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This is the third time that these two Cebu City-based political parties have squared off in elections and at the end of the day, the BO-PK bagged their “Otso-Otso” victory. They call it “Otso-Otso” because in
For the
Gov. Garcia’s One Cebu party is actually the first political party that was created with an ideology and fought a real political issue. It is not a personality-based political party. In fact, the One Cebu party was only launched last January… a very young political party, but already it has won a landslide victory because Cebuanos have totally rejected the idea of breaking up the province of Cebu into smaller provinces because Cebuanos are known for their fierce regionalism and love of Cebuano culture. Breaking the province apart is practically breaking the heart and minds of Cebuanos!
At the onset of this campaign, Sugbuak’s gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Antonio Yapha, did not even want to talk about breaking up Cebu anymore. I even thought that they have buried this issue, especially when they knew it was not politically palatable to the majority of Cebuanos. But a few days before the May 14 elections during the miting de avance of the Genuine Opposition (GO) in Lapu-Lapu City, senatorial bet Sonny Osmeña declared his desire to make Mactan Island into a province and thus, Cebuanos realized that the Sugbuak issue was still alive and kicking!
In the end, the Cebuano voter showed his displeasure to Sugbuak by giving the One Cebu party a total victory in the congressional race! All this, despite the efforts of the once estranged Osmeña brothers, Sonny and former Cebu Gov. Emilio “Lito” Osmeña, who finally reconciled and supported the Genuine Opposition in the last elections. Sonny O is trailing in the nationwide tallies and was somewhere in the 15th place here in Cebu as of last Friday.
In the first district, re-electionist Eddie Gullas handily won his re-election bid. Talisay City Mayor Socrates “Soc” Fernandez also won his re-election bid by a landslide. In the second district, the attempt by the Abines political clan to reclaim their once held bailiwick was subjugated by the victory of former Cebu Gov. Pablo Garcia, father of Gov. Gwen Garcia. In the third district, a Yapha stronghold, Pablo John Garcia won a close race with former Rep. Estrella Yapha, wife of gubernatorial candidate Antonio Yapha, who carried the Sugbuak banner but lost to Gov. Garcia.
In the hotly contested fourth district, especially in Bantayan Island, which has been placed under Comelec control, Ben-Hur Salimbangon is winning against Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, son of Sugbuak vice gubernatorial candidate Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez. The fifth district still belongs to Rep. Red Durano. In the sixth district, incumbent Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz won by a very narrow margin over Luigi Quisumbing.
Just before I wrote this column, I heard Inday Nerry on the Bantay Radyo program Yagyagan bitterly complaining that the Quisumbings spent close to P200 million for this race… as if Luigi was running for senator. She said barangay captains were given between P30,000 and P50,000, plus motorcycles and with a promise of a Multi-cab if Luigi won. It sounds unbelievable, but that’s how the Quisumbings wanted so badly to have one of their own to be a congressman.
Last Friday night in Lapu-Lapu City, Vice Mayor Norma Patalingjug lost in the neck-and-neck race to incumbent Mayor Arturo Radaza, who had a big fireworks celebration that evening. Now the biggest question in the minds of the voters is whether Radaza can serve as mayor. Mayor Radaza was suspended by the Ombudsman for his role in the lamppost scam that caused an uproar among Cebuanos.
Perhaps the most tightly contested local race was in the municipality of Cordova, where re-electionist Mayor Adelino Sitoy won by a mere 605 votes in the final tally against Atty. Danilo Sinugbuhan. This was the closest margin that we’ve seen so far in these last polls.
Meanwhile, in the senatorial race, the results in Cebu are quite different from the nationwide tallies. Although these reports are hardly the total for Cebu, but as of Friday night in the province of Cebu, first on the list was Prospero Pichay with 252,197, followed by (2) Joker Arroyo with 239,053; (3) Edgardo Angara, 224,534; (4) Kiko Pangilinan, 218,415; (5) Mike Defensor, 214,939; (6) Ralph Recto; (7) Manny Villar; (8) Migz Zubiri; (9) Chiz Escudero; (10) Loren Legarda; (11) Noynoy Aquino; (12) Cesar Montano; and (13) Vic Magsaysay.
Like I’ve said, this was the Magic 12 as of Friday evening when I e-mailed this column. Let me point out that the rankings will certainly change today. No doubt the Cebu senatorial results do not reflect the tallies in Metro Manila simply because Cebu is known to be a GMA ally.
However, what is clear is that the Cebuano voters did not give GMA a straight win. That’s because Cebuanos weren’t consulted as to who should be in the senatorial line-up. A case in point is Sen. Sotto who is in the tail end, although he is a Cebuano and is with the Team Unity. But Cebuanos weren’t too happy with his being too pro-Erap for his own good.
You can also say the same thing with former Sen. Sonny Osmeña, who is somewhere in the 15th place in Cebu. Cebuanos are dissatisfied with him not only because he is a known Erap ally, but he was also in the forefront asking for the break-up of Cebu province. Hopefully by next week, we shall finally see the end of the C-Cimpel and Comelec count so we can tell you how exactly the Cebuanos voted for the senatorial line-up.
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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.
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