Vargas daughter wins poll in Cagayan

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – It’s all over. Vice Mayor Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso is now the duly elected representative of Cagayan’s second district.

Vargas-Alfonso, incumbent vice mayor of Abulug town, beat former governor Edgar Ramones Lara by a wide margin in Saturday’s special election.

The Commission on Elections proclaimed Vargas-Alfonso shortly before midnight Saturday. Lara, in a press statement, conceded defeat.

She inherited the post from his father Florencio who won the congressional seat but died in June last year, before the opening of the 15th Congress.

Vargas-Alfonso’s candidacy was backed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Gov. Alvaro Antonio, both founding leaders of Team Cagayan, to which the Vargases’ political party, Lakas-Kampi-CMD, is affiliated.

Lara, who himself served as second district congressman for three consecutive terms before being elected governor for two terms, ran under the banner of President Aquino’s Liberal Party, whose entire slate was almost wiped out by Team Cagayan in last year’s polls.

Lawyer Catherine Allas, Cagayan election supervisor, said they decided to proclaim Alfonso due to her insurmountable lead over Lara, although elections returns from the remote towns of Calayan and Rizal, which have some 19,000 votes, were yet to be officially canvassed.

“We no longer waited for the (Calayan and Rizal) results. This would no longer affect (Vargas-Alfonso’s) lead. Of the (district’s) 10 canvassed towns, Lara only won in (his hometown of) Lasam,” said Allas, describing the special poll as generally peaceful.

The provincial board of canvassers proclaimed Vargas-Alfonso after obtaining a commanding lead of 69,461 votes over Lara’s 26,587 or a margin of 42,874.

“We can now look forward to resuming the plans and programs of my father which had been held in abeyance since his death. We also doff our hat to our opponent who had conducted a high-level campaign. He can still offer his services to the people even in a private capacity,” said Vargas-Alfonso, also a former three-term mayor of Abulug town.