BY FELIPE CELINO
ROXAS City — A Liberal Party (LP) candidate for Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member in Ivisan town has withdrawn from the political race.
Paterno Untayao, incumbent barangay captain of Balaring, Ivisan, said he was not ready for next year’s mid-term elections,confirmed Provincial Election Supervisor Wil Arceño. His elder brother, Hilario “Paeng” Untayao, replaced him.
Hilario Untayao ran for mayor of Ivisan in the 2007 and 2010 elections, but lost to two-termer Mayor Felipe Neri Yap.
Yap of the National Unity Party (NUP) is seeking reelection next year. He is clashing with his cousin, Rey Jeros Pisueña of LP.
Yap’s running mate, incumbent Vice Mayor Marita Mestidio, is facing Pisueña’s bet, former Provincial Board member Antonio Arciga.
Aside from Hilario Untayao, Pisueña’s candidates for SB member are Catalino Andrada, German Apruebo, Azucena UrdelasChapman, Amelita Gicano, Juliet Liego, Rey Loberes and Homer Salgado. NUP bets for SB member include Cecilia Almodiente, Guidion Bacinillo, Ma. Victoria Gialen, Nicasio Muñoz, Catherine San Antonio, Bonifacio Ugas, Ramy Unasin and Jose Noel Yap.
It is a sure-win for three 2013 mid-term election candidates in the province.
Vice Gov. Esteban Evan “Nonoy” Contreras, Dumarao Mayor Leslie Warren “Biboy” Benjamin and Maayon Vice Mayor Weldie Apolinario — all from LP — are running uncontested. Contreras is the son of former governor Esteban Contreras, while Benjamin is the son of former Dumarao mayor Heracleo Benjamin.
Apolinario, on the other hand, is the running-mate of incumbent Mayor Wilfredo Borres, also of LP. In the gubernatorial race, businessman Joel Longares of the United Nationalist Alliance is challenging the reelection bid of Gov. Victor Tanco.
