By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas

The playing field is quite crowded. Standing out, however, as the most probable is former mayor and congressman Mauricio Domogan. He is the “most veteran” among the aspirants. Coming up next to him in terms of experience would be Gladys Vergara. Her family is really seasoned when it comes to politics in Baguio.
Domogan in my book, however, appears to be the strongest contender. Firstly, he is a lawyer and many voters might go by the merits. A lawyer as a congressman should be more competent on the job. He had also been in that position the longest time so he got himself rooted deep in the minds of voters. They come from across the whole landscape of different tribal and regional affiliations. In his brains are also etched in an encyclopedic way the things he needs to do as a congressman for the welfare of the people of Baguio. The important thing though election-wise is the size of his voter base. Does he have enough to propel him to victory?
A very big part of his base are those of Mountain Province descent. In political lingo, they are referred to as the highlanders which is erroneous for a lot of other Cordillerans can be referred to also as such. At any rate, while indeed a lot of the I-Mountain Province might be for Domogan, there are also other candidates from that place. We are referring to Nicasio Aliping and Francis Camtugan who are also both lawyers. So such voters will be spread out among these aspirants. While Aliping ran his congressional office well when he became a congressman, this might not yet be the time again for him. In the future though, there is a big chance he will win again as a congressman.
Another going for Domogan is his having served the longest time as a local politician and as congressman.
As far as Popo Cosalan is concerned, our Ibaloi friends might not be solid and able to sacrifice enough to propel him into the congressional seat. But we will see.
How about the other candidates? Gladys Vergara might have a big chunk of the Ilocano votes in Baguio and Sol Go might also have a strong base among other voters as she appears to have been the PR person of Congressman Mark Go during the last election. However, such might not be enough to outnumber the supporters of Domogan. Convincing voters to shift their loyalty from an older candidate to the younger ones might be the most difficult hindrance to surmount this election. Moreover, a possible turn off to yet-undecided voters for Congressman Mark Go and his wife is their being candidates at the same time. Perhaps they never saw the motto of St. Mary’s High School in Sagada– “Adi tako bokodan nan gawis” (We should not have a monopoly over good things). **