DINGRAS, Ilocos Norte—If the late Bacarra Mayor Philip C. Velasco considered himself a “lion” during his incumbency, the newly elected mayor of this town, Mayor Marynette R. Gamboa sees herself as a “sleeping dragon.” “I am very nice, I am easy to go with, but I am very strict when it comes to policies and the rules in the municipality. I am particular with professionalism,” Gamboa said in an interview with The Ilocos Times. “I am a sleeping dragon in the sense that I could breathe fire anytime if you wake me up with things I truly abhor,” the lady chief executive added. Just 48 hours after her assumption to office, the mayor proved that she was not jesting when she said she is a “dragon.” After a report reached her office about an illegal activity, she immediately ordered Dingras Philippine National Police chief P/Chief Insp. Jeffrey Gorospe to raid an illegal cockfight in Barangay Cali though some of the unidentified individuals who were allegedly operating the tupadaan were Gamboa’s supporters in the last election, she did not have second thoughts about implementing the law. “This is a serious business and I mean it. It doesn’t matter who is who as long as we push the law to the limit,” the mayor stressed. Gamboa is hopeful that Dingras will have a lot of changes soon. Though she admits that she has been out of the municipality for 27 years as she was attending to her several businesses in Metro Manila, she is still confident that her leadership style would be able to fast track the municipality’s progress. Fondly called “Mary” by close friends, the successful businesswoman and beauteous producer of the celebrated “D’ Bodies,” a group of sexy dancers and singers in the local tinseltown, Gamboa said she is not here to revolutionize or totally change the policies and laws of the municipality but to make and implement them better. There were reservations about her on the onset of her term, as some believed that she is a hardliner but she disproved these worries by visiting the different offices of the municipal government everyday and greeting all employees with a smile. Still, Gamboa believes she can not please everyone and some of the municipal government employees may still see her leadership style differently. However, the Dingras mayor has also shown sincerity as she has been the first among local politicians in this town to extend her hand of reconciliation. After she was proclaimed, she immediately called her rivals and asked them to be part of the development and changes in Dingras. Her rivals appreciated her call. “Let there be no divisions. Let us work together for the betterment of our town,” Gamboa told other local officials, mainly the members of the Sangguniang Bayan, headed by Dingras Vice Mayor and presiding officer Erjoe Valenzuela. “I will listen to you, you will listen to me. Let’s have proper consultation. And let’s agree to agree and not to disagree,” Gamboa pointed out. CJ Torrida, Contributor
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