By Mortz C. Ortigoza
BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan – The billionaire-mayor of this progressive
first class town confidently forecasted the Espino political family and their
allies will lose the governorship race of Pangasinan because of the economic
lethargy of the province under their helm, the toughest odds they presently
face from the opposition's party, and the absence of incriminating issues they can exploit against
Congressman Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III.
“All the way iyon all the way iyan hindi na mapipigil iyan. Ang bandwagon ngayon clamor for change andoon e. Bale ito na ang panahon baka katululad nila Bayani (Fernando, Mayor of Marikina City) after 15 years napalitan. Masyado na silang long staying. So, I hope nakita naman ng mga taga Pangasinan kung ano ang nagawa nila in 15 years,” Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao told this newspaper before the start of E-Agro meeting with the town’s farmers held here recently.
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BILLIONAIRE HIZZONER Cezar T. Quiambao (left of photo and clockwise), 5th District Congressman and governorship candidate Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III, and former Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. Espino is the patriarch of the Espinos’ political family that dominate the almost two million voters’ rich province for 15 years.
Quiambao, who is the financier of Guico, forecasted a 60-40
percent equation in favor of the governorship candidate against reelectionist
Governor Amado “Pogi” Espino, III.
This year ‘s poll, he continued, is the toughest for the
Espinos since former Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. and his son and namesake the
present governor defeated former Governor Victor and his spouse Dr. Jamie Eloise, ex-Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, former 5th
District Congressman Mark Cojuangco, and ex-1st District Rep. Art
Celeste.
“Kami nagsamasama
lahat. Sino ang kakampi nila ngayon? Lahat ng pinagkaka-utangan nila ng loob nag
samasama,” he said in the vernacular how they conspired to defeat this year the Espinos
whose patriarch was once their allies.
Since the time Amado, Jr. defeated Dr. Agbayani
in the former first foray in the governorship in 2007 and decking out the other
opposition candidates against him and his son for the governorship's diadem with hundreds of thousands of lead votes for each of them, this is the
first time Quiambao - with his massive financial resources - dips his finger in the provincial election by supporting
Guico and helps defeat Espino in the highest elective post in the forty four towns and three cities' Pangasinan.
In the first caucus of the opposition called Aguila held last year in
the residence of Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) and Presidential
Adviser for Northern Luzon Secretary Raul Lambino in Mangaldan, he pledged
hundreds of millions of pesos - according to a source in conditioned of anonymity - to boost up the political machinery of Guico whose hustings with Cojuangco and Quiambao saw them use with gusto their two-engine Bell Helicopter and two Robinsons - 44 choppers in the colossal province.
The business tycoon was one of the few individuals who persuaded former 5th
District Congressman Cojuangco to change his residence to the 2nd
District and challenged Espino’s scion Rep. Jumel Anthony Espino for the congressional crown of the central
Pangasinan district. This strategy is to disrupt the financial resources of the
Espinos to weaken them in this election.
Quiambao and Guico count allies the come-backing 1st District Rep. Celeste, come-backing 3rd District Congresswoman Maria Rachel Arenas, 5th District congressional candidate Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico, Jr. – the namesake and father of the governorship bet and significant numbers of mayors and those candidates for the same post in the province.
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Author in a huddle with billionaire-mayor Cezar T. Quiambao (left photo) and governorship candidate Cong. Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III before and after the
E-Agro meeting in Bayambang, Pangasinan. E-Agro is the brainchild of Quiambao
where farmers in his town can borrow money online with minuscule interest and
no collateral to prop-up their economic well-being.
Quiambao assailed in this interview the Espinos by running poorly the huge province for 15
years.
“Kung talagang mahal
nila ang probinsiya magsakripisyo sila. Hindi iyong pang pagpayaman. Kawawa ang
probinsiya. Ano ang pinagmamalaki ng Pangasinan ngayon? Wala! Di ba? Iniwanan
tayo”.
The odds favor Guico because the Espino camp could not see corruption issues
that could prejudice his political stocks.
“Wala sila ngayong
issue. Ini-issue nila ako hindi naman ako kandidato na hahahaha!”.
He lauded Cojuangco's campaign performances against Rep. Espino
as the election nears. He said the survey saw Espino leading by a measly six to
seven points only. It showed that the young solon is beatable.
He said “tapos na ang
election sa Bayambang” (insinuation that Espino and his allies have already
been defeated here) just like what he did to them in the 2019 election.
“Tapos na dito sa
Bayambang, 18-0 ang labanan dito,” he said about his candidates from the presidency to the councillorship that will be voted overwhelmingly by his constituents
here.
Former Governor Espino and Quiambao were high school
classmate and political allies when the latter financially backed him and lent him
his choppers when he ran against Dr. Jamie Eloise Agbayani and her come
backing governorship spouse Victor Agbayani.
The fall-out ensued when Espino supported the bid of former
Bayambang Mayor Ricardo Camacho – a trusted ally of Espino – to reclaim his
post against Quiambao in the 2019 election.
MEANWHILE, Guico downplayed the survey this newspaper
reported that he got 20% against 80% of the votes in the one city and four
towns’ 4th Congressional District.
“Bakit noong naglaban
kami ni Espine (nickname of former Governor Espino) twenty percent lang ako si
Spine ay 80% pero nanalo pa rin ako?” he said on the commissioned poll furnished to this newspaper weeks before the May 13, 2019 congressional election where he shocked the
province by beating in a hair-thin lead the Espinos’ patriarch Amado, Jr. – considered the shrewdest politician this behemoth province produces.
When asked by this writer about the expensive five 15 and 30
seconds daily political advertisement air on the prime time afternoon news of
the Balitang Amianan – Regional TV and how much he pays for them, he said the
barrage of infomercials allow him to be known to the almost
two million voters of Pangasinan and just nudge to this writer the direction of
Mayor Quiambao insinuating the latter pay for them.
The family of Quiambao owned the profit churning Stradom,
Land Registration Systems, Inc., and other investments in and out of the
country.
The visionary