Samsam Gullas Jr.: The Youngest Member of the 16th Congress

Twenty-eight year old Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr., grandson of former Cebu provincial governor and outgoing First District Rep. Eduardo Gullas, has emerged as the youngest member of the 16th Congress.

Gullas Jr. ran and won unopposed as representative of Cebu province’s first district to replace his grandfather who ran but lost as mayor of Talisay City. The younger Gullas obtained 153,514 votes.

He will be representing the district which his grandfather has served for a cumulative 21 years, from 1969-1972, 1992-2001 and 2004-2013.

The neophyte lawmaker is still single and just 70 days younger than Kalinga party-list Rep. Abigail Faye Ferriol, the youngest member of the 15th Congress.

Gullas Jr. was born on Dec. 1, 1984; Ferriol on Sept. 21, 1984.

The average age of the 287 members of the 15th Congress is 54.

The new congressman is the son Gerald Anthony Gullas Sr. and Josephine Vargas and he is finishing a Master’s degree at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

Before running for Congress, he was assistant vice president for finance and administration of the 94-year-old University of the Visayas (UV), which his family runs.

At 5’ 8” tall, Gullas Jr. is also an avid basketball player and aficionado like his grandfather, who was one-time vice president of the Basketball Association of the Philippines.

The younger Gullas is also team manager of the UV Lancers, one of the country’s finest collegiate basketball teams.

The UV Lancers recently seized the 65th National Students Basketball Championship, and is set to represent the country at the 23rd Summer Universiade Games in Kazan, Russia in July and at the 10th Asian University Basketball Championship in Manila in September.

The administration Liberal Party (LP) did not put up a candidate against Gullas Jr., who ran under the Nacionalista Party (NP).

This was partly in deference to the elder Gullas, who helped reunite President Benigno Aquino III and Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., bitter rivals in the 2010 presidential elections, and partly because the LP could not immediately find a viable contender.

The Aquino-Villar reconciliation paved the way for the inclusion of three NP candidates — Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes and Cynthia Villar — in the LP-led Senate coalition ticket. The three have been proclaimed newly elected senators.

Cebu’s first district is comprised of three cities — Talisay, Naga and Carcar, and three municipalities — Minglanilla, San Fernando and Sibonga.

The elder Gullas once held the second-highest House post. He was elected to replace Manuel “Mar” Roxas as House Majority Leader when the latter resigned his post in 2000 to join then President Estrada’s Cabinet as Secretary of Trade and Industry.

The elder Gullas also served as Cebu governor in 1976, and from 1980-1986. (with PR)