Oops, mistaken conclusion on poll conduct - THE SOUTHERN BEAT By Rolly Espina

I must apologize for my wrong conclusion about the conduct of Monday’s elections in Negros Occidental which I said was peaceful and orderly. Peaceful in most instances, yes. But there were also incidents that left a bad taste in the mouth.

But there were also some good things that have happened since then. The first, the Wednesday concession by former mayor Joy Valdez, admitting that she lost the elections to re-electionist Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia.

But there was a cliffhanger race between re-electionist Rep. Monico Puentevella and his challenger, Vice Mayor Renecito Novero.

Another was the grace with which incumbent Silay City Mayor Carlos Gamban readily conceded the elections in the suburban city to challenger Jose “Otis” Montelibano. Gamban was the Kampi candidate, while Montelibano ran under the Lakas-CMD.

Gamban sent word to Montelibano, giving assurance that he was not going to file a protest against him should the latter be proclaimed the winner by the city board of canvassers.

Montelibano was reportedly winning by more than 2,000 votes over Gamban. His running mate, Mark Golez, was reportedly garnering a margin of some 3,000 votes over Vice Mayor Frank Joseph Jalandoni.

Valdez, in conceding, pointed out that the people of Bacolod have made known their choice and she bowed down to it when the Namfrel National Secretariat for Social Action reported Leonardia leading with 77,703 against Valdez’s 38,653.

The NASSA quick count showed Puentevella leading Novero in the congressional race with 54,705 votes against 53,476.

The Comelec count, however, showed Novero leading Puentevella with 4,248 votes against the latter’s 3,061.

Later in the afternoon, Puentevella’s spokesman Eric Tenerife delivered the lawmaker’s thanks for the Bacolod voters. He also gave assurance that based on the election returns of the Liberal Party, Puentevella was leading his rival by as much as 1,800 votes.

“Let us be sober and wait for the conclusion of the official process of canvassing and accept the results of the election,” Novero said.

In the vice mayoral race, Jude Thaddeus Sayson was ahead of independent Lyndon Cana by 50,483 votes against the latter’s 47,775. Elmer Sy, Valdez’s running mate, got only 26,071.

The leading contenders for the SP were Greg Gasataya, Homer Bais, Jocelle Batapa-Sigue (independent), Wilson Gamboa Jr., Dindo Ramos, Al Viktor Espino, Napoleon Cordova, Celia Flor, Cataliano Alisbo, Roberto Rojas, Dr. Reynaldo Iledan, and Alex Paglomutan.

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon was virtually unopposed, except for two challengers, herbalist Guillermo Valladarez and mediaman Luis Tibaco. Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco ran unopposed.

TU ticket grabs 5 slots so far

Negros Gov. Marañon earlier predicted he might be able to deliver a 10-2 result in favor of Team Unity. But the early returns showed that the provincial count may end up something like 6-5-1 with re-electionist Sen. Francis Pangilinan garnering for the moment the fourth place in the preliminary count.

Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Noynoy Aquino, Manuel Villar, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, and Alan Peter Cayetano also figured in the early returns. Team Unity senatorial aspirants included Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sen. Edgardo Angara, Michael Defensor, Joker Arroyo, and Ralph Recto.

But 1Lt. Antonio Trillanes, who has never gone to Negros, was in 13th place, just behind Cayetano. That, more or less, showed that the incarcerated military man has become a hero of sorts to Negrenses as he did to many Metro Manilans.

In Bacolod, the situation was different. Only four of the Team Unity bets made it to the win column, with one independent.

The top three slots went to Escudero, Legarda, and Aquino. Pangilinan was in fourth place, followed by Sen. Villar, Cayetano, Sen. Joker Arroyo, Edgardo Angara, and Michael Defensor. The others were Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Aquilino Pimentel III.

Iloilo just waiting for board of canvassers

Voters in Iloilo City are just waiting for the board of canvassers to proclaim re-electionist Mayor Jerry Treñas and his running mate, councilor Jed Mabilog, as the official winners in the May 14 polls.

The latest supercount of Aksyon Radyo showed that re-electionist Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr. had a runaway lead of 188,803 votes over LP congressional bet Benjie Gengos and PDP-Laban’s Mansueto Malabor with 8,789.

