Cordillera, Ilocos poll winners bared

Incumbents lead despite upsets, ballot snatching

BAGUIO CITY -- Election winners in the Cordillera were bared by the Commission on Elections and other poll quick count groups.

In Baguio City
The Comelec released official final results: Incumbent Rep. Mauricio Domogan won over councilor Jose “Jomol” Molintas garnering 47,477 votes to the latter’s 37,865 votes for the congressional seat.

For mayor, Reinaldo “Peter Rey” Bautista bested other candidates with 26,910 votes. Those who vied for the mayorship but lost were Leonardo Yangot with 17,647 votes; Braulio Yaranon, 16,148; Bernardo Vergara, 14,441, Elmo Nevada, 5,903 and Jun Labo with 3, 285 votes.

For vice mayor Daniel Farinas won with 21,709 votes. Those who vied for the position t were Faustino Olowan with 20,416 votes; Bobby Ortega, 18,738; Edilberto Tenefrancia, 15,029; Elmer Datuin, 8,989 and Mascarinas with 544 votes.

Those who made it as councilors were Rocky Balisong, 42,159; Betty Lourdes Tabanda, 39,675; Galo Weygan, 39,087; Pinky Rondez, 38,233, Nicasio Aliping Jr., 37,284; Antonio Tabora Jr., 34,799; Erdolfo Balajadia, 31,770; Vic Palaganas,30,224; Isabelo Cosalan Jr., 29,295, Richard Carino, 28,741, Fred Bagbagen, 26,465 and Elaine Sembrano with 25,773.

In Benguet
Re-electionist Rep. Samuel Dangwa will continue to serve the province after defeating his challenger, former congressman Ronald Cosalan while La Trinidad Mayor Nestor Fongwan emerged as the next provincial governor.

Based on official results released by the Commission on Elections last week, Dangwa garnered a total vote count of 66,710 against Cosalan’s 56,351 votes.

Fongwan got a total of 55,802 votes while incumbent governor Borromeo Melchor got 46,758 votes. Crescensio Pacalso remains as the Vice governor with 65,590 as against Wasing Sacla’s 50,211 votes.

For board members, re-electionists dominated the slate for the 10 –member body.

In District I, No. 1 to 3 slots were captured by reelectionists Juan Nazaro, Eddie Amuasen , Marciano Inso, while the No. 4 slot was taken by new comer Alfonso Fianza.

In District II, Kapangan Mayor Rogelio Leon topped the race for board members, followed by new comer Nelson Dangwa, reelectionist Apolinario Camsol, followed by Nardo Cayat, a new comer, Johnny Uy also a reelectionist and Florence Tingbaoen, also a new comer.

Winning candidates were proclaimed last Friday by the Provincial Board of Canvassers.

The winning mayors and Vice-mayors of Benguet are as follows: Atok, Concepcion Balao and Adam Bodong; Bakun, Marcelo Contada; Bokod, Mauricio Macay and Thomas Wales Jr.; Buguias, Felicio Bayacsan and Melchor Diclas;Kabayan, Faustino Aquisan and Rimando Aguitay; Kapangan, Roberto Canuto and Lauro Lorenzo; Kibungan, Benito Siadto and Susan Atayoc; Itogon, Mario Godio and Noel Ngolab; La Trinidad, Artemio Galwan and Samuel Esguerra; Mankayan, Manalo Galuten and Paterno Dacanay; Sablan, Bony Tacio and Julio Gayaman; Tuba, Florencio Bentrez and Valentino Carantes; Tublay, Ruben Paoad and Armando Lauro.

In Mountain Province
The province has another three years of political leadership with incumbent 30-year congressman Victor Dominguez who won over his nephew, mayor Jupiter Dominguez by 5,609 votes and his relative, Engr Arnulfo Pilando by 9,158 votes in the recent May 14 elections. All three candidates come from the municipality of Sabangan .

Based from records of the Commission on Elections, septuagenarian Victor Dominguez heavily scored in the towns of vote-rich Bauko, the capital town of Bontoc, Barlig and Natonin with total votes of 23,230.

Jupiter Dominguez gained the highest votes in the tourist of Sagada, Besao, and from his hometown in Sabangan with total votes of 17,621.

Pilando gained the highest votes in Paracelis with total votes of 14,072.

Congressional aspirant former governor Sario Malinias managed to get a sizable vote from his hometown in Bauko.

Mountain Province has total of 86,106 voters with 65,609 who cast their votes in the recent elections.

Other congressional aspirants are Independent candidates Efren Lingwa, Carlito Afadchay and Francisco Siblawan.

For the governorship, incumbent board member Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr nearly snatched votes from incumbent governor Maximo Dalog who won by 3,767 votes.

Both candidates come from the municipality of Bauko . Lacwasan edged close to Dalog with a small difference of 69 votes in Sagada, 366 in Besao, and 285 in Bontoc while gaining highest in his hometown in Bauko, Sabangan and Barlig. Dalog however led in Paracelis by 3089 votes.

Independent governatorial candidate Harry Dominguez edged close in Tadian where he hails from the other governatorial candidates.

For the vice-governorship, former mayor Louis Claver ran away with 35,209 votes over incumbent vice governor Dr Benjamin Dominguez who got 22,287 votes.

