MANILA, Philippines — Former Marikina lawmaker Miro Quimbo said he and his wife, Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo, have decided to run in the same elections as the current local government officials have blocked projects that would have benefitted the city’s residents.
In an interview on Monday, after he filed his certificate of candidacy for the congressional seat of Marikina’s 2nd District, Quimbo said that it was a hard decision for them because he and Rep. Stella had agreed that only one of them would run for office at a time so that they can attend to their children.
However, Quimbo said the Marikina government, currently headed by Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, was not cooperative in implementing programs.
“Wala kaming balak ‘no, ang gusto talaga namin is one at a time lang talaga kami para may naiiwan sa mga bata at sa negosyo at sa ibang gawain, pero nakita namin na talagang napakahirap ng pinagdaanan namin sa nakaraang anim na taan, in fact the last nine years we have been unable to implement many of our programs, ang daming school buildings na hindi itatayo dahil talagang hinaharang ng mayor,” Quimbo claimed.
(We had no intention of running together; our plan was to take turns so we could care for our kids, our business, and other responsibilities. However, the challenges we’ve faced in the past six years have been significant. In fact, over the last nine years, we haven’t been able to implement many of our programs, and many school buildings won’t be constructed because the mayor is blocking them.)
“So kinakailangan talaga ng mayor at congressman nanggagaling sa isang grupo. Naranasan ko ‘yan noong first 6 years ko na todo supporta sa amin ‘yong alkalde, but in the last nine years, napakaraming pondo ang nasayang na hindi naiimplement dahil nga hindi kami binibigyan ng permit or binibigyan ng iba’t iba dahilan para hindi ito matuloy,” he added.
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(So we need a mayor and a congressman coming from the same group. I experienced that in my first 6 years when the mayor was very supportive of us. Still, in the last nine years, many funds were wasted due to non-implementation of projects, as we were not given permits or were given different reasons for projects not to continue.)
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According to Quimbo, there seems to be an effort to ‘erase’ them from politics.
“But it’s difficult but we know there’s a more challenging call. Kung gusto nating magtagumpay, kinakailangan namin dito at talagang ibigay namin lahat. Baduy man pakinggan pero tingin ko kinakailangan naming isantabi ‘yong pansarili din naming panahon na imbis na nakakapag-bakasyon ay pahinga, ay dalawa kaming kailangan dito,” he said.
(If we want to succeed, we need to give it our all. It may sound cheesy, but I believe we must set aside our personal time. Instead of taking vacations or resting, both of us need to be fully committed to this.)
“So it’s really been a touch-and-go situation, but we sort of decided a year and a half ago that when we observed that instead of just letting us implement projects in our district, the Mayor really wanted to remove us from Marikina. Instead of getting along and jointly serving the people — who are enduring hardships as of now, he chose to make moves to remove us from the picture,” he added.
INQUIRER.net has messaged Teodoro’s staffers for his side of the story, but they have not replied as of posting time.
While this was the first time that the Quimbo couple had publicly called out the local government official’s alleged interference with their projects, there were concerns in the past about the slow pace of projects in Marikina.
Last August 7, at the House of Representatives committee on appropriations hearing on the proposed 2025 budget for the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), Rep. Stella asked Secretary Jerry Acuzar why housing projects in her city have been slow-paced.
Quimbo noted that socialized housing under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program (4PH) in nearby San Mateo town was nearly finished, unlike the slow-paced project in Marikina.
Acuzar responded that the local government unit in Marikina was slow.
READ: Quimbo left speechless by housing chief’s response
Despite being eligible to seek reelection for one more term, Rep. Stella is set to leave the House of Representatives in the 2025 elections and seek the mayoral post of Marikina. Miro meanwhile will return to a post he previously held, having last served from 2016 to 2019 during the 17th Congress.
A tense showdown, however, awaits the Quimbos: Teodoro’s wife, incumbent Marikina 1st District Rep. Marjorie Ann Teodoro, will run for mayor, too.
Mayor Teodoro, meanwhile, will seek the seat occupied by his wife, setting up a fight with outgoing Senator Koko Pimentel, who has already filed his COC for the congressional seat of Marikina’s 1st legislative district.
On Sunday, after filing his COC, Pimentel said he was surprised with Teodoro’s decision to seek Marikina’s 1st District seat, noting that it was the mayor who urged him to run for the district.
“I will present myself to the people of Marikina as an alternative because we were invited by Mayor Marcy to run in District One. As a matter of fact, as a show of good faith, he moved to District Two to run there. [But ] yesterday, he filed for District One,” Pimentel disclosed.
Pimentel said he was surprised by Teodoro’s action, saying they did not discuss this move.
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“Do not make promises you cannot keep. A man without a word of honor is nothing. That’s why the standard of living in Marikina, let’s raise it. That’s why I signed the pledge. It’s stated there – no lying, no gossiping; no maligning of others,” Pimentel said.
