Chance for others in Mandaue

MANDAUE City is known to be clannish politically. In past elections, its voters practically limited the choice of mayor to members of families like the Corteses and the Ouanos. But in the last two elections, former mayor Jonas Cortes joined forces with former congressman Luigi Quisumbing in the Liberal Party (LP), paving the way for the latter’s assumption as mayor. Cortes ran for the post Quisumbing vacated.

Whatever their agreement was, their unity proved strong and invincible, as both won handily. Lately, however, their rumored split is now the talk of the town, so to speak. Sources close to Cortes say he wants to return as mayor allegedly because the understanding was that he would only serve one term as congressman.

But one of Mayor Quisumbing’s trusted men denied there was such an understanding. With only less than 30 days before the filing of the certificates of candidacy (COC), it would be inevitable that the mayoral race in Mandaue would be narrowed down to Quisumbing and Cortes.

The possibility that Cortes would be supported by the patriarch of the Quisumbings remains to be seen. As a friend puts it, blood is always thicker than water. What this suggests is that whatever the differences members of the Quisumbing family may have, at the end of the day blood relationship matters more than anything else.

A reliable source close to the Quisumbing patriarch, popularly known by his initials NQ, strongly believes that his support come election day will always be to his grandson, Mayor Luigi, who is the source of pride of the Quisumbing family. This is why, he said, Congressman Cortes should be wary.

Some neutral observers in the brewing political conflict between Congressman Cortes and Mayor Quisumbing suspect that their present predicament was a result of their supporters’ unpleasant posts on Facebook. Note that neither Mayor Quisumbing nor Congressman Cortes issued bitter or distasteful statements against each other. Whenever interviewed by media people, Mayor Quisumbing remains congenial to Cortes.

Despite persistent talks that Congressman Cortes would run for mayor next year, many, particularly those who supported Cortes and Quisumbing in the last elections, are hoping they would not battle each other for mayor.

In the event that they do, and a free zone is declared in Mandaue because both of them belong to PDP-Laban, this would give an opportunity to the Ouanos, particularly Councilor Lollipop Ouano-Dizon to either run for Congress or for mayor. Not to be discounted is former congresswoman Nerissa Soon, who may try her luck again for Congress.

A three-cornered fight for mayor among Cortes, Quisumbing and Dizon would be catastrophic for Cortes and Quisumbing because their once united supporters would be divided. In the barangay polls, 14 barangay captains took their oath before Cortes while the remaining 13 swore before Quisumbing.

Some barangay captains are still staunch supporters of the Ouanos, particularly of the late Mayor Pedong, the political patriarch of the Ouano clan. No one could claim though who among Quisumbing, Cortes and Dizon would win in the mayoral race even if one of them would claim to have the numbers. We would only know the answer once the winners are officially proclaimed by the Commission on Elections.

Everything is still fluid in Mandue City as of the moment.