CABANATUAN CITY—Vice Mayor Emmanuel Antonio Umali’s decision to give way to President Rodrigo Duterte’s son Paolo for the leadership of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines scuttled his own hopes for the post, he admitted Monday.
Paolo Duterte, who is vice mayor of Davao City, withdrew at the last minute, allowing Vice Mayor Joy Mejia of Magsaysay, Davao Del Sur to run unopposed for the VMLP presidency, Umali told reporters here.
Umali was eventually elected national executive vice president of the group that counts 1,632 members from across the country.
The brother-in-law of Nueva Ecija Gov. Czarina Umali and younger brother of former three-term governor Aurelio Umali, “Doc Anthony” also ran unopposed as EVP in VLMP elections last February 17. He said he was “gratified by the outpouring of support” for his candidacy.
“My original plan was to really run for president,” Umali recalled, adding he had his certificate of candidacy for the post ready for filing on February 1, the last day of filing CoCs.
“Up to 2 pm of February 1—or three hours before the deadline—I was dead-set to run for the presidency. However, I was informed that Vice Mayor Paolo was also running, so I started to have second thoughts,” he said.
“Being a fellow Mason, I could not imagine myself running against [Duterte], so I decided to instead run for EVP. And the rest was history,” Umali added.
Umali said he takes consolation that as the second highest official of the VLMP, he is now a member of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, which is often invited for meetings and conferences in Malacañang.
With his latest election, Umali said he now occupies five positions simultaneously. “I am the incumbent vice mayor of Cabanatuan and the provincial chairman, regional chairman and national EVP of the VLMP and a member of ULAP,” he said.