Catanduanes legislator reelected in record win

REP. CESAR Sarmiento is reelected to a second term in the lone district of Catanduanes with more than 100,000 votes. JUAN PAOLO SALES/CONTRIBUTOR

VIRAC, Catanduanes—Rep. Cesar Sarmiento of the Liberal Party (LP) scored a first in the history of the lone district of Catanduanes when he was reelected with 101,156 votes to topple opponents Leandro Verceles (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino) and Resty de Quiros (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, or PMP).

Sarmiento, who is the LP provincial chair, also delivered in the senatorial race, helping win votes for nine Team PNoy candidates. LP candidates also won nine of the 11 mayoral contests as well as four seats in the provincial board.

In the race for governor, however, Gov. Joseph Cua (LP) failed to get a new mandate after he was defeated by businesswoman Araceli Wong, an independent candidate, who bucked three successive election losses to clinch victory in the May 13 elections. Wong got 67,252 votes against Cua’s 60,881, that paved the way for her proclamation on May 16.

Sarmiento brokered a hush-hush meeting on neutral ground on Friday between the incumbent governor and his successor to discuss preparations for the transition and assure 2,300 scholars of the provincial government of continued support.

The scholars, beneficiaries of the College Unified Assistance (CUA) program of Cua, had expressed concern to the mayors of the 11 towns about their future after the loss of their benefactor in the elections.

Cua’s political dynasty, however, scored victories in the second-biggest town of San Andres, where a brother of his, businessman Peter Cua, was elected mayor, while their brother-in-law, lawyer Leo Mendoza (PMP), was elected vice mayor.

In the northern town of Pandan, the governor-elect’s son, Joseph Wong, 25, is set to become the town’s youngest chief executive.

Malfunctioning precinct count optical scan machines and defective compact flash cards resulted in delays in the proclamation of winning candidates in Virac, San Andres, Bato and Baras towns, as well as that of other winners in the provincial level.