ESPINO III VS. COJUANGCO SAYS GUV’S ALLY

BETS FOR 2016 CAPITOL RACE  UNRAVEL

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

LINGAYEN – A staunch ally at the provincial board (PB) of Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. declared here to reporters that the latter son and namesake will be his candidate for the 2016 gubernatorial derby.

ESPINO'S RABID ALLY: Veteran Board Member
Alfonso Bince told media men that Pangasinan
Governor Amado T. Espino Jr., bet for the
gubernatorial derby in 2016 would be his son
and namesake Amado III. 

Board Member Alfonso Bince told recently media men that the governor will post his son Amado "Pogi" Espino III, president of the League of Barangays in the Philippines-Pangasinan Chapter and ex-officio member of the PB in the 2016 race for the governorship of the almost 3 million population province.

“We just want to confirm here that the governor is fielding a candidate for the governorship and (the bet) is not Mark Cojuangco,” the last terms lawmaker declared.

When pressed who will be Governor Espino’s candidates for the two top posts in the capitol, he said it would be Espino III and incumbent Vice Governor Ferdinand Calimlim for the governorship and vice governorship, respectively.

Former Congressman Mark Cojuangco

“I understand that the candidate for governor will be the former mayor of Bautista town and our incumbent board member Pogi Espino. It would be Espino, Calimlim in 2016”.  

Cojuangco, the Pangasinan chairman of the family founded Nationalist People's Coalition, declared to this blogger in February this year his moist eye for the governorship of the 1,333 village province.

Meanwhile, Former Congressman Cojuangco’s spokesman Rosendo So assailed Bince for sowing intrigue and creating dissension among the party members after he and five board members resigned from it.

“Huwag siyang mag create ng gulo. Ang ganda ng samahan natin dito sa probinsiya e gagawa siya ng estorya and we hope kung gagawa siya ng estorya (na) tama naman (sana). Gumagawa ng estorya nag-aatake siya. Mukhang mali, mahirap talaga”, he explained recently at radio station DWPR in Dagupan City.

Bince was smarting to the media after the group of Cojuangco bypassed them in his rounds of consultations and visits to fiestas in the towns and villages of the province.

Bince reasoned out that their resignation from the NPC that will take effect on June 1 slighted Governor Espino, a party member, because they did not consult him.

But Board Members Clemente Arboleda and Anthony Sison, who remained with the NPC, looked at the justifications of Bince and company as shallow.

“I don’t own the district and they (Cojuangco and company) can go to the barangays (villages) wherever they want,” Arboleda said.

 He said those resigned board members should respect his decision why he did not to jump ship from the party.

So said BM Sison told him that he did not see any impropriety on Cojuangco’s barnstorming the different parts of the province.

“E  bakit kami magre-resign sa NPC wala naman kasalanan iyong mga umiikot,” Engineer So, the chairman of Abono Party-list, quoted Sison.

Board Member Amado "Pogi" Espino III

“ Maski hindi kami mag courtesy call sa kanila naiintindihan nila na malawak ang Pangasinan. May oras na pupuntahan natin lahat, may oras ang mga kasamahan (BMs) natin,” So stressed.

He said however that when Bince resigned from the party, Cojuangco need not consult him anymore as he is no longer a member of the NPC.

The NPC –Pangasinan's spokesman denounced the veteran board member when it accused Cojuangco and company in giving P5000 as financial aid to village chief who invited them to grace his affair.

“At least we are giving our personal money. Bince is giving money too by asking the recipients to sign a government voucher. From now on, people in the 6^th congressional district should invite Bince so he would give the P5000 that we used to give to them. I heard the Board Member mulls to run for a congressional seat in the district”.