No UNA final meeting today

THE scheduled second and final meeting of the United Negros Alliance (UNA) top officials today, Friday, might not push through.

Kabankalan City Mayor Isidro Zayco, who is now the provincial chair of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), said that the meeting might no longer be needed, as both Governor Alfredo Marañon and Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez have already declared that they are running for the top post in the province in the 2013 elections.

Both Marañon and Alvarez said that they have not received any communication about the meeting.

The supposed meeting is a follow up of the first meeting among the UNA top officials in Manila last August 30 for a possible unification and preservation of UNA as the most dominant party in the province.

It was also aimed at coming up with a common candidate in the province for the 2013 elections.

The officials said they expected the congressmen to communicate with them about the said meeting today.

However, Representative Jeffrey Ferrer (4th district) said he has not received any communication as of last night.

Meanwhile, Zayco revealed on Thursday that more local officials - from mayors, vice mayors and councilors - are set to officially join and take their oaths with NPC. He said that the party is set to hold an assembly and a mass oath taking.

On the other hand, a source of Sun.Star Bacolod said that mayors in the province held a meeting Thursday night to possibly come up with a common candidate for governor in 2013 but, as of posting Thursday, no update was yet available on the meeting’s outcome.

If the battle royale between the governor and vice-governor pushes through, Alvarez will reportedly run in tandem with former San Carlos City Mayor Eugenio Lacson; while Marañon will reportedly have La Carlota City Mayor Juliet Ferrer as his running mate. (Teresa D. Ellera)