Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr.*
Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. is being urged by his colleagues to run for president of the Negros Association of Chief Executives (Negros ACE).
Escalante, the most senior mayor in Negros Occidental, is currently serving his third and final term as Cadiz City’s chief executive.
The previous Negros ACE president was Javier Miguel Benitez, then Victorias City mayor, who is now representative of the 3rd District of Negros Occidental.
The Negros ACE members are scheduled to convene on Friday to elect their new officers.
Escalante confirmed that there are calls for him to run for Negros ACE president. He has not made a decision yet but is “ashamed to refuse” his peers, the mayor said.
The Love Negros and United Negros Alliance (UNegA) coalition remains so it does not matter which group has more mayors, he said.
UNegA has about 17 or 18 mayors out of the 31 in the province but that is not important since we have a merger, said Escalante, who is UNegA secretary-general.
He also said that Rep. Emilio “Dino” Yulo (Neg. Occ., 5th District) has expressed interest in joining UnegA, but their party elders have not met yet.*