Pineda leads Panlilio in Pampanga gubernatorial race

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – Former provincial board member Lilia Pineda, an ally of President Arroyo, is leading re-electionist Gov. Ed Panlilio in the gubernatorial race.

Official but still incomplete figures from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed Pineda with 404,738 votes against Panlilio’s 197,968 votes. Independent candidate Ricardo Ocampo garnered only 7,613 votes.

But Panlilio, who ran under the banner of the Liberal Party (LP), said in a text message, “We are not yet conceding.”

Mrs. Arroyo, who is running for Congress in the province’s second district, is also leading over her rivals, with 137,410 votes over her closest rival, LP bet Adonis Simpao, who garnered only 17,611 votes.

The second district is composed of the towns of Lubao (the hometown of Mrs. Arroyo and Pineda), Guagua, Sasmuan, Sta. Rita and Porac.

The Comelec figures did not include Porac where problems in the transmission of poll results were reported.

The gubernatorial figures were based on votes from five towns in the second district, five in the fourth district, and three in the third district.

Data were not immediately available from Mabalacat and Magalang in the first district, including Angeles City, whose residents, however, do not vote for provincial officials as Angeles is a chartered city.

Benedicto Tiotuico, chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in Angeles, said canvassing was suspended in the city due to missing compact flash cards.

“Some were left attached to the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines while others were left locked inside ballot boxes,” he said.

PPCRV volunteers, however, said that before the suspension, Lakas-Kampi-CMD mayoral bet Edgardo Pamintuan was leading the count with 52,958 votes. Incumbent Mayor Francis Nepomuceno of the Nationalist People’s Coalition had 29,059 votes, while LP’s mayoral bet Tony Mamac got 11,983 votes.

In the vice gubernatorial race, incumbent Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao, running mate of Pineda, got 286,027 votes against the 166,012 votes of Panlilio’s running mate Marco Lazatin.

Panlilio acknowledged that Pineda’s votes are “very substantial,” but said, “We are not yet finished with our assessment.”

Still, he said, “We thank all the people who supported us. We will continue to sustain our efforts for good governance and awakened citizenship.” – With Ric Sapnu