OATH OF OFFICE. Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson (right) administers the oath of office of Miguel Antonio Peña (center) and Anthony Gerard Suatengco as municipal mayor and vice mayor of Pulupandan, respectively, at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City on Wednesday (July 20, 2022). They occupied the top two positions after Mayor Lorenzo Eduardo Suatengco resigned from his post, citing health reasons, three weeks after he assumed office. (Photo courtesy of PIO Negros Occidental)
BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Lorenzo Eduardo Suatengco of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental has resigned from his post, citing health reasons, three weeks after he assumed the top post in the province’s southern municipality.
On Wednesday, Suatengco submitted his letter of resignation to Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who immediately accepted his intention through a letter-response, which was copy furnished to the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Negros Occidental.
“After much consideration, I have decided to vacate my position as the newly-elected municipal mayor of Pulupandan due to unforeseen health reasons which will affect my capacity to carry out the responsibilities as the local chief executive,” he told Lacson.
By rule of succession, Suatengco’s cousin, Vice Mayor Miguel Antonio Peña, took over his post while another relative, No. 1 Councilor Anthony Gerard Suatengco, became the vice mayor.
Both Peña and Suatengco took their oaths of office before Lacson at the Governor’s Office of the Provincial Capitol here also on Wednesday.
The development marked Peña’s return as mayor after serving for three terms until 2022 and running for vice mayor unopposed in the May 9 elections. (PNA)
