Vizcaya town elects first woman mayor

VILLAVERDE, Nueva Vizcaya – Three days from now, this more than three-decade-old town will be marking history with its first-ever woman mayor formally sworn into office. 

An independent candidate, Ronelie Ubando-Valtoribio won the mayorship of this interior farming town in the recent elections, defeating her all-male veteran rivals, including two former mayors and an incumbent vice mayor.

Herself a daughter of the town’s first mayor, Valtoribio, 40, won by a 900-vote margin over her closest rival, Vice Mayor Marciano Hernandez of the Nacionalista Party, whose candidacy was supported by outgoing three-term Mayor Esmenio Bajo. 

Running against all odds, Valtoribio, a first-timer in politics with no political machinery or grassroots organizations, bested the likes of former mayors Rodrigo Tabita and Jose Legaspi and former vice mayor Severino Dacumos.

“Our town has been in existence for more than three decades. I believe that whatever good had been done for our town in the past may become even better,” said Valtoribio when asked on what had pushed her to run. 

Named after a noted Spanish priest-engineer during the colonial period, Villaverde, located in the northwest corner of the province bordering on Ifugao, was carved out of northern parts of the commercial town of Solano more than three decades ago. 

A one-time stronghold of the New People’s Army in the ’70s to mid-’80s, this town, a major producer of rice, corn and vegetables in the province, still has the feel of a sleepy, laid-back town.

“Our town has great potentials. Now being the time for innovations, my townmates gave their mandate to me so that I could help the town reach its potentials for progress,” said Valtoribio, also the town’s first lawyer mayor.

Valtoribio also served as chief of the Department of Agrarian Reform’s legal division here and legal counsel of PLT College, Bayombong, one of the region’s leading schools of higher learning.

The fifth of seven daughters of Villaverde’s first elected mayor, Romualdo Ubando, she is married to Dominador Valtoribio Jr. and they are blessed with two children, Dawn, an entrepreneurial management senior student, and Dominique, a grade two pupil. -- CL