Neophytes unseat incumbent mayors in Bulacan towns

MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan – There are new kids in the Bulacan block.

The just-concluded midterm elections in the province brought a lot of shock and surprises when newcomers came out as winners and unseated incumbent mayors in several towns.

Based on the initial monitoring report of the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor, at least 4 first-timer mayoralty candidates beat incumbent mayors.

The report, however, did not indicate the total votes garnered due to technical and transmission problems encountered by some of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Bulacan election supervisor Atty. Elmo Roque said the results in some towns have been forwarded to the Municipal Board of Canvassers and at least 12 municipal mayors and vice mayors were already proclaimed on Tuesday morning, May 14.

In the coastal town of Hagonoy, Raulito “Amboy” Manlapaz Jr. of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino unseated reelectionist Mayor Angel Cruz Jr.

In Paombong town, independent mayoral candidate Isagani Castro — said to be a virtual unknown in the political scene in the town known for its palm vinegar (Sukang Paombong) — beat Mary Ann Marcos of the Liberal party. Marcos’s husband Donato is the outgoing national president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines and last term mayor of a town he ruled for many years.

In Norzagaray town, long time Mayor Fel Legazpi (National Unity Party) was beaten by Alfredo Germar of the Liberal Party. Like Manlapaz of Hagonoy and Castro of Paombong, this was the first time that Germar ran as mayor of his town and won.

Reelectionist Mayors Christian D. Natividad of Malolos City and Joan Alarilla of the City of Meycauayan —  both of the Liberal Party — won landslide victories over their respective rivals but have not yet been proclaimed as winners as of Tuesday afternoon.

As of 2:00pm Tuesday, the winning mayors of Bulacan based on the monitoring report of the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor are:

• Leonardo de Leon of Angat
• Romeo Castro of Balagtas
• Eduardo Villanueva of Bocaue
• Jessie de Jesus of Calumpit
• Ronaldo T. Flores of Dona Remedios Trinidad
• Enrico Roque of Pandi
• Vicente Esguerra Sr. of Pulilan
• Cipriano Violago of San Rafael

Meanwhile, Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado and his wife, 1st District Rep. Ma. Victoria R. Sy-Alvarado — who both-ran unopposed in the just concluded midterm elections — were given fresh mandates by their province mates.

Even though he ran unopposed, Alvarado already had 679,134 votes as of 2:00pm Tuesday based on partial and unofficial election results.

Alvarado’s running mate Vice Gov. Daniel Fernando is also headed for a second term with 696,477 votes against his closest rivals Josie Lopez with 44,500 votes and Manny Ocampo with 20,045 votes.

The Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor said that the results on the provincial level and national level (senatorial race) could be tallied starting either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning May 15 depending on the transmission of the officials ballots to the Provincial Board of Canvassers.

The Province of Bulacan has a total of 1,497,000 registered voters. – Rappler.com