LEGAZPI CITY— In a clash for the rule in Camarines Sur province, two Villafuertes and an Andaya—the most prominent families in the province, which always go head to head during elections—have secured seats after the 2019 midterm elections.
Miguel “Migz” Villafuerte of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), in his bid for reelection as Camarines Sur governor, defeated Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya Jr. of Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) with only a 5,445-vote lead.
Andaya, Majority Leader at the House of Representatives, is on his last term as congressman.
He is the son of former Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya Sr.
The younger Andaya also served as representative of the first district of the province from 1998, until he was appointed as budget secretary by then President and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2006.
In 2010, he reclaimed his post as representative of the first district.
Youngest Villafuerte
Migz is the youngest of the three generations of Villafuertes who are in politics.
His father, Luis Raymund “LRay” of the Nacionalista Party (NP), won a seat in Congress and would represent the second district of Camarines Sur, while the grandfather, Luis, also of NP, lost against reelectionist Gabriel Bordado of the Liberal Party in the third district.
The Villafuerte patriarch Luis’ long career in politics spanned six presidents—from Ferdinand Marcos to Benigno Aquino III.
His first defeat was in 1992 when the late Jose Bulaong beat him in the gubernatorial race.
Luis was governor of Camarines Sur for 15 years until 2004, when LRay took over the reins of the provincial government.
Migz expressed his gratitude to the people of Camarines Sur despite, he said, his opponent “doing everything, as in everything,” alluding to the allegations that vote-counting machines (VCMs) were “loaded” to Andaya’s vehicles.
However, Camarines Sur election supervisor Alberto Cañares III told the Inquirer that the electoral boards were only forced to use their own resources and assured the public that movements of the ballots and VCMs were only done under the presence of poll watchers.
Migz said he would be pioneering projects in Camarines Sur that he hopes would be noticed by the rest of the Philippines.
Coral reef plantation
“I wanna build the largest coral reef plantation in Caramoan,” he told the press after his proclamation on Wednesday, three days after the elections.
He also said that he would finish his road construction projects.
He said he was looking forward to working with Vice Governor-elect Imelda Papin, who also ran under the PDP-Laban.
The second district of Camarines Sur saw the close fight between LRay and Maribel Andaya-Eusebio of NPC, the sister of Nonoy Andaya and wife of Mayor Robert Eusebio.
Despite having her certificate of candidacy canceled by the Commission on Elections on February because she was not a resident of and voter in the province, Maribel went on to garner 76,615 votes, only 3,414 votes less than that of LRay’s.
The Eusebios have reigned in Pasig City for almost three decades, but they were upset by Vico Sotto of Aksyon Demokratiko who is now the new mayor of the city after he defeated Robert in the May 13 polls.
Wife replaces Nonoy
In the first district of Camarines Sur, Marissa Lourdes Andaya of NPC, wife of Nonoy, replaced her husband as representative.
Marissa received 61,480 votes, defeating celebrity comedian Roberto “Long” Mejia, who also ran and lost in 2016 as board member in the first district of Bulacan under the United Nationalist Alliance, by 32,252 votes.