A Letter of Promise

Chapter 9

Ang tawanan nila ay naputol ng nag ring ng telepono sa may lamisita.

"Ako na po, ma"

Ria stood up and picked the phone up from her right ear.

"Hello" mababang boses ang kaniyang ginamit.

"Good evening ma'am, may I speak to Mrs. Suanzares? This is from the office of COMELEC" anang kabilang linya, lahat ng na sa silid ng kaniyang ama ay nag aabang sa kaniyang mga isasagot sa kabilang linya.

"You can speak with me ma'am, I am her daughter." she politely answered.

"We are so sorry to say ma'am but due to the statement of the doctor of your father--," she cut the other line.

"Is he disqualified, ma'am? But my father is still alive!"

"Not necessarily disqualified, but before I tell you the details we are giving our sympathy and we are praying for his fast recovery. But we have a law and rule to follow ma'am, we received your father's medical record, and it's stated there that his condition is not yet stable, he is still in a coma. Therefore, we need to make a replacement for him, it should be one of the same party either one of the kagawads or his vice mayor. We need your quick response here or your father will be disqualified."

After that call, the phone rang again and that was the call of vice mayor Ronquillo, her father's vice mayor. He is convincing her to be the replacement of her father, hindi kasi pwede ang kaniyang ina, her health condition is not that strong to handle things like that.

She's weighing herself if she can handle it too, she was once an SK chairwoman but she believes that that's not a strong foundation to handle 24 barangays, being mayor is such a huge responsibility for a twenty-year-old student like her. But she knows that if her father will win the fight against her condition now, and if he'll win the election. Maybe Ria will just handle it for a short period of time. Her father will soon sit on the chair. Ayaw naman niyang ipasa kay Vice-mayor Ronquillo ang pagiging mayor, that's too much, kahit panga noong una ay gusto nitong ito mismo ang pumalit sa kaniyang ama.

"Can you handle it darling? What about your studies?" Her mom asked her thru phone. Napagpasyahan niyang siya na nga lang muna ang papalit sa ama bilang mayor kung sakaling manalo ito.

"I'm going to drop three subjects and I'll just enroll them in summer." She replied calmly so that her mom won't worry too much.

"We can talk to your sister if you want, I know she will understand, your father is in coma, she will understand for sure." Bakas pa rin dito ang pag aalala.

"Ma, you know that ate hates politics, she even went to Manila just to escape from these and those issues. I know and I believe that dad will recover soon and that means I won't be the mayor for the whole one term."

She smiled even though she knew that her mom will not see her smile. Because she believes that her father will not let her shoulder this kind of responsibility.

Hindi na niya pinahaba pa ang usapan para naman makapag-pahinga na rin ang ina.

And true enough Cath left when Manang Brenda, Ate Sally, and the bodyguards came.

"Maria Unilah Suanzares will be the replacement of her father, Romualdo Suanzares." Nathe read the headline.
Mapa telibisyon, radyo, dyaryo at kahit sa mga chismisan iyan ang pinag-uusapan.

"Can she handle it? She's just twenty years old right?" Felicidad asked Antonio.

"She's a former Sk chairwoman, maybe she can. Hindi rin naman sigurado kung sino ang mananalo, right? Let's just sleep, tomorrow will be a big day for all of us." Antonio kissed his wife's forehead.