Uy-Rodriguez alliance tilts the balance of Cagayan de Oro politics
By BenCyrus G. Ellorin
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY/ Sept. 28, 2024 — The Aquilino Pimentel International Convention Center turned into a sea of green and orange as the political camps of Mayor Klarex Uy and 2nd district congressman Rufus Rodriguez formalized the One Kagayan: Kauban ang Katawhan political coalition.
The political alliance between the Uys and the Rodriguezes is the first time the incumbent mayor and incumbent lawmaker from the city’s 2nd district joined forces.
Uy, who had just joined the administration party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), is gunning for his second term as mayor, while Rodriguez, who heads the Centrist Democratic Party (CDP), is running for his 3rd term as congressman. Rodriguez first won the 2nd district’s congressional seat in 2007. He had a three-year hiatus from 2016 to 2019 when he lost the mayoralty and returned to retake the 2nd district’s congressional seat in 2019.
Former vice mayor and currently the barangay captain of the city’s biggest barangay, Carmen Kapitan Rainier Joaquin “KapKik” Uy, is set to file his candidacy for the city’s first congressional district. He will challenge incumbent congressman Lordan Suan.
Vice Mayor Jocelyn Rodriguez will be Mayor Uy’s running mate. Another Rodriguez sibling, Maximo Rodriguez, will be the 1st nominee of the Abante Mindanao (Abamin Partylist). Maximo was Abamin’s first nominee when they took a seat in Congress in the 2010 and 2013 elections.
Familiar names and faces join their 16-person City Council ticket. The process of selecting the city council slate was tedious and hotly contested, as Mayor Uy and Cong. Rufus has broad political bases, said Sheila Lumbatan, Mayor Uy’s Chief of Staff.
Lumbatan said the slate of One Kagayan: Kauban ang Katawhan “sends the message of strong and competent leadership and continuity of service and development enjoyed by the city in the post-COVID-19 era.”
Pundits claim that Mayor Klarex Uy navigated the city’s economic recovery in three years. “The centerpiece of Mayor Klarex Uy’s governance in the last three years is economic recovery. Now, it would be economic sustainability,” said Jordan Apat, a close political observer of City Hall.
For the first time, Cagayan de Oro City gained the Seal of Good Local Governance in 2023 and ranked in the top 10 in the five pillars of the competitive cities index of the Dept. of Trade and Industry this year. The city’s 9th place in Economic Dynamism was most notable in the latest rankings—a five-notch jump from no. 14 among the country’s highly urbanized cities.
Overall, the city improved its ranking from 7th Most Competitive Highly Urbanized City in 2023 to 6th this year. The other Highly Urbanized City from Mindanao that landed in the top 10 is Davao City, which landed in 7th.
In the other four competitive indices, Cagayan de Oro is no. 1 in Resilience, 6th in Innovation, 7th in Infrastructure, and 7th in Government Efficiency.
The joining of forces between the Uys and Rodriguez may have shifted the balance of power heavily in favor of the One Kagayan coalition. “The real battle will be between Carmen barangay captain KapKik Uy and congressman Lordan Suan for the 1st congressional district,” said Apat. Suan defeated former vice mayor Uy in 2022. In the barangay elections in October last year, the younger Uy routed Agapito Suan, the congressman’s father.
Former mayor Oscar S. Moreno and Pompee Lavina, the former administrator of the Phividec Industrial Estate in nearby Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental, are rumored to be contesting the mayoralty.
The Commission on Elections has set the filing of Certificates of Candidacy for the 2025 elections on Oct. 1-8, 2024.
