Aurora vice governor quits LP post

BALER, Aurora – Vice Gov. Gerardo Noveras has resigned as provincial chairman and member of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) amid negotiations for him to give way to the gubernatorial bid of Sen. Edgardo Angara in the May 2013 mid-term elections. 

Noveras tendered his resignation to LP president and newly appointed Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas last week. 

With this development, a Noveras-Angara showdown for the gubernatorial post is in the offing.

“Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am constrained to resign my position as provincial chairman and member of the LP,” the vice governor said in his letter.

Noveras said his resignation will give the LP leadership a free hand in choosing candidates to be fielded in next year’s elections.

Reports had it that Sen. Franklin Drilon and presidential legislative liaison office chief Manuel Mamba have been trying to persuade Noveras to abandon his bid for governor in favor of Angara. 

Noveras served as LP provincial chairman since 2009.

He announced his intention to run for governor in July last year after reports came out that the Angaras were planning to field him as the standard bearer in tandem with the senator’s nephew, Rommel Angara, who lost to Noveras in the 2007 polls.