Jonas Cortes
Jonas Cabungcal Cortes (born July 20, 1966) is a Filipino politician serving as the Mayor of Mandaue City since 2019, a position he previously held from 2007 to 2016. He previously served as representative of the sixth district of Cebu from 2016 to 2019.
The Honorable Jonas Cortes | |
---|---|
Mayor of Mandaue City | |
Assumed office June 30, 2019 | |
Preceded by | Luigi Quisumbing |
In office June 30, 2007 – June 30, 2016 | |
Preceded by | Amadeo Seno |
Succeeded by | Luigi Quisumbing |
Member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Cebu's 6th district | |
In office June 30, 2016 – June 30, 2019 | |
Preceded by | Luigi Quisumbing |
Succeeded by | Emmarie "Lolypop" Ouano-Dizon |
Personal details | |
Born | Mandaue, Cebu | July 20, 1966
Political party | PDP-Laban (2016–present) |
Other political affiliations | Lakas (2001–2009) Liberal (2010–2016) |
Residence | Centro, Mandaue City |
Alma mater | Visayas State University |
Website |
Personal life
Cortes is the thirteenth child of the former mayor of Mandaue Demetrio Cortes Sr. and Celestina Alimpangog Cabungcal. He is of Filipino, Spanish and Chinese ancestry. He was born and raised in Centro, Mandaue. Cortes attended St. Joseph's Academy for grade school in 1972-78 and in St Louis School of Mandaue for high school on 1978-82 both in Mandaue. He graduated from Visayas State College of Agriculture in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Husbandry. He married Sarah Lea Walker, a Filipino-American on August 14, 1999, with whom he has two children, Dmitri and Mikyla. [1]
Plunder
Recently involved in a plunder and graft case including several former city officials involving a signed deed of absolute sale between EC Ouano Development and Management Corp. (Ecodemcor), a company owned by Olga Ouano in September 2015 for the 35,821-square-meter property, which was sold at a “ridiculously low price” of P50 per sq/m.[2]
Another lease contract entered into by the Cortes administration was also found to be questionable because this lacked city council approval.
The contract involved the lease of 14,408 square meters of lot located at the North Reclamation Area (NRA) to Katumanan Hardware Inc. in 2007.
However, Katumanan Hardware Inc. had reportedly authorized the sub-lease of the property to Cenore Corporation even in the absence of Council approval.[3]
2007 election
Cortes filed his COC as an independent and ran against Jonkie Ouano, son of former Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano.[4] Cortes was elected mayor.
2010 election
Cortes won a second term as mayor in 2010 when he received 59.54% of the votes, and also carried his party to win a majority of the seats on the city council.[5]
Economic Boom
Cortes highlighted the P45.6-million increase in the income of the city government from the time he assumed office in July last year, saying he has worked to make the city business-friendly. [6] Bringing back clean governance in Mandaue City, said Cortes, was his best achievement in his first year in office.
He campaigned on a platform that included government reform and integrity. [7]
References
- "Mandaue execs sued over land deal". Cebu Daily News. Cebu Daily News. Archived from the original on 2018-10-21.
- "Cortes lawyer: Transactions of previous admin were all legal". Cebu Daily News. Cebu Daily News. Archived from the original on 2018-11-05.
- "Election". philippine inquirer. philippine inquirer.
- "Economy of Mandaue". Sunstar Cebu. Sunstar Cebu.
- "Economy of Mandaue". encyclopedia.com. encyclopedia.com.