In his state of the city address delivered Thursday afternoon, Mayor
Richard Gomez said that from being the drug capital of Eastern Visayas in 2016,
Ormoc has become the first city in the region to be declared as drug-cleared.
“The drug lords of old are already gone, cleared from this city,
but there will always be people who will try their hand in drug trading. We
will relentlessly pursue them and weed them out,” Gomez told thousands of
people who packed the Ormoc Superdome here.
For the first quarter of 2018, the city earned the distinction,
from the Philippine National Police (PNP), of being the safest city in the
country with an average monthly crime rate of 16.24 percent.
Based on the PNP report, Ormoc recorded only 134 crime incidents
for the first quarter of the year, followed by Cotabato City in Maguindanao,
and Puerto Princesa City in Palawan with 220 and 227, respectively.
The mayor said Ormoc City Police Station I received the
recognition as most outstanding police station in the region during the
awarding rites last month.
The actor-politician attributed the improved peace and order to
the installation of LED streetlights in the entire city.
To boost the capability of the local police, the city government
provided four vehicles while the central government extended another four.
Policemen also received PHP17-million worth of rifles, free capability
training, and fuel subsidy.
“We will not also allow anybody to threaten our peace by any
means. Just recently, the peace and order of an upland village was threatened
by impostors who claimed that they were members of a terrorist group. We have
since ejected them. On Wednesday night, we received information that policemen
arrested the impostor in Lapu-Lapu City,” Gomez said.
Gomez is seeking reelection under the ruling PDP-Laban with his
wife, Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, who is eyeing a fresh term at
the House of Representatives.
He is banking on several achievements reported in his speech as
his advantage over his political opponents, whose clan ruled the city for more
than two decades.
It was only in 2016 that Gomez won in an election. His party-list
group Mamamayan Ayaw sa Droga was disqualified by the Supreme Court in 2001.
In 2007, he ran for senator but lost. He again tried for a seat in
the House in 2010 but was disqualified due to residency issues.
In 2013, he lost the mayoralty race to Edward Codilla by a slim
margin of less than 3,000 votes. In 2016, he defeated Codilla by nearly 9,000
votes.
Ormoc is a first-class independent component city in Leyte
province with a population of more than 215,000. (LAAA/PNA)
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