A vegetable vendor has been proclaimed new mayor of Dolores town in the province of Eastern Samar after winning in the May 9 local election.
“Let’s start a light that can be shown to the people of Dolores,” said Rodrigo “Onoy” Rivera, 62, who sells vegetables in the town’s public market and only finished second year in high school.
He promised to offer “good service and good governance” to the people of his town.
Netizens applauded Rivera who vowed to avoid “money politics” as he competed with medical doctor Zaldy Carpeso during the elections.
Rivera, who got 11,508 votes during the polls while Carpeso got 10,946 votes, used to be village chief in the remote village of Gap-ang in Dolores town, a third-class municipality with 30,124 registered voters.
