Ormoc, Leyte’s 4th dist polls: A contest between 2 couples

ORMOC CITY, Philippines — The 2016 elections in this city and in Leyte’s 4th congressional district will be bannered by a fight between two husband-wife teams, the Codilla couple and the Torres-Gomez couple.

Re-electionist Representative Lucy Torres-Gomez filed her candidacy under the Liberal Party, against UNA’s Violy Codilla, wife of Ormoc Mayor Edward Codilla, whose own re-election bid is being contested by Lucy’s husband, actor Richard Gomez.

Mayor Codilla, now running under the LP, will be in a rematch against Richard Gomez, now of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, who lost to the Codillas in the past elections.

Richard and his team, including incumbent Vice Mayor Leo Carmelo Locsin Jr., and six incumbent councilors, on Thursday filed their certificates of candidacy at the city’s Comelec office, after hearing Mass at the nearby St. Peter and Paul Parish Church.

Mayor Codilla and his slate, for their part, filed their COC’s a day earlier.

Lucy, on the other hand, filed her COC at the provincial Comelec office yesterday afternoon. She said she was supporting the presidential bid of Mar Roxas of the LP, even if the latter dropped her husband in favor of Codilla.

Richard said he saw no conflict in the situation, as NPC does not have a presidential candidate.

Violeta Codilla also filed her COC yesterday, under the banner of Aksyon Demokratiko party. She had been sworn in as an LP member, but then the party gave the certificate of nomination to Lucy. —Lalaine M. Jimenea (FREEMAN)