MikeLigalig.com

By Boy Guingguing
Publisher
Bohol Sunday Post

He is nicknamed Ae. He recalled that when he was a small boy, he ate anything and everything laid in the table. And it shows as evidenced from his body build. Pinasagdan sa kusina, as they say in the vernacular.

As he grows up to be a responsible young man, he is all over the place. Just like his mentor, he is a friend of everybody.

Now in the prime of his years, he is still Ae not as in anything and everything but as alter ego.

Get the drift?

From this introduction, we bet that you should have known him by now. It is not hard to imagine because at one time or another people from all walks of life must have a close encounter with Alfonso "Ae" Damalerio. Remember that he's all over the place.

A junior of the late lawyer Alfonso Damalerio, Ae has the makings of a promising politician. Not that he promises too much and does so little to keep those promises from fulfillment.

Credit it to his long exposure to the "astutest" of all politicians hereabouts, his mentor Edgar Chatto, the congressman.

But make no mistake. True, he used to be a faithful acolyte of the first district lawyer when he served as legislative staff assistant after his boss was still the vice governor. He was 18 years old then until he became the political affairs officer when Chatto became a congressman in 2001.

There's no stopping from there. As a willing political pupil of one of the most successful politicians Bohol has ever produce, Damalerio promises to be a big star in his own right.

Bristling with loyalty and sincerity as a public servant, the upstart in Damalerio became his own man when he was elected board member in the last elections.

Cut from the same political cloth as his mentor of 17 years, Damalerio took to heart the nuances of politics as he does with the contours of his hand.

For example, if Chatto the boss, can claim the bragging rights of having penetrated the remotest barangay of the first district, the same can be said of Damalerio.

Now, 35 and board member of the first district, he is proud to proclaim to the whole world that he can stand on his own.

And he knows whereof he speaks. Like a true-- blue Chatto disciple, he inherited the penchant of his boss' role as a front liner.

Like heading various organizations which usually puts him in the center of political gravity.

It is no wonder therefore why Damalerio heads the dormant Jaycee organization. Rising like a modern Lazarus, he rose from its grave the Bohol Jaycees which was buried six years below the ground since six years ago. Until Damalerio came into the picture and revived Jayceeism in Bohol.

His penchant for public service also catapulted him to the totem pole of the National Movement of Young Legislators (NMYL), a position also held by Chatto during his younger years.

Among many titles he holds at present include the vice presidency of the Bohol Island Lions Club and the secretary-general of the Bohol Prime Movers Association, a council of elders tasked with crafting the policy directions and advocacies of the provincial government.

With the high powered positions he held, there's no gainsaying that the name Ae Damalerio already rings bell.

Do not be surprise if he will climb the Bohol political ladder sooner than expected. A man in a hurry no less, next time you here him, Ae is the next Bohol vice governor.

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