Agnes’ son takes oath as PB member
DANAO City Councilor Miguel Antonio Magpale yesterday took his oath of office as the new member of the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) before Vice Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III and Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Judge Ma. Josefa Ramos.
The ceremony was attended by his mother Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, wife Christine, Rep. Ramon “Red” Durano VI (Cebu, fifth district), his colleagues in the Danao City Council, PB Members Jude Durano Sybico and Peter Calderon, and Mayors Butch Sepulveda (Borbon) and Moonyen Durano (Sogod).
Miguel Antonio was elected as number two city councilor in the May 10, 2010 elections. He was appointed as PB member by President Benigno Aquino III last Aug. 16 to replace his mother, Agnes, who was earlier designated as vice governor following the death of vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr. in April 2011.
Miguel Antonio, who got emotional during his speech, said that he accepted the challenge to serve as a PB member with the promise to be a true public servant.
“In the next nine months, I will do my best to contribute to the delivery of services, assistance, requests and all other dedicated tasks that our people truly deserve,” Miguel Antonio said.
He is also the official nominee of Bakud Party for board member in the 2013 elections alongside Sybico. Bakud Party is allied with the Liberal Party.
He said he was fortunate to have the blessing of Nito Durano to run as Danao City Councilor. Nito is considered as a political kingpin in Cebu’s fifth district.
He added that the past two years after being elected as a councilor were turbulent.
“My initiation to the realities of politics was a shocker to a neophyte like me. Still, I have no regrets. To my colleagues in the City Council, let me say this, the unity, one- ness of purpose that kept us together through all this is an experience of a lifetime,” Miguel Antonio said.
“Today, I will enter the wider realm of local governance to serve a bigger public–our beloved fifth district and the rest of the Province of Cebu. The shoes to fill up are quite huge. But I will work very hard to do my best to show everyone that I am worthy of this position,” he added.
He said when he will start working at the Provincial Capitol, he will be a public servant guided by the “matuwid na daan” of Aquino, which Bakud and his mother, Agnes, have long been advocating.