Reelectionist, city councilor came as early birds

TWO aspiring candidates, one of them a reelectionist, were the first two to file their certificates of candidacy before the Cebu Provincial Election Office yesterday.

Incumbent Provincial Board (PB) Member Victoria Corominas-Toribio and Toledo City Councilor Leo Dolino were the first to file their COCs yesterday morning.

Toribio and Dolino, both independent candidates, will be running for PB members of Cebu’s third district.

Toribio is running for her second term as PB member, while Dolino, a lawyer, will be running in tandem with her after serving three terms as Toledo City councilor.

They were accompanied by Toledo City Mayor John “Sonny” Osmeña and members of the Toledo City Council when they filed their COCs yesterday.

Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said only a few aspiring candidates approached the local poll offices in the Province yesterday to file their COCs.

Castillano said they expect that majority of aspiring candidates will file their COCs in the last two to three days of the filing period.

Castillano said some of the aspiring candidates prefer last-minute filing as they are still securing their certificate of nomination and acceptance (Cona) from national parties or still forming their respective slates.

The filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) has finally started yesterday, but Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) is reportedly still looking for a political party it can work with in the 2019 midterm elections.

In an interview yesterday, Barug Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia alleged that BOPK is cutting ties with the Liberal Party (LP).

BOPK bets and its members supported the LP in the May 2016 elections.

“What I heard is they will be abandoning LP. They were actually scrambling and looking for another party to lean on,” he told reporters.

Garcia added that BOPK leaders first approached Hugpong ng Pagbabago, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s party, but their request for coalition is still reportedly pending approval.

They then allegedly visited House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ask that they be adopted as new members of Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).

The matter, Garcia said, was also brought up when Mayor Tomas Osmeña and his family went to see Arroyo in her office in Congress last Sept. 4, reportedly to ask her to act as bridge between President Rodrigo Duterte and the mayor.

“When they went to see Speaker Arroyo, aside from wanting to talk to the President (who publicly castigated Osmeña during a speech in Mandaue City last Aug. 30), they also asked that they be members of Lakas. But Arroyo said they won’t get involved with local politics. Finally now, from what I heard, they are considering either LDP (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino) under (Senator Sonny) Angara or PROMDI (Probinsya Muna Development Initiative) of Lito Osmeña,” Garcia said.

BOPK Councilors Margarita Osmeña and Sisinio Andales, though, are unfazed by the development.

“Whatever it will be--either LP, National Party, LDP, PROMDI or PDP--the BOPK is always a welcome affiliation with them. We are not abandoning anybody, we are multi-tasking with national political parties, adopting winnable national candidates,” Andales said.

Meanwhile, Garcia and his colleague Councilor Joel Garganera stressed that their official party name is Barug-PDP Laban, and not Barug Team Rama. (RTF, JKV)

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