VICTOR ORTEGA, MANUEL ORTEGA PABLO ORTEGA
(First of a series)
POLITICS has a way of dividing families, friends and supposedly close political allies.
In La Union, the 2016 national and local elections will pit an Ortega against an Ortega, with brothers and uncles running against each other for key offices in the province.
The Ortega clan has dominated La Union politics for more than a century.
For a seat in the House of Representatives, incumbent San Fernando City Mayor Pablo Ortega will fight his brother, Senior Board Member Francisco “Kit” Ortega Jr., and nephew, Board Member Emmanuel Victor “Mannix” Ortega, son of La Union Gov. Manuel Ortega, who is retiring from politics after his last term.
But former San Fernando Mayor Mary Jane Ortega, wife of incumbent La Union Rep. Victor Ortega, said she had yet to talk to her brother-in-law, Francisco Jr., to clarify his plans for 2016.
“Pablo has the support of Victor Ortega (brother of Pablo, Manuel and Francisco Jr.) and almost all of the barangay captains in the province,” said a source, who asked not to be identified.
Victor is serving his last term in the House and is planning to run for mayor of San Fernando City.
Race for capitol
In the gubernatorial race, another brother, Mario Ortega, will slug it out with nephew Francisco Emmanuel Ortega III, another son of Governor Ortega.
Ortega III is ending his last term in the House as Abono party-list nominee. Mario serves as the governor’s executive secretary and is a former president of the Provincial Federation of the Association of Barangay Councils.
Henry Bacurnay, undersecretary for external affairs of the Office of the Executive Secretary, is also running for governor.
In the mayoral race in San Fernando, Victor Ortega may clash with brother Jose Maria “Pepe” Ortega, who lost the 2013 vice mayoral race.
In Pangasinan province, a husband and his wife will be running against a son and father in the gubernatorial and congressional races.
Incumbent Gov. Amado Espino Jr. is fielding his son, Amado III, in the gubernatorial race against a former political ally, former Rep. Mark Cojuangco.
Governor Espino is reportedly challenging Cojuangco’s wife, Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, for the seat of the fifth district in the House.
The governor resigned last year from the Pangasinan chapter of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), which is headed by Cojuangco.
First female gov
In Nueva Ecija, incumbent Rep. Czarina Domingo-Umali will try to become the province’s first female governor, to replace her husband, Gov. Aurelio Umali.
“She will continue the program of change that I started and implemented,” said Governor Umali.
The Umali clan has been in politics for more than 50 years.
Umali broke the dominance of the Joson clan in 2007 when he defeated then Vice Gov. Edward Thomas Joson in that year’s gubernatorial election.
Umali also defeated the former vice governor’s uncle, Mariano Cristino Joson, in 2010 and former Rep. Josefina Manuel-Joson in 2013.
But it is Czarina Umali’s bid for governor that many political pundits consider a historical legacy. Since 1898, the province has been governed by male politicians who are either elected or designated Nueva Ecija governor.
Members of the Joson clan ruled as governors for 50 years. Aside from Josefina Joson, former Rep. Julita Villareal and Bing Custodio-Perez, wife of slain gubernatorial candidate Honorato Perez, tried but failed to be elected to the post.
Czarina Umali will clash with former Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, a son of the late Senators Gaudencio and Magnolia Antonino. He is backed by former Gov. Thomas Joson III and Cabanatuan City Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara.
Governor Umali is running for the House and may face Vergara’s wife, Ria.