Major upset looms for South Cotabato political landscape

KORONADAL CITY — The political landscape in South Cotabato province is poised to see a major change as Governor Daisy Avance Fuentes’ long grip to power was about to end, partial and unofficial election results showed Tuesday.

Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr., the three-term mayor of Tupi, a sleepy town known for its fruit and vegetable production, is set to upset Fuentes’ reelection bid.

As of 9:46 a.m. Tuesday, Tamayo garnered 220,862 votes against Fuentes’ 191,814, or a difference of 29,048 votes, based on 98.62 percent of election returns aggregated from Commission on Elections data.

Fuentes ruled the province as governor for 15 years and represented the second district at the Lower House for 12 years.

Lawyer Duque Kadatuan, South Cotabato Comelec supervisor, said eight localities in the province had completed the transmission of election returns (ERs) as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

He said the Provincial Board of Canvassers were just waiting for the transmission of ERs from Koronadal City, the capital of South Cotabato, and the towns of Lake Sebu and T’boli.

General Santos, which is a chartered city of South Cotabato, has yet to also transmit its ER to the provincial BOC.

The provincial BOC did not display the partial and official results of votes for each candidate at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan session hall here.

Kadatuan said they would post the official and final results of votes obtained by each candidate until after all the transmissions have been completed.

He said the BOC expected to declare the provincial and congressional winners by Tuesday evening.

Fuentes was representative of the second district of South Cotabato for three terms from 1992 to 2001 and governor for three terms from 2001 to 2009.

She was elected to the post again from 2010 to 2013 and won again in the 2013 and 2016 gubernatorial derby.

Fuentes ran under the Nationalist People’s Coalition-Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas Ng Bayan slate, while Tamayo ran under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.

Tamayo is the president of the province’s League of Municipalities. (Editor: Leti Boniol)