CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “I will be including my name as one of those possible candidates for mayor of the City of San Fernando.”
So, declared three–termer provincial board member Rosve Henson to the cheers of his fellow members of the Rotary Club of San Fernando over the weekend.
Henson, a three-term board member representing the 3rd District of Pampanga, reaffirmed his declaration in a follow-up interview over CLTV-36: “I am seriously considering putting my name among the probables (to run for city mayor).”
Asked if his plan to contest the mayorship of the capital city has the blessing of his longtime political allies/patrons, Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda and Vice-Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda and their family, Henson made an indirect response.
“Binabasbasan nila ‘yung nakikita nilang pakikinabangan ng mga mamamayan. Tinutulungan nila yung mga pulitiko o gustong manilbihan sa bayan na may track record na hindi nagsasamantala sa bayan kundi tumutulong sa mga mamamayan, lalo na sa oras ng pangangailangan,” he said.
Henson had served multiple terms at the provincial board even before the Pinedas came to the Capitol, at one point assuming the vice-governorship at the time then Gov. Lito Lapid and Vice-Gov. Clayton Olalia were suspended by the Ombudsman over the so-called “quarry scam.”
When priest-turned–politician Eddie Panlilio won the 2007 gubernatorial elections, Henson spearheaded the Cambilan movement that sought the recall of Panlilio which led to an electoral protest that later resulted to the proclamation of Lilia G. Pineda as the winner in the 2007 polls.
Pineda though did not pursue the triumph at the Commission on Elections to unseat Panlilio but just waited for the 2010 polls where she won over the latter by a landslide, repeating it in 2013.
“Rosve is tried and tested as much in his loyalty to the Pinedas, as in his service to the people of Pampanga,”said a former secretary to the sangguniang panlalawigan who asked for anonymity.
In the City of San Fernando, Henson was elected councilor in 1988, in the first local elections after the EDSA 1 Revolution.
Henson is expected to contest the mayoralty post with Vice-Mayor Jimmy Lazatin, “but a heartbeat away from the mayorship,” and Dolores barangay chair Vilma Caluag who lost to Mayor Edwin “EdSa”Santiago in 2019.
Ranged against “moneyed” rivals, Henson is unfazed, confident of what he called the “dignity and integrity” of the voter.
“Malakas gumastos sa panahon ng kampanya yung mga namimili ng boto. (Pero) ang mga Kapampangan, hindi nila binebenta ang kanilang boto. Tatanggapin nila yung pinamimigay, pero pagdating ng araw ng eleksyon, pag nandun na sa presinto, ang kausap na lang nila ay ang sarili nila at ang nasa itaas,” he said with conviction. “May dangal ang mga Kapampangan, may dangal ang mga Fernandino.”
