LP bets rule in most of Visayas

ILOILO CITY—Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas may have lost in the presidential race, but his party and its allies remain entrenched in many areas in the Visayas.

In Western Visayas, four of the five elected governors belong to the LP. They are Arthur Defensor (Iloilo), Samuel Gumarin (Guimaras), Antonio del Rosario (Capiz) and Florencio Miraflores (Aklan).

In Antigue province, Governor-elect Rhodora Cadiao, who ran under the National Unity Party, supported Roxas in the elections.

Eight of the 10 elected representatives of congressional districts in the region also belong to the LP. They include Jerry Treñas (Iloilo City), Oscar Garin (Iloilo, first district), Arcadio Gorriceta (Iloilo, second district), Arthur Defensor Jr. (Iloilo, third District), Paolo Everardo Javier (Antique), Lucille Nava (Guimaras) and Emmanuel Billones (Capiz, first district).

Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron (fourth district) and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro (second district) ran in a coalition with the LP.

Only two winning lawmakers do not belong to the ruling coalition. They are Raul Tupas (fifth district), who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) which supported Roxas’ rival Sen. Grace Poe, and Carlito Marquez (Aklan), who ran under the United Nationalist Alliance.

Most of the mayors and members of the provincial boards, city and municipal councils in the region, including Iloilo and Roxas cities, also belong to the LP or its coalition partners.

In Iloilo, almost all of the 42 elected mayors in the province are LP members or allies. This also holds true in the provinces of Antique, Capiz, Aklan and Guimaras.

In Central Visayas, three governors belong to the LP. They are Edgar Chatto of Bohol, LP provincial chair; Zaldy Villa of Siquijor; and Hilario Davide III of Cebu, who was ahead in the counting but had not been proclaimed.

In Bohol, only one of the three congressmen who received a fresh mandate is an LP candidate. He was Rene Relampagos of the first district.

The two others

—Erico Aristotle Aumentado (second district) and Arthur Yap (third district)—belong to the NPC.

Of the 47 towns and one city in Bohol, 31 elected mayors are with the LP while nine belong to the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the party of presumptive President, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The UNA and the NPC have four mayors each.

In Cebu, the LP got six out of 10 representatives and 23 out of 53 mayors, including those from the three big cities—Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

In Siquijor, the LP lorded over five of the six towns. The province’s lone representative—Ramon Vicente Rocamora—won as an independent.

Traditionally, most officials transfer to the ruling party after elections. Those elected have not announced plans to switch parties though, but they said they would support the Duterte administration.

Democrito Diamante, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in Cebu and an LP ally who was proclaimed winner in the hotly contested mayoral race in Tuburan town, said it would not be surprising if the winners would eventually jump ship to the Duterte camp.

Diamante, however, said he could stick to the LP in the local level, but if Davide would decide to join the new administration camp, he would abide by it.