Secret talks among Baguio pols for polls

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY -- Political alignments are being shaped up in this resort city as the Commission on Elections deadline for filing of candidacies is drawing near. Secret talks are being held among political tandems who are poised to challenge incumbents Rep. Bernardo Vergara and Mayor Mauricio Domogan of the Lakas-CMD party in the next polls.

According to rivals of Vergara and Domogan, they are setting up a “strong” and “serious” line up against the incumbents who have been leading the city for more than a decade now.Administration Liberal Party (LP) members said they are determined to dislodge remnants of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s stranglehold here.

Former city councilor Jose Mencio Molintas, who ran but lost to Domogan in the 2010 elections, will reportedly contest Domogan again.

Meanwhile, businessman Mark Go who tried but also lost to Domogan two years ago had been meeting with Molintas to form an alliance. Both parties are reportedly open to switching their preferred electoral posts.

A political leader said this time, the Vergara-Domogan tandem would have to watch out as President Aquino III would back whoever would run as LP mayoral bet.  

This as former city councilor, now regional trial court judge Edilberto Claravall may run as mayor as he is being urged by some sectors, but at this time, he still has to decide as his wife told him to weigh his options.

Meanwhile, a former Vergara-Domogan lieutenant –  city councilor Nicasio Aliping, who was expected to join the United Nationalist Alliance, is said to be going against the tide and will battle Vergara.

On the other hand, “Self-confessed” LP leader Leandro Yangot, a former city councilor who is board of director in the John Hay Management Corp. has been reportedly meeting with his former LP colleagues in the city and is also said to be determined to run for the lone district of Baguio.

Those who ran for mayor in the 2010 polls like former councilor Elaine Sembrano, is also said to be running again as councilor. Former youth Rep. Edgar Avila has yet to decide on his political plan, although his supporters said they are ready if he would make a go for a political postion.

Leaders of the Nacionalista Party in the city also have yet to put together a line up for next year's polls despite doing so in the 2010 polls. The NP here is reportedly led by former city councilor Rocky Thomas Balisong who has kept a low profile following a case against him by another politician.

A relatively new and loose alliance of anti-SM advocates, who is fighting the mall giant’s “massacre” of 182 Pine and Alnus trees for the mall’s expansion here, is reportedly also forming a line up for the 14-member city council.

The political landscape shaping the pre-October candidacy filing scenario has created a stir among locals here who wonder how these new alliances and candidates would address issues such as unresolved garbage problem, among others.

It will be a merry mix as the Vergara-Domogan tandem has yet to announce its line-up. I may still run – during cold mornings around the Benguet State University grounds.