Even to this day, many Tarlaqueños are wondering why President Aquino did not go all-out for his candidates in his home province the way he did for his senatorial candidates in Team PNoy.
The Liberal Party’s endeavor to become the ruling party for the 2016 presidential elections is going to be a much longer and harder journey, as far as Central and Northern Luzon are concerned.
Upsets scored by candidates against established names will usher in new faces in the political landscape of Nueva Ecija, long dominated by political dynasties.
The ballots have been counted in many provinces, giving fresh mandate to new leaders by July.
Appeals by President Benigno Aquino III to Pampanga voters to elect Liberal Party (LP) candidates, articulated in rallies on Oct. 5, 2012, and March 1, 2013, went largely unheeded.
The Liberal Party’s (LP) gubernatorial candidates in Pampanga and Pangasinan lost in Monday’s polls, giving the administration a resounding defeat in these areas where issues of corruption and illegal gambling were highlighted during the campaign.
Voters in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, elected old hands to save their town from financial problems that many blamed on the alleged mismanagement of the town’s resources by Mayor Romeo Borja Sr.
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not vote on Monday, a contrast to the five previous elections where she voted as early as 7 a.m.
In what could be an upset, the daughter of former Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso, Cheryl Deloso-Montalla of the Liberal Party, defeated reelectionist Zambales Rep. Jun Omar Ebdane in the race for the province’s second congressional district.
Despite glitches in the computer machine, President Aquino on Monday said he was happy at how the elections had turned out.
Despite her absence in the campaign, detained former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appeared headed to serve another term in House of Representatives as unofficial results on Monday night showed her leading her closest opponent by a wide margin in Pampanga’s second district race.
A leader of communist rebels operating in Central Luzon has admitted responsibility for the murder of a mayoral candidate in San Jose town in Tarlac last week.
Unopposed candidates in northern and central Luzon can take it easy until Election Day when they troop to their voting precincts to make sure that at least one vote would be credited to their names.
