Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr.
Two political clans in the province of Iloilo allied with President Aquino are on a collision course in next year’s elections.
Guimbal Mayor Christine Garin filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) on Friday for vice governor challenging Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr.
Christine filed her COC under the National Unity Party (NUP), a day after Tupas declared his candidacy under the Liberal Party (LP).
Iloilo Rep. Oscar Garin Jr. (first district) said his family decided to field his younger sister for the vice gubernatorial position because Tupas reneged on an agreement to field a common candidate.
“We felt deceived by (Tupas),” Garin said.
Garin said his family and the Tupases had agreed to choose a common candidate to endorse as official candidate of LP.
He questioned the certification of nomination and acceptance (Cona) from LP presented by Tupas when Tupas filed his COC.
“The party advised us to file (Christine’s) COC under the NUP,” said Garin.
Tupas refuted Garin’s claim, saying his Cona was signed by LP president and Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.
‘It’s a free country’
“It was impossible for us to agree on a common candidate because both our families want to field family members for the position. We allowed the national (LP) leadership to decide and they granted the nomination to our family,” Tupas said in a phone interview.
He said he cannot stop the Garins from challenging his candidacy.
“It’s a free country,” he said. Tupas is a staunch ally of Mr. Aquino who played a key role in the impeachment of Renato Corona as chief justice. Garin is the husband of Health Secretary Janette Garin.
In 2013, the LP formed an alliance that brought together the Garin, Tupas and Defensor families, the traditional rivals in Iloilo province’s politics.
Tupas, who is on his third and last term as representative of the province’s fifth congressional district, said he, not his brother Niel Tupas III, decided to run for vice governor because that was what their father, ex-governor Niel Tupas Sr., wanted.
Representative Garin’s father, former representative Oscar Sr., will run for mayor of Guimbal town while the mother, Ninfa, will run for mayor of Joaquin town.
Also on Friday, former Iloilo representative Ferjenel Biron (not Brion as earlier reported) filed his COC under the NUP for representative of Iloilo’s fourth (not first as earlier reported) district.
In Guimaras, Felipe Nava filed his COC to run for governor under the United Nationalist Alliance. Nava is former governor.
Businessman Henry Babiera also filed his COC to run as representative of Guimaras’ (not Iloilo as earlier reported) lone congressional district.
In Zamboanga City, incumbent Mayor Ma. Isabel Salazar is facing a challenge by the city’s former police chief, Mario Yanga, who filed his COC for mayor. Salazar is running for reelection.
“I feel I can still do something for peace, security and law and order,” Yanga said.
Three other candidates have filed COCs for mayor of the city—Alberto Cajayon, Sahibul Sangkula and Nashier Hajim.
In Davao del Norte, Rep. Antonio Rafael del Rosario (first district), son of Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, filed his COC on Friday for governor. Rodolfo is not running for governor anymore.
Vice Gov. Victorio Suaybaguio Jr. had filed his COC for representative in the first district but withdrew it and filed a COC for governor.
Suaybaguio fielded his nephew, Nicandro, to run for representative of the first district against the younger Del Rosario.
Two other candidates are running as representative of the first district—Pantaleon Alvarez and Arrel Olano. Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas and Julie Alipala and Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao