8 vying for Parañaque lone House seat

The race for Parañaque City’s lone congressional district has shaped into a crowd of eight aspirants, three of whom drew surprises when they filed their certificates of candidacy with the Commission on Elections at the last minute Wednesday.

Among the surprise candidates were Rico Golez, son of former Rep. Roilo Golez who vacated the seat after being appointed as National Security Adviser by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Press Secretary and Manila Economic and Cultural Affairs chief Rod Reyes, and Gerry Geronimo of Ating Alamin fame.

Two incumbent city councilors, Rodolfo Punzalan of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and Fidelino "Jun" Benzon of Parañaque-wide party Kabatak, are also running for the post.

The other three candidates are former Mayor Wally Ferrer, Ed Zialcita of the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP party and former councilor Tess de Asis.

The incumbent councilors aired similar claims that they have an edge because they are known Parañaque residents and can point to their performance in the city council.

"Our edge is that we can point to our performance in the council to lure votes. It’s a free country, the surprise candidates are welcome," Punzalan, the author of the Parañaque Health Card law, said. – Rainier Allan Ronda