With his brother out of the political arena because his term is ending, will another sibling be far behind? What difference does it make if a brother will fill in the vacated seat? No problem if the choice of the political party is the same as that of the incumbent city councilor. What if it will be a different party? There goes the problem of City Councilor Leonides Borja whose sibling Eliezer is eyeing a council seat presumably to fill in his slot. An advocate of power sector workers’ welfare, this Borja used to work as an executive of the defunct National Power Corp. The party factor in the elder Borja’s bid in the Sangguniang Panglungsod is factored in the equation after it was reported that the incumbent was suspected of already sleeping with the enemies of City Mayor Dan Neri Lim. Although said in jest, Mayor Lim is too frank in calling Edi, once his fair-haired boy, as point five. Whatever that means, jaded political observers, took it to mean that Edi’s loyalty to the Lim camp was already put in a cloud of doubt. Borja, 53, is an older brother of last-termer Councilor Borja. The councilor is in his third term or ninth year in the SP after then serving his first three terms or nine years in the same legislature. In other words, he is already actually in his 18th year in the city council.

Each term has three years and a kagawad is allowed by law to serve an uninterrupted maximum of three terms or nine years only, after which an interval of another three years or one term has to elapse before he will qualify to run again for the same seat. While he advocates a healthy legislative-executive relation, Borja (Ondoy) said he will ensure that his works in the SP address the many pressing concerns outside the walls of city hall and directly affecting the people. The city council hopeful said these are concerns on the improvement of the roads and services of the city waterworks system, among others. Borja batted for investment-friendly policies because the government has to assist and not compete with the business sector, a source of jobs and livelihood. Honed to diplomatic ways in securing with the management the welfare of his fellow workers in his NPC days, Borja is confident to apply his experience and learning in championing the welfare of the city government employees. Borja had studied at the Holy Name University and University of Bohol, where he finished his electrical engineering. He first dreamt to be a doctor. He has never become a medical professional, but Borja is likewise driven by his vision to legislate for people’s health.(Ven rebo Arigo)