No way, says Edno

CABANATUAN CITY - Former Nueva Ecija Governor and National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Eduardo Nonato "Edno" Joson has dismissed speculations that he will run in next year’s elections against his elder brother, Governor Tomas Joson III.

The younger Joson, who won as a substitute candidate in the 1995 elections when Tomas III was implicated in the slaying of former Cabanatuan Mayor Honorato Perez, said he and the governor may have different political ideologies but said these are only confined to the national level and not the local level.

"We do not talk about local politics here and definitely I will not run," Edno said, clarifying that he would not seek the governorship in 2004 or even in 2007 and least of all not against another Joson.

Edno, a former assemblyman and known to be the most independent-minded among the Josons, is reportedly mulling a political comeback in the province and even eyeing Tomas III’s post according to reports.

Critics said that a Joson-Joson duel in 2004 could make the political clan lose their half-century grip on the provincial capitol.

The reports were fueled by Edno’s joining the campaign of former Education Secretary Raul Roco. Tomas III, the titular head of the local party Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (Balane), is supportive of former Ambassador Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco.

Giant billboards bearing the names of Edno and Roco are prominently displayed in the province.

Edno has always been known for his unpopular political stand among the Josons. He raised not a few eyebrows when he filed an anti-dynasty bill in Congress at a time when five Josons were serving office.

At the height of Edsa 2, he resigned his post as NFA administrator while his brother was in Malacañang lending morale support to then President Joseph Estrada.

When Tomas III decided to field his eldest son Edward Thomas in the third congressional district, Edno vehemently opposed, saying the latter lacked the law-making skills to run for Congress.