Dy being prodded to reclaim Isabela gov post

ILAGAN, Isabela — With the mid-term elections still less than a year away, supporters of former governor Faustino Dy Jr. have been urging him to reclaim the province’s highest post, which he lost to broadcaster-turned-politician Grace Padaca in the 2004 polls.

Sought for comment, Padaca said Dy’s running for governor poses "no problem" with her as long as "they just don’t mess around with the electoral process again and do the usual cheating, perhaps with the help of jueteng and other dirty money, or I shall raise hell this time."

"The very reason why I ran for public office was to give Isabelinos a choice because for 40 years, the (Dy) dynasty had all but killed democracy in our province," she said.

"I will be the last person to fret about other candidates running," she added.

Padaca expressed her desire to seek re-election in one of her meetings with Isabelino communities in the United States where she recently went on a US-sponsored study tour.

Alicia town Mayor Napoleon Dy, younger brother of the former governor, confirmed reports that majority of the mayors would support his brother should he decide to make a comeback in the 2007 polls.

Sources said the former governor, who visited the province last week, has expressed his desire to reclaim the governorship "to bring back the province’s economic might."

Dy, according to one of the sources, would only run if majority of the local officials would prod him to do so.

Dy could not be reached for comment. He reportedly returned to the United States after a weeklong stay in the country, meeting with his relatives and long-time political supporters.

He also reportedly had a "secret" meeting with President Arroyo and with former Ambassador Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco in Manila.

Dy claimed that he lost to Padaca because New People’s Army rebels actively campaigned for Padaca and harassed his supporters in remote areas.

Following a stunning loss to Padaca, with a margin of more than 40,000 votes, Dy, a three-term congressman of Isabela’s second congressional district before becoming governor, went into political hibernation in the US and vowed never to throw his hat into politics again.

But Mayor Dy, president of the 35-strong provincial mayors’ league, said his brother might reconsider reclaiming the governorship, which their family had occupied for more than three decades, starting from their father, the late Gov. Faustino Dy Sr., Isabela’s longest serving governor.

Besides Mayor Dy and the former governor, the eldest among the scions of the late Dy patriarch, the other Dy brothers include former three-term governor Benjamin Dy, incumbent third district Rep. Faustino Dy III and Cauayan City Mayor Caezar Dy.