Marañon to Alvarez: Bet your assets

NEGROS Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. challenged Thursday his opponent Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez to "bet his assets and resources if he could win by a majority of 200,000 votes" against him in the May 13 polls.

This came after the Alvarez declared that he will win the governorship by not less than 200,000 votes over Marañon.

"I am very confident that I will win the election. If the mayors in the six towns and cities under the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) are unopposed, it does not follow that the people in those areas will also choose him (Alvarez) as governor. The voters now are intelligent people and they choose bright leaders, too," Marañon said.

"I challenge him that we will sign before a proper agency to bet our assets and resources. I believe on the motto of Robert Kennedy that 'a majority of one is a landslide'," he emphasized.

Alvarez said, however, that he cannot bet his assets because he has no assets.

"I don't gamble on the first place. What is this election? A betting game?" Alvarez reacted.

He challenged the media instead to interview some known political analysts in Negros Occidental who can give their thoughts this early about the governor and vice governor's respective chances of winning the coming polls, especially considering that six of his supporter mayors are unopposed.

Alvarez said he is banking on the votes to be delivered by said mayors, namely: incumbent Mayors Gerardo Valmayor of San Carlos City, Ramon Torres of Bago City, Pedro Zayco of Kabankalan City and John Rey Tabujara of Cauyan, and Enrique Montilla of Isabela and lawyer Miguel Antonio of Pulupandan.

"Those mayors will not only deliver votes for me. They will chacha and dance with me," he jokingly said.

Alvarez said the camp of Marañon has also come out with a survey that reportedly bared results of 75 percent for Marañon and only 25 percent for him.

"They made it appear as if they have no opponent at all. Why would they react if I say the truth that those unopposed mayors will surely deliver votes for me? You ask the political analysts how would they analyze that that those mayors are unopposed. To whom will they deliver those votes?" Alvarez added.

Marañon and Alvarez were running mates during the 2010 elections.