6 to challenge Bayron for Puerto mayor

Six mayoralty hopefuls will challenge incumbent Mayor Lucilo Bayron for the mayoralty seat of Puerto Princesa City. Joining the race to take over the reins of the city government is Bayron’s own daughter, Judith ‘ Raine’ Bayron, who filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) 10 minutes before the closing on Wednesday, October 17, of the final day of filing. The other challengers are incumbent Vice Mayor Luis Marcaida III, Jimmy Cañete, Eliseo Patricio Olosorio, Edmundo Caton and Antonio Arosio. “Kapag na-forward na sa COMELEC Manila itong mga certificates of candidacy nila, i-che-check kung meron bang nuisance candidates. Titignan if any of them filed his certificate of candidacy to put the election process in mockery or disrepute. May iba pang puwedeng dahilan na ma-declare na nuisance candidate,” city election officer Ferdinand Bermejo said. Bermejo said that according to Section 69 of the Omnibus Election Code, any candidate may be declared as a nuisance “if it can be proven that his/her intention is also to cause confusion among voters because of similarities in their registered names; the manifestation of circumstances or acts which tell he/she has really no bona fide intention to run for the office for which he/she has filed his/her COC and is consequently preventing a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate.” The COMELEC central office will make a decision on the final list of candidates by November 29, he pointed out. “Ipapaalam ‘ yan agad sa atin kasi kailangan bago ma-finalize ang mga pangalan na ilalagay sa ballots,” he said. He said the tentative list of candidates for all city positions will be posted on November 5. “Yong next nating activity is yong posting ng tentative list of candidates tapos ‘yong ating election period ay mag-start ng January 13,” Bermejo said.

Bayron, who was also accompanied by her daughter Raine, filed his COC on the morning of the last day of filing as a re-electionist candidate under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan or PDP-Laban. Raine filed hers in the afternoon under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) affiliate Partidong Pagbabago ng Palawan (PPP), Bermejo said. “Nag-file siya for mayor kahapon bago nag-close ang filing. Puwede naman kasi until November 29, puwedeng magkaroon ng substitution, o di kaya withdrawal ng COC,” he said. Raine said that “in due time the people of the city will also know why she will run for mayor instead of councilor under the Kuridas Team of her father.” “In due time malalaman ninyo ‘yong sagot sa mga tanong na ‘yan pero sa ngayon siguro hingi muna ako ng kaunting pang-unawa sa inyo. In due time may mga sagot sa mga katanungan na ‘yan,” Raine told local media. She said that her father is currently in Manila, “when he gets back, both of us will answer the question of why I filed my candidacy for mayor.” In a separate interview with Radyo Bandera, Raine assured that on May 13, 2019, only one Bayron will run in the mayoralty race. “Isang Bayron lang ang tatakbo. Alam mo Ka Louie (Larrosa), kasi may mga nabasa rin ako na para bang sinasabi na ganid kami sa posisyon ano po. Talagang ganid daw kami at hindi [pagka]-mayor ang ipa-file ko, baka vice mayor o kagawad dahil sabi naman puwede naman. Pero hindi po, ‘yan ay isang patunay na hindi kami after sa maraming posisyon sa gobyerno,” she said. She said her COC filing was not due to “substitution” since Mayor Bayron filed his in the morning and hers, in the afternoon. “Hindi substitution ang mangyayari sa amin. May mag-wi-withdraw na isa sa huli. Ang pag-withdraw naman ay anytime ‘yan,” she said. She also said she is not affected by the criticisms agains her decision. I am mature enough and past the stage of immediately reacting the moment she is attacked, she added. “You cannot please everybody, you cannot please everyone kahit pa ikumpara sa mansanas ikaw ang pinaka masarap, pinaka juicy na mansanas sa mundo, meron at meron na ayaw sa mansanas,” she said. Raine filed without any running mate. The older Bayron run with a full slate composed of incumbent Councilor Nancy Socrates for vice mayor, and candidates for councilor Victor Oliveros, Roy Gregorio Ventura, Jimmy Carbonell, Henry Gadiano, Nesario Awat, Matthew Mendoza and Rolando Amurao, Elgin Robert Damasco, Herbert Dilig, and Michael Tan.

Seven of them are incumbent councilors, Dilig and Damasco are political neophytes while Tan is a returning political aspirant.