By LIWAY M. YPARRAGUIRRE

I FIRST met him when he was still a vice mayor. I joined some of his sorties in the barangays when he first ran as mayor of San Carlos City.
His favorite campaign song then went like this:

I wanna give, I wanna give my life to you completely/ I beg of you, I beg of you to listen to my heart/,I’ve never prayed like this before/ and I’m asking you not to close the door/ So I can smell the wind and feel the water /If you just let me!*
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He pleaded and he was given the chance, three times, in fact. Right before the very eyes of his constituents and the people who come and go to San Carlos, the city’s transformation came
He dreamt so much for his beloved San Carlos City.
One of his joys was seeing children and adults alike playing or whiling away time at the city plaza in the evening until the wee hours sometimes, a luxury they could not do before for fear.
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Thursday, April 26, in his office at their campaign headquarters at Marian, Mayor Julian “Jolly” Resuello asked in jest “Hindi niyo ba ako pakakainin?”
The food waiting for him was served - rice and and one slice of sarsiadong dalag, He told me to join him and I did.

After lunch, he met the members of Guardian whose two members were earlier shot and wounded. Although there is a little assistance for the association from the city government, he promised them he will give them more time after election.

He granted me an interview before leaving for their barangay meetings.

Mayor Jolly said San Carleñans should not be afraid and should
never let their freedom be trampled upon; to guard their city, never letting the development they are enjoying now be slowed down by people who could not appreciate what he had done for San Carlos.

Hardly did I realize, it was to be my final time to talkwith him.

Evening of April 28, Miss San Carlos City coronation night and eve of their fiesta, he was shot in front of his beloved San Carleñans. Miss San Carlos 2007 was deprived of her rightful crown, the evening was clothed with tragedy, an incident they will never forget for a lifetime.
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It will still be Resuello-Resuello in San Carlos.
Taking Mayor Jolly’s place as vice mayoralty candidate is his son Joseres, more known as Bogs. Accompanied by Ayoy and their brother Provincial SK Federation President Jolly “Jay-R” Resuello, he filed his certificate of candidacy last Thursday. He is using his father’s nickname “Jolly”, pronounced by some as Julie.

“The name Jolly should live. Hindi puwedeng mamatay ang pangalang Jolly dito sa San Carlos, because Jolly is the one who made this city very progressive. He was the one who maintained the peace and order situation, and he was the one who gave hope to the people of San Carlos,” the Resuello boys declared.

Mayor Ayoy said his father will be buried after the elections to give their constituents from the different barangays opportunity to pay their last respects to Mayor Jolly He may be gone but his memory will live forever.

Goodbye, ninong.