Those who believed in the canard peddled by political detractors last elections that then city mayoralty candidate John Geesnel “Baba” Yap, elected city mayor, was a school dropout, may now start eat humble pie. For not only was the insinuation a total lie, his critics are now realizing after all that the new city mayor is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Accounting at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City in March 1997. Not only is Mayor Yap an accounting graduate, he was also awarded a major award for leadership as Most Outstanding Alumnus “Semper Fidelis” for “Virtus”. The award was given to the outstanding alumnus during the University of San Carlos (USC) grand alumni homecoming on August 17, 2013 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino with the theme “Carolinian Alumni – Connecting… Networking… Engaging…”

Mayor Yap joined an elite group of awardees among them Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III and Smart Communications, Inc. president and Chief Executive Officer and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) director Engr. Napoleon L. Nazareno. In citing them for outstanding contribution to the school, the three were recognized for contributing in the furtherance of their Alma Mater’s educational development towards excellence, putting significance on and relevance to people development. Proof of the city mayor’s leadership are the initiatives to support arts and culture, commerce and industry, disaster management, education, gender sensitivity, governance, health and sanitation, information and communication technology, infrastructure, media accessibility, peace and order, people empowerment, public relations, religious equality, social services, sports, tourism promotion, and youth development, to name a few.

It may be recalled that Mayor Baba started as first councilor and majority floor leader of the 11th Sangguniang Panlungsod of the City of Tagbilaran in June 2010, after which he ran and enjoyed an overwhelming victory in the mayoralty race in the May 13, 2013 election. He will have another test of his leadership as he represents the cities of Region 7 in the national board of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), Inc. The mayor in his acceptance speech was firm in his commitment to exemplify leadership founded on transparency, accountability, and participatory management towards his “United Tagbilaran, One Bohol” battle cry. (Fiel Angeli E. Araoarao-Gabin, CIO)