Gov.
Pogi vs. Monching Guico for Cong. Race
By
Mortz C. Ortigoza
The
fluid political landscape of Pangasinan has some of its personalities
shifted their electoral aspirations.
Sources
of this newspaper said
that the interest by political spectators snowballed
as
Fifth
District Rep. Ramon “Monmon”
Guico,
III
is now
pitted with former Governor Amado “Espines”
T.
Espino, Jr. - instead
of his son and namesake the Governor -
for
the top
elective post in
the forty four towns and three cities’ province.
The
reports came from people
who attended the July
24
formal
launching in
Binalonan, Pangasinan
of the
gubernatorial bid
of
Guico
and the re-election of Vice Governor Mark Lambino
for the May 9, 2022 poll.
 |
| POLITICAL BRASS of Pangasinan. From left photo clockwise: Former Governor Amado "Espines" T. Espino, Jr., Fifth District Rep. Ramon "Monmon" Guico, III, incumbent Governor Amado "Pogi" Espino, III, and Binalonan Mayor Ramon "Monching" Guico, Jr. |
They
said too that Espino’s governor son will aim for another battle
royale
with
seasoned Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico,
Jr. in
the congressional race in the Fifth District of the province.
“Espines
versus Monmon sa governorship. Pogi versus Monching sa congressional
race. Wala na si Arboleda (It’s Amado Espino, Jr. versus Monmon
Guico for the governorship. Pogi Espino versus Monching Guico. Former
Board Member Nino Arboleda was gone on the congressional equation),”
Ernesto
Cayabyab, a veteran tabloid reporter in Manila, told this Writer.
Another
source, who asked for anonymity, said the switching
of
the potential congressional
bet Maan Guico, the wife of the solon, to her
father-in-law
Monching
is to make competitive the tussle in the eight
towns
and one city’s eastern Pangasinan district with the marquee
opponent - the younger Espino.
"Mayor Monching and Cong. Monmon were seen last Wednesday in the inauguration of a concrete road in Alcala and Pozurrobio. With Monching in another town there is a possibility of his congressional run."
In
case the reports gathered by this newspaper have their credibility,
the intention of the older Espino for the governorship will be a
grudged fight to the young Guico.
In
the 2019 congressional race in the Fifth District, the young solon
decked out Espino with a lead votes of 3,512
or
(1.42 %) of the 246,
760
electorates
that went to the ballot boxes and casted their votes.
Espino
is a bemedaled retired Police Colonel who survived various ambuscades
from the Communist guerrillas when he was a young Lieutenant with the
defunct Philippine Constabulary.
Three
months before the May 13, 2019 election, Guico was seen in a commissioned poll distributed to selected media men to
suffer a grim
prospect of defeat as
seen by
scientific outfit of Art Valenzuela's Vox Populi Polls.
The
pollster
- that predicted the losses in the governorship races of Hernani
Braganza, Mark Cojuangco, and Art Celeste –
showed
Espino led
by 84% while the
young rival
trailed him by a pathetic 16% votes.
Guico
re-strategized
by outwitting the political astute
Espino
with a hair thin lead to win the race and an upset in the annals of the
electoral history of the mammoth province.
The
saving grace of Espino in that fateful poll, his allies like
governorship bet Pogi Espino and congressional candidate Jumel Espino
-both his sons – won against former Congressman Celeste and former
Board Member Raul Sison – a smarting political deserter from the
Espino camp.
Political
analysts cited that the former
Governor's loss
to
Guico
because he
stretched into
thin lines
his
resources when he expanded the
political theater where
he funded the elections
of
his wife Mely
-
who is now Bugallon mayor -, his
man Friday Liseldo
“Dong” Calugay – who is now the mayor of the fourth richest
town in the Philippines, the
congressional bid of Tim Orbos in the First District where he lost to
Noli Celeste - a member of the family who is the political nemesis of the Espinos - and his two sons.
“Naka
tsamba lang si Monmon (Monmon was just lucky),”
jeered by the
former
Governor’s
commentator
friends
in the radio stations
in Dagupan City
on Guico winning the diadem of the congressional race.
Guico
will prove to all and sundry in the next year’s election that he is
no fluke to the formidable political machinery and
chutzpah
of the Espinos who kept knocking out opponents that
threatened their hegemony.
Their
victims were
Dr. Jamie Agbayani (Amado, Jr. led votes by
28,302 ),
Jamie’s husband former veteran Governor and Congressman Victor (Amado, Jr. led votes by 526,148),
former activist and the acerbic talking former Congressman Braganza
(Amado, Jr. led votes by 554,351)
Ex-Congressman Cojuangco (Pogi led votes to his wedding sponsor or
Godfather by 219,163),
and the
charismatic former
Congressman Art Celeste (Pogi led votes by 199,201).
Can
Guico deal another upset to a veteran politico Amado Espino, Jr. who
is already known by many of the almost two million voters in the public centers of the
cities and towns and boondocks of the huge province?
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MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me
