Piñol opts to run for N. Cotabato vice gov

COTABATO CITY — North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, who is on his third and last term, announced that he would seek the vice governor’s post this time, certain he would defeat his rivals in the May polls.

Piñol said he initially thought of running for second district congressman, but changed his mind, fearing that his successor would not sustain the socio-economic programs he has been carrying out for almost nine years now.

North Cotabato was one of the country’s 25 poorest provinces in 1995, but in recent years, emerged as Central Mindanao’s agricultural hub with the entry of foreign investors and donor entities whose projects generated jobs for 87,000 residents, some of them former secessionist rebels.

"If I run for congressman in the second district of North Cotabato and win, I will become somewhat detached from the communities whose visions of peace and development are my visions, too, because, like them, I also came from the barrio," Piñol told The STAR.

Piñol first intimated his plan to run for vice governor in his weekly radio program Pareng Gob over Catholic radio station dxND in Kidapawan City.

Piñol said his gubernatorial running mate is outgoing Vice Gov. Jesus Sacdalan, a long-time political ally whose family wields influence in the vote-rich towns in the first district.

"If Vice Gov. Sacdalan becomes provincial governor, he will pursue all my unfinished socio-economic programs, not only because he is my ally, but because we jointly drafted the blueprint for all of these programs," he said.

Piñol, regarded as North Cotabato’s political kingpin, became popular for his iron-fisted policy against criminals and abusive secessionist rebel factions in the province.

Sources in North Cotabato’s religious communities confirmed that Mayor Roger Taliño of Carmen town would run against Sacdalan in the gubernatorial race.

Taliño, father of North Cotabato Rep. Lala Taliño-Santos, is on his last term as mayor of Carmen, a remote town in the first district.