Bacolod Councilors Lyndon Caña and Jocelle Batapa-Sigue yesterday filed their certificates of candidacy before the Comelec Office in Bacolod City as independent candidates for vice mayor and councilor, respectively.

During the formal launching and declaration of his candidacy at the Sea Breeze Hotel together with former Bacolod Councilor Celia Flor and new candidate Bart Orola, who are both running for councilors, Caña said "We are proud that there are no masters behind us. We are independent, free-conscienced people aimed at a desire to sincerely serve."

Caña said they are saddened that the Philippines is always referred to as the most corrupt country in Asia. Despite exhortations for an honest, good and genuine electoral process, the system in the country is one of vote-buying, he said.

He said they have no millions but if there are those who want to volunteer to be their watchers, they will be very thankful. He said they will only trust the teachers, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and other groups that can afford to field watchers to watch the integrity of the voting.

"We will fight this by way of the independent path and we will not buy votes," Caña said.

Bart Orola said that if elected, he will continue the projects of his brother former Bacolod Rep. John Orola, that were not finished. Caña said they are happy to be supported by congressional candidate Andy Hagad, who is also running as an independent.

Celia Flor said Hagad's candidacy is good news since they know his stand on governance. She said she will consult her group towards the direction of possibly supporting Hagad once he files his certificate of candidacy.

Meanwhile, Batapa-Sigue said she believes she could achieve a lot as an independent candidate as long as she listens to the people. She said she would like to dedicate her second term to the pursuit of Information and Communications Technology. She said Bacolod is already in the ICT map because of the efforts of the IT Focus team where she was appointed by Mayor Evelio Leonardia as chairman.

She said her mission is to improve the quality of education in order for the youth to be competitive in order to have better chances of finding jobs and to provide opportunity, especially to the poor, to learn skills. Batapa-Sigue said she has passed seven major ordinances benefiting various sectors and the community as chair of the Committees on Women and Gender, and Communication and Energy.

Project BEST: her brainchild, is a series of capability building programs for the youth, women and other sectors in the barangays which aims to provide support services to the barangays, she said.*CGS

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