Mark & Mark barnstorm countless villages already

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO - “We are almost there!” quipped by vice gubernatorial aspirant and this town’s mayor when asked if he and his gubernatorial tandem had stumped already two-third of the 1,333 barangays in the humongous province nine months before the election.

M&M for 2016: In this file photo the 29 year-old two-term Calasiao Mayor Mark Roy Macanla-
lay  (4th from right) acknowledges the reiteration of support from former
 Congressman Mark Cojuangco (3rd from left) who was exhilarated that the
young hizzoner finally accepted his offer to be his vice governor tandem in the
2016 gubernatorial race where he will be throwing his hat. The duo's press
conference was held at the commercial building of the Macanlalays in Brgy.

Bued, Calasiao in August 21, 2014.  MORTZ. ORTIGOZA 

“We have been to towns, villages, fiestas, medical missions. We have visited a lot of places in our powwows with former Congressman Mark Cojuangco,” said by Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay.
He cited that in all of those places they felt the warm receptions they received with the people there.
After he declared in February 2014 his intention to run for the province’s highest public post, Cojuangco said he divulged that early his moist eye for the governorship because Pangasinan is a huge province.
The provincial government covers three cities and 44 towns in a land area that is bigger than the combined three provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union in Region 1.
As a result Cojuangco has rented a house in Alaminos City whenever he has a stump in the Western part of the province.
During his declaration in February 2014, Cojuangco pooh-poohed he was a shoo-in for the post but instead had to buckle up early to rove in the huge province.
“There is no such thing as shoo-in. We all have to work (to get) the people’s confidence. That’s what I intend to do in the next two years when I will go around the province. I will talk with the people to find out what are their hope and dreams, so I can make a plan,” he said then.
During the first term of Vice Governor Ferdinand Calimlim, Macanlalay’s putative rival in the May 9, 2016 election, he told this paper that it was physically impossible for a gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial bets to do the hustling in the 1,333 villages in one year time.
Macanlalay cited that during his and Cojuangco’s consultations with the hoi polloi especially during their Medikalinga Program, they understand thoroughly the people’s problems. He said he was exhilarated about the warmness of the people who promised them support during their visits.
He said that in case he and the former solon are elected next year they would like to introduce a new kind of leadership in the province that could provide new brand of services.