Candidates in Isabela, Kalinga towns unopposed

By Raymund Catindig

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The campaign period has not even started, yet the elections in Lubuagan town in Kalinga as well as in the municipalities of Tumauini and Angadanan in Isabela are deemed over as no one dared to challenge the local officials who  seeking reelections and their entire lineup.

In Kalinga, Lubuagan election officer Mimi Gallamoy said Mayor Johnny Dickpus and his running mate Vice Mayor Elizabeth Pallogan, who filed their certificates of candidacy under the administration Liberal Party, are unopposed.

Councilors Roger Bun-as, Maribel Tagaotao, Jay Harley Duguiang, Riesel Tocyapao, Victor Dickly and Jet Bal-iwang are assured of fresh mandates.

Two newcomers, Barangay Dangong chairman Rudy Ocan and Jocelyn Alicog, will sit as members of the municipal council.

Alicog will replace her husband, Councilor Puking Alicog, who is in his last term.

Meanwhile, the tandem of Angadanan Mayor Lourdes Panganiban and Vice Mayor Diosdado Siquian under the NPC-Lakas party had been unopposed since their first term in 2013.

Panganiban replaced her husband, Bentot Panganiban, a half-Aeta who won a seat in Congress representing the indigenous peoples, after finishing his third term as mayor.

Except for Councilor Ronel Go, who gave way to his mother, returning Councilor Rosemarie Go, all seven members of the council – Ulysses Castillo, Ruben Lappay, Mike Managuelod, Noli Manalac, Medardo Marcos, Deogracias Paggao and Elizabeth Palayad – are assured of a fresh mandate.

In Tumauini, reelectionist Mayor Arnold Bautista and Vice Mayor Lorenzo Uy Jr. are assured of their second term, and so are the candidates for the municipal council – Mark de Alban, Lando Managuelod, Reonel Gardon, Joselito Bautista, Ruth Padilla, Ferdinand Taccad, Resureccion Bacani and Marcial Ferrer.

Bautista who finished three terms from, 2004 to 2013, said he plans to turn Tumauini into Isabela’s fourth city in the next 10 years.