Treñas romped off with 224,787 against 6,617 for PDP-Laban’s Joshua Alim and 460 for independent Juanito Gaje.

Mabilog was also a runaway winner over PDP-Laban’s Winstone Porras who garnered only 2,671 votes.

Treñas’ council slate also won most of the 15 seats at stake with Ugyon Party’s Nielex Tupas garnering fourth place and PDP-Laban’s Perla Zulueta grabbing seventh place despite a reportedly determined effort by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to dislodge them.

In the gubernatorial race, early returns showed re-electionist Gov. Niel Tupas racing ahead of challenger Vice Gov. Obet Armada by 38,021 to 12,619 votes. In the race for vice governor, however, Rep. Rolex Suplico (Tupas’ nephew) was fighting neck and neck with board member Domingo Oso. Kampi’s Margarito Clavel was a distant third with only 3,063.

Pulupandan jail too small

The Pulupandan jail do not have enough room for the followers of Pulupandan mayoralty bet Samson Mondia who surrendered yesterday following the issuance of warrants for their arrest by Municipal Circuit Court Judge Manuel Limsia of Valladolid, San Roque, and Pulupandan.

Mondia’s supporters trooped to the police station to give themselves up, accompanied by their families and children. They insisted that they could not leave their children alone at home.

Mondia’s rival, lawyer Magdaleno Peña, was reported to have won the election.

Pulupandan Mayor Luis Mondia, on the other hand, told local newsmen that the town does not have enough money to feed the 182 who surrendered Wednesday noon.

The other problem: the police station has two 10 x 6 feet cells which can accommodate only a total of 25 inmates.

So, whether granted bail or not, the surrenderers must have to stay out of jail. Worse, how will they sleep and what will they eat?

That’s something for the books actually. And perhaps, Mayor-elect Peña may find a solution to the plight of the 182 Pulupandan residents.

Other results

As I earlier said, there were cases of violence in Negros Occidental other than what I previously monitored.

The most interesting was the arrest of former retired police chief Inspector Neifertito Bayona of Minanghilla and two companions. They were arrested aboard a Mitsubishi Pajero in Barangay Purisima, Manapla town Tuesday.

Th 6th RMG troopers seized from Jose Vasquez and Alan Martinez an M-16 assault rifle, two .45 caliber and a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver with bullets.

A supporter of Escalante City Mayor Santiago Barcelona was killed in front of his house in Libertad of that city on the eve of the elections. Two suspects involved in the two-election related incidents in Moises Padilla town gave themselves up to the National Bureau of Investigation Wednesday.

Judith Baril Jr., involved in the ambush of Franklin Nazareno Jr., son of Moises Padilla mayoral candidate Nazareno, denied that he was aware of the plan to ambush Nazareno but admitted that he was recruited by a certain Jessie Ramos.

Mayor Barcelona, who ran for vice mayor of Escalante City, claimed that the gunslaying of Eliseo Cumawaas, his leader in La Libertad, was politically motivated.

Except when unopposed, several candidates in Negros Occidental also faced upset losses, according to Gov. Marañon.

But coalition congressional bets in the province are expected to win and just waiting for their proclamation. They are Alfredo Marañon III of the second district; re-electionist Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson, third district; Jeffrey Ferrer, fourth district; Ignacio Arroyo, fifth district; and Genaro Alvarez, sixth district.

The Comelec yesterday declared the entire NPC slate of re-electionist Mayor Wilson Tubillara winners, having run unopposed.

In the first congressional district, come-backing former Rep. Jules Ledesma IV was reportedly leading the race against re-electionist Tranquilino Carmona. This was announced by Marañon himself, who admitted having backed Carmona.

In San Carlos City, re-electionist Mayor Eugenio Jose Lacson upended Elmero Layumas. Malacio Yap Jr. of Lakas was also winning over Alice Barcelona in Escalante City.

Well, I’ll write more about the interesting developments in Negros and nearby provinces such as Antique where Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez was reportedly lording it the race over challengers former Assemblyman Arturo Pacificador and former governor Jovito Plameras.