Guiani-Sayadi succeeds brother

SUCCESSION --- Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, in ceremonies held at the People’s Palace, takes her oath September 23 as mayor of Cotabato City before RTC Judge Bansawan Ibrahim as she succeeds the late mayor Japal Guiani, Jr.  following his demise in Davao City last September 22. Graham Nazer G. Dumama (inset), voted as the first councillor, is now the vice mayor while Japal G. Guiani III (inset) is the appointed  city councillor to fill the vacancy in the Sangguniang Panlungsod.  (Photo by Anne B. Acosta)

COTABATO CITY - Cotabato City Vice Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi and Councilor Graham Dumama have assumed last week as city mayor and city vice mayor, respectively.

This after a natural vacancy occurred at the city government following the death Thursday (September 22) of Mayor Japal Giani, Jr. due to cardiac arrest in a hospital in Davao City.

Sayadi, Guiani's younger sister, and Dumama, took their oath of office before Judge Bansawan Ibrahim of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 15 here.

Sayadi told reporters that before Guiani passed away, he repeatedly reminded local officials “to perform what is expected of them by the people.”

Sayadi vowed to continue what her brother has started since he became city mayor in 2010, when he envisioned the city to be free from illegal drugs, investment haven, and peaceful and orderly  for the benefit of Cotabateños.

During Guiani's term, the city's economy has greatly improved with the coming in of malls and other investments, including employment opportunities.

While still alive, he directed Sayadi to push for the campaign against illegal drug activities. (PNA - Cotabato)

Mourning

Local communities mourned the demise just after dawn Thursday last week of Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani, Jr. who was in his third and last term as chief executive here.

He was one of the sibs of the late Judge Japal Guiani and then commissioner of the Commission on Elections.

Guiani, 56, is popular for his having lured foreign and local investors to put up capital-intensive businesses and shopping malls in the city during his first and second mayoral tenures.

Physician Danda Juanday, city administrator, told reporters that Thursday morning about the death of the mayor.

Guiani was buried Thursday afternoon in a Muslim cemetery at Barangay Gang in nearby Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao, some three kilometers northwest of Cotabato City.

As a religious norm, Muslims bury their dead within 24 hours from the time of death.

Juanday said Guiani died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Davao City.

Guiani started his political career as a member of the city council, which he led as vice mayor for three consecutive terms.

The mayor had gone on leave for weeks before he passed away.

Via rule of succession, as stated in the Local Government Code, his sister, Vice Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, is to assume as new city mayor.

They ran in tandem during the May 9, 2016 polls and both won with an overwhelming vote lead.

The now mayor Sayadi had earlier orchestrated, as presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panglunsod, the crafting of new traffic ordinances and updating of old but still applicable peace and security measures to improve even more the local business atmosphere. (Contributed by media partner)

Fate

It was Tuesday (September 20) when (late) Mayor Japal J. Guiani, Jr. called up his siblings and requested them to join him for lunch the next day in a restaurant in Davao City. Being a tight knit family, it has been a long-time tradition of the Guianis to get together every once in a while with their children and share a meal.

Just in time for this request, then acting Mayor VM Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi was en route to Davao City last Wednesday (September 21) for a meeting with other local chief executives  in Mindanao at SMX  in Lanang . Right after the meeting, Atty. Guiani-Sayadi received a call from a family member telling her that Mayor Jojo was not feeling well and was then brought to the hospital.

She immediately rushed to the hospital and little did she know that it would be the last time she will be seeing her brother alive. The mayor experienced his first cardiac arrest that evening but was  revived.

At around 6:00 in the morning (Thursday), she received the dreadful news. According to the mayor's wife, his physicians declared him dead at around 5:48 a.m. after unable to survive the second cardiac arrest.

Atty. Guiani-Sayadi said the news shocked the whole family as Mayor Jojo had no serious illnesses, belying rumors that he is suffering from cancer. He only had arthritis and his sick leave was for him to concentrate on his medication and a little bit of relaxation.

Mayor Jojo will be remembered for being the "Mr. Exposè" in the Sangguniang Panlungsod  during his three terms as city councilor. As a mayor, he was one with the most welcoming aura, always greeting everyone with a smile and talking to him was always a great joy to everyone. But his greatest legacy is the making of  Cotabato City as it is today --- a more improved, more developed, and more peaceful home for all the Cotabateños.

Thousands of families, friends, supporters, and allies flocked to the Guiani residence to pay their final respects to the beloved mayor before laying him to rest at the family cemetery at Barangay Gang in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

By law of succession, City Vice Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi took her oath as the new mayor of Cotabato City with First Councilor Graham Dumama as the City Vice Mayor.

Atty. Guiani-Sayadi said as much as they are experiencing great pain, they have assured all Cotabateños that all the programs of Mayor Jojo Guiani will be continued, especially the full computerization of the city government offices and the establishment of an  “ecopark.”

Mayor Japal J. Guiani, Jr. will forever be remembered and his legacy will live on. (CITY GOVERNMENT OF COTABATO/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)