By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
It might have been foggy the past days, so is our crystal ball. Yet we are entitled to the freedom of thought and expression.
Before the mudslinging heats up (it has already began), there are four main or strong candidates for congressman in the country’s summer capital. The most veteran of them is Mayor Mauricio Domogan. As such, he has developed the deepest and most widespread political roots. His having been in the political scene the longest, however, is being cast by his opponents among voters as the reason not to vote for him. Why? We don’t understand. Please make it clearer.
Still, Domogan is the man to beat in the congressional race. Former Congressman Nick Aliping, considering his very loyal following might get a considerable chunk of the electorate who otherwise would vote for the incumbent mayor, but would that be enough for the latter to lose?
Last week, Congressman Mark Go was very confident that it would be enough (for Domogan to lose). Now, that confidence might have been weakened a bit by former Mayor Peter Rey Bautista’s entering the race. It has to be presumed that the latest entrant is serious about his bid. If it were a joke, voters will think that it would be a joke whenever he files again his candidacy for any political post in the future.
If he campaigns seriously today, it might mean thousands of voters migrating from Mark Go’s camp. This would be a big advantage for Domogan.
While Domogan and Mark Go might be the front runners, Peter Rey Bautista’s and Nick Aliping’s chances cannot be ignored. Any of them can win as a dark horse.
As to the city’s mayoralty race, we stand by what we said last week that Leandro Yangot Jr. is the white horse, rather, the man on a white horse. He is the man to beat. More so that there are more candidates now than what was expected. The more, the merrier as far as he is concerned.
So the message he might be spreading around in the coming weeks is for the people not to waste their votes on those who will surely lose. His secret is that, compared to the rest, he was in touch more with the grassroots the longest. And he also appears to be doing well among those in society’s upper echelons.
In Mountain Province, the congressional race is quite interesting. Avelino Amangyen might be the only candidate from the eastern side—the towns of Paracelis, Natonin and Barlig—but some say that the voters there will not be solid behind him.
If that were true, then incumbent Tadian Mayor Anthony Wooden has the edge. This is even if Maximo Dalog Jr. is also relying on the Bauko votes—the biggest, municipality wise. For Wooden’s one ear is from that town too.
The advantage of Dalog is financial in nature. In this respect, he might be the most prepared and quite eager to take the post recently vacated by his late father.
Another congressional aspirant is Jupiter Dominguez, the brother of Juniper Dominguez and nephew of the late local strongman Victor Dominguez. That surname can be a political blessing or a curse.
So we say, it would be a toss up between Anthony Wooden and Maximo Dalog Jr. They are both lawyers, but Wooden, a former vice governor, has the most political experience among the aspirants.
There is of course the new kid in town, Allen S. Ocden, whose term as the PNP’s provincial commander there just ended upon his entering the congressional race. While there is the possibility he might show us how a newbie can win, there is the stark reality that the votes of Besao and Bontoc (from where his parents hail) would not be enough to propel him to congress.
But let us see.
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