Fidel Ramos, sis take opposite sides in race for gov in Pangasinan

FORMER President Fidel V. Ramos endorses his nephew, Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, for governor of Pangasinan. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

DAGUPAN CITY—Former President Fidel V. Ramos and his sister, former Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani, are on different sides of the political fence as far as the gubernatorial race in their native Pangasinan is concerned.

On Sunday, Ramos endorsed the gubernatorial bid of his nephew, Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, during a reunion of the Ramos, Agsalud and Braganza families in Asingan town.

Ramos told his relatives that he has been going around the sixth district of Pangasinan to solicit support for Braganza, the candidate of the Liberal Party.

But the former President’s sister, Ramos-Shahani, is supporting reelectionist Gov. Amado Espino Jr., Braganza’s rival.

Board Member Ranjit Shahani said his mother endorsed Espino in a separate event in Asingan on Sunday.

Espino is seeking reelection under the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Braganza attended the clan reunion but Shahani, who lives in Asingan, and his mother did not.

Shahani, however, confirmed that Ramos is backing Braganza, his cousin. Ramos and Braganza’s mother, Purita Agsalud Braganza, are cousins.

“We respect the [former] President’s decision. But I feel it is not really a full-hearted endorsement because he did not raise Nani’s (Braganza’s nickname) hand … it was an Edsa jump,” Shahani told the Inquirer by telephone on Monday.

The “Edsa jump” was the leap Ramos made when he announced that the dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos had left Malacañang during the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986.

“And the Edsa jump is not applicable to Nani because he boycotted the snap elections then,” Shahani said.

“It was like a consolation because he is a relative,” Shahani said. Yolanda Sotelo and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon