GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) or city council honored on Tuesday the outgoing vice mayor and three councilors here whose terms will end on June 30.
The council conferred service awards to Vice Mayor Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles and Councilors Ramon Milleza, Elizabeth Bagonoc, and Alberto Pacquiao during the final regular session of its 18th term.
Nograles and Bagonoc will complete their three straight terms, Milleza his second and Pacquiao his three-year stint at the city council.
City Mayor Ronnel Rivera, who joined the session, lauded Nograles and the 18th city council for their contributions to the city's development, especially for the passage of relevant resolutions and ordinances.
"I commend all of you to the highest level for allowing great things to happen to our constituents," he said.
In a briefer, the city council credited Nograles for initiating various innovations in the last nine years that helped improve its operations.
It cited the adoption and rollout of the SP Legislative Information Tracking System, Local Area Network, closed circuit television or CCTV system, official website, newsletter and livestreaming of sessions.
She pushed for improvements for the legislative building and city public library as well as took the lead in the establishment of the city public museum, barangay reading centers and conduct of cultural mapping for the city.
Nograles will be replaced by lawyer Loreto Acharon, a brother of outgoing South Cotabato 1st District Rep. Pedro Acharon Jr.
She filed her candidacy for the first congressional district seat but the elections were canceled last April due to the reconfiguration of South Cotabato's legislative districts, which paved the way for the establishment of a lone district for the city.
Milleza lost his bid for a third term in the May 13 elections while Bagonoc failed to land a seat at the House of Representatives as the third nominee of the OFW Family party-list.
Alberto Pacquiao, a younger brother of Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao, won a House seat as the first nominee of the party-list group. (PNA)
