PALAYAN CITY – Citing a mild stroke he suffered in 2008 and an angioplasty in 2011, the 81-year-old mayor of Nampicuan, Nueva Ecija who won a third term in 2013 tendered his resignation thus leaving his own daughter vice mayor taking over his post on July 1.
A former trial court judge, Mayor Ubaldino Lacorum said in his June 6, 2014 letter to Gov. Aurelio Umali that his health condition requires him to “slow down” for him to enjoy the benefits of previous work in the judiciary.
“I critically need to slow down the pace of physical and mental activities, but the paramount reason is, I want to enjoy my pension as a retired regional trial court judge for a few more years that I live in this world,” Lacorum said, noting that he underwent an angioplasty at the Heart Center of the Philippines in 2011 and was provided with a heart pacemaker in the same facility in 2012.
In the same letter, Lacorum assured Umali of continuous support since the vice mayor, Cora Lacorum-Villanueva, is his own daughter. “Anyway, my successor to the position for the rest of my three-year-term is my daughter, Vice Mayor Cora Lacorum- Villanueva and we assure you of our unfl inching loyalty to you and Congresswoman Cherry Umali (the governor’s wife),” Lacorum said.
Provincial Dir. Abraham Pascua of the Department of interior and local government said that Lacorum-Villanueva’s
assumption of office once her father’s resignation takes effect is legal “by operations of law.”
She, in turn, will be replaced by the incumbent first councilor Marlou Gamboa. The three are members of the administration’s Liberal Party which has Umali as provincial chair.
In a separate letter to Umali, bearing the same date, Lacorum recommended a certain Gerry Palileo to fill the vacancy on the town council to be created by Gamboa’s assumption as vice mayor. Palileo placed no. 9 in the May 2013 sangguniang bayan elections
