MORE families in various towns and cities in Cebu Province are also vying for dominance in local politics next year.
In Consolacion, Mayor Teresa Alegado and her son, Dr. Joannes Alegado, are running unopposed.
Dr. Alegado, who is currently a municipal councilor, will be running for town mayor while his mother will be running for vice mayor.
While Consolacion has a mother-and-son tandem, a father-and-son tandem is also seeking reelection in Malabuyoc.
Malabuyoc Mayor Lito Creus Jr. will be running for reelection, while his son, Lito Creus III, will be running as his vice mayor.
In Tuburan, Mayor Democrito “Aljun” Diamante will be sliding down to vice mayor due to term limits.
But his brother, incumbent Vice Mayor Danilo Diamante, will be running as mayor in his place.
In Tuburan’s next door neighbor, Tabuelan, cousins from the same political family are in the same race.
While term limits have prevented Tabuelan Mayor Rex Gerona from seeking another term, he will slide down to vice mayor while brother Raul, the current vice mayor, will run for mayor.
But aside from Rex and Raul, their cousin Joel Gerona is also seeking the mayoral post.
Joel is currently a municipal councilor and is on his last term.
But while cousins are duking it out in Tabuelan, cousins are in tandem to run in Cordova town.
Cordova Mayor Mary Therese Sitoy-Cho will seek reelection, while her first cousin, Ximgil Dino Sitoy, will be her running mate.
In the towns of Alegria and San Fernando, it’s a husband-wife tandem seeking higher positions.
In Alegria, Mayor Verna Magallon will be seeking reelection, while her husband Gilberto will be her vice mayor.
In San Fernando, Mayor Lakambini Reluya will also be seeking a second term, while her husband, current Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Ricardo Reluya Jr, will be running as her vice mayor.
In Aloguinsan, Mayor Cesare Ignatius Moreno is seeking reelection, while his sister, Raisa, will be running for vice mayor. The two are children of former Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Moreno and Vice Mayor Augustus Moreno.
Meanwhile, political aspirants who recently filed their certificate of candidacy (COC) have until Monday to submit petitions to declare some aspirants as “nuisance candidates,” Cebu City Election Officer Marchel Sarno said.
Sarno said the affected candidate may file a petition to declare a nuisance candidate or petition to deny due course to cancel the COC of any candidate who puts the election process in “mockery or disrepute or to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates,” or those who have no intention to run as provided under the Commission on Election (Comelec) Rules of Procedure.
Under this law, the petition must be filed within five days after the last day of the filing of COC.
For next year’s election, Comelec has set the last day of the filing of the COC last Wednesday.
In Cebu City, five political aspirants filed their COCs for mayor and another five for the vice mayoral post.
For the mayoral post, two of them have Osmeña as their surnames: Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who is seeking for another term and Paulino Osmeña Jr.
Eliseo Tumulak, an independent candidate, is running for city councilor. Councilor Dave Tumulak is seeking reelection.
Independent candidate Ian Anthony Osmeña is running for city councilor. Councilor Renato Osmeña Jr. is likewise running for councilor.
One Sherwin Abella is also running for city councilor as an independent candidate. Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan, on the other hand, is fielding lawyer Marie Velle Abella for councilor.
Apart from the political aspirants who belong to the two rival local political groups, a total of 13 independent aspirants filed their COC for the position of mayor, vice mayor and city councilors.
Sarno said those who would like to petition for the declaration of nuisance candidates should submit it to Comelec Law Department in Manila, which has the sole authority to declare someone a nuisance candidate. (RVC, JKV)