother Francesca now lives in Barangay Santo Niño, also in Tanauan.

He admitted that he could encounter some difficulties along the way as he campaigns considering budgetary constraints.

He has to stop as a part-time professor at EVSU, a job he held just last year.

“No one asked me to run. It’s my decision. In fact, my mother was opposed to it but later agreed with me,” he said.

His decision to run and fight Gov. Petilla, who ran unopposed during his first 2013 bid, is a “risk.” “But I am willing to take the risk. And I think, it is worth the risk and hopefully, you will join me in this campaign for change,” he said, adding that he hoped to capture the young voters of Leyte.

Petilla, meantime, said he welcomed any opponent as he sought for a second term. Also running is Baldomero Falcone, running under what he called Democratic Party of the Philippines which he founded in 2010.

Leyte election supervisor Felicisimo Embalsado said Nielo is qualified to run for governor.

He, however, questioned if he could sustain a decent campaign due to financial problem.

As a gubernatorial candidate, Nielo is allowed to spend P5 per registered voter. For one to have a decent campaign, a source said, a gubernatorial candidate needs at least P100 million.