The lucky four board members of District 1 covering the towns of Bontoc, Sadanga, Barlig, Natonin and Paracelis are widow Eufemia Lamen who replaced her husband deceased Binky Lamen, incumbent board members Ezra Gomez from Bontoc and Luke Wanason from Paracelis, and Carino Tamang also from Paracelis.

Fifteen candidates ran for the board membership in District 1, Mountain Province

Winning board members of District 11 covering the towns of Besao, Sagada, Bauko, Tadian are government personnel retiree James Polilin from Besao, incumbent board member Marcial Lawilao from Sabangan, Salvador Dalang and incumbent councilor Randolph Awisan from Bauko.

Meantime, three incumbent mayors of this province retained their seats while four lost over their mayoral rivals.

Mayors Simon Lacwasan of Bauko, Cesar Rafael of Paracelis, and Constito Masweng of Tadian retained their positions.

In the eastern front, lawyer Ana Marie Bana-ag, daughter of Paracelis mayor Cesar Rafael won over incumbent mayor Patrick Banguingan of Natonin.

Incumbent vice mayor Magdalena Lupoyon won over incumbent mayor Crispin Fias-ilon for the mayorship in Barlig and six other candidates for the local executive position.

Incumbent mayor Bart Guzman of Besao lost to government personnel retiree Wellington Pooten.

In Sadanga, comebacking mayor Estanislao Fagto won over incumbent mayor Gabino Ganggangan and four other mayoral candidates.

In Sabangan, incumbent vice mayor Donato Danglose won over three other candidates for the mayoral position, while incumbent vice mayor Franklin Odsey also won as mayor in the capital town of Bontoc over comebacking candidate for mayor David Yawan. Engr Eduardo Latawan won as mayor in the tourist town of Sagada over incumbent councilor Dave Gulian.

Meantime, top 15 winning senators in this province are Loren Legarda (27,650 votes), Edgardo Angara (26,098), Panfilo Lacson (23,000), Prospero Pichay (22,136), Francis Joseph EScudero (20,530), Manuel Villar (20,282), Francis Pangilinan (20,188), Joker Arroyo (18,464), Luis Singson (17,633), Vincent Magsaysay (17,039), Benigno Aquino, (16,564), Gregorio Honasan (15,508), Michael Defensor (15,538), Aquilino Pimentel (15,236), and Antonio Trillanes( 14,978).

Meanwhile, reports from the Philippine National Police revealed five motor cycle- riding unidentified armed men forcibly snatched ballot boxes and election returns in two precints 37 and 37 B of sitio Katao of Buringal, Paracelis and sitio Paradi also of Buringal, Paracelis on election day.

In Apayao
Many incumbent candidates in the province won the last elections for being unopposed.

Department of Interior and Local Government provincial director Cresencio Calina said Elias Bulut Jr. remains the congressman of Apayao which has 54,761 registered voters. He garnered 31,731 votes.

His father, seasoned politician Elias Bulut Sr., also ran unopposed for governor while Hector Pascua, a former provincial board member, won over his three opponents as vice governor.

Some 29,909 voters cast their votes for Bulut Sr. for his second term as governor while Pascua got 17,018 votes.

In the town of Calanasan , its 6,542 registered voters allowed incumbent mayor Eleanor Bagtang and vice mayor Perfecto Marrero to finish their last terms.

Their hold to their positions was affirmed by the 3,731 and 3,876 votes they garnered, respectively.

No one of the 5,475 voters of Sta. Marcela also challenged incumbent Mayor Evelyn Martinez and Vice Mayor Domingo Siluran Jr. who garnered 3,828 and 3,689 votes, respectively.

Bienvenido Verzola Jr., with 4,930 votes, emerged as the new local chief executive of Luna replacing his wife Betty, who was the town’s chief of executive the last nine years.
Incumbent vice mayor Jovencio Bullawit, with 3,651 votes, retained his post. Luna has 9,131 registered voters.

Brothers Efren and Richard De San Jose of Flora won the seat for mayor and vice mayor with a total of 4,476 and 2771 votes, respectively.

Their votes were out of the 6,688 registered voters in the municipality.

Garnering a total of 3,563 and 4,160 votes, respectively, incumbent mayor Reynald Talimbatug and vice mayor Joseph Amid also remain as the people’s choice to lead the capital town of Kabugao which has 8,724 registered voters.

In Pudtol town with 5,634 voters, incumbent Mayor Batara Laoat and vice mayor Cleofil Collado who earned 1,805 and 2,358, respectively, also retained their post.

In Conner, incumbent Vice Gov. Paul Delwasen with 1,805 votes won over his lone opponent for the mayoralty seat. So is incumbent Vice Mayor Leonardo Dangoy with 4,564 votes.

“Hopefully, this kind of political patronage would further enhance the development of the entire province.” Calina said.

In Ifugao
Rep. Solomon Chungalao (Lakas-NUCD) won his third and last term as congressional district with convincing victory over his two rivals, John Wesley Dulawan and lawyer Placido Wachayna.

In the Namfrel Quick Count, Chungalao won in all the 11 municipalities of this province, including Kiangan, the hometown of Dulawan. He had an unofficial lead of some 20,000 votes over second placer Dulawan.

In the Namfrel unofficial tally also, the gubernatorial race showed former Gov. Teddy Baguilat ahead of incumbent Gov. Glenn Prudencio with a 2,200 vote margin. – With reports from Gina Dizon, Francis Martin and Mari Cruz