Cojuangco will “K.O” Baniqued in a Vice Guv Race

If He Avails for the Substitution  

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

To the fanatics in the curcillo and the dasal (prayers) in the Mahal na Araw, the “K.O”  in the title of this column does not mean Karlo Orduña, a medical doctor and a son of a vice gubernatorial aspirant, but is an abbreviation in boxing as “Knocked Out”, son of a gun!

Now, let’s go to the jugular why Cojuangco will K.O Baniqued.

Countless political kibitzers opined that former congressman Mark Cojuangco should run as the tandem of gubernatorial candidate Art Celeste.

SUBSTITUTION – Political pundits are still looking for a substitution to ensue on the part of Nationalista Party’s gubernatorial candidate Art Celeste where his present vice gubernatorial tandem Paterno Orduña (Nationalist People’s Coalition) will give way to former congressman Mark Cojuangco to run as second fiddle of Celeste versus a “nobody” on the camp of PDP-Laban re-elective governor Amado I. Espino, III in the Pangasinan province. At photo from left clockwise: Cojuangco, former board member Angel Baniqued, Sr., and Orduña.

They said Mark is a shoo-in because his opponent is nobody except to the district where he served as a countless terms board member.

Cojuangco’s name is already known among the almost two million voters at the six congressional districts mammoth’s province after he ran and lost as governor in the May 2016 election.

The duo should be pitted with re-elective governor Amado “Pogi” I. Espino, III and his vice gubernatorial tandem former Third District Board Member Lawyer Angel Baniqued.

Celeste, who filed his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) last October 11, runs under the Nationalista Party while Espino and Baniqued, who filed their CoCs last October 15, are under the PDP-Laban.

In the afternoon of October 15, retired police colonel Paterno Orduna filed his COC for governorship under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Even they have different parties; Orduña and Celeste are seen together in the consultations with leaders and hustings in various parts of the province.

 Pundits see them as tandem in case Cojuangco will not file his candidacy to the substitution the election regulation provides up to November 29 this year.

Section 33 of Resolution No. 10420 of the Commission on Election says the substitute of a candidate who died, withdrew his candidacy, or was disqualified may file a COC for the office affected on or before November 29, 2018 so that the name of the substitute will be reflected on the official ballots. In the same Resolution promulgated October 1, the Comelec said the substitute for a candidate, who died or a disqualified by final judgment, may file a COC up to mid-day of Election Day. This would be acceptable, provided that the substitute candidate and substituted candidate have the same surnames.

When I asked the son of Colonel Orduña, the amiable medical practitioner Doctor Karlo Marco Orduña, if there is a chance that there is a substitution on behalf of his father before and on November 29, this was his retort:

“The party will decide if dideretso na siya or may substi pa. As of now green light pa sya,” Dr. Orduña, the fan of the antics of Pangasinan heartthrob media man Atong Remogat, told me.

Cojuangco is the provincial chairman of the NPC, the powerful political party whose members are some senators that coalesced with President Rodrigo Duterte’s party. NPC was founded by Mark’s father business mogul Eduardo ”Danding” Cojuangco who is the chairman of San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage corporation in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

The young doctor, a member of a political family in Bugallon town, explained that his father will run, as a good soldier, if the party tells him to do so.

“It is a passion to serve the province more over it is a party's decision for him to run,” he stressed.

But can we call this one a spoiler: In the last day of filing of the COC at the Comelec-Provincial Office in Dagupan City, when I told a candidate for an elective district office that Cojuangco could substitute Orduña so he could wallop, bludgeon, and knock-out  the politically inferior Angel Baniqued in the race to the No. 2 post at the Capitol, my source told me that the Espino Camp plays mind game too with the Celeste Camp.  

“It would not be Baniqued, their trump card is to commission outgoing Sixth District Congresswoman and former Vice Governor Marlyn Primicias-Agabas as replacement of Baniqued comes November 29”.

Salamabit, is this true? Since the power that be in the camp of the Celestes told me that the solon and her husband Tayug Mayor Tyrone Agabas, the heir apparent in her congressional throne, are allies.

Does Celeste have an ace to restrain Marlyn from running to the Espino Camp by commissioning somebody like Myrna Custodio, who filed her candidacy versus Tyrone at the Comelec, to give way through substitution for somebody bigger to spoil Tyrone’s moist eye for congress?

Geez man, this is a chess match!

 

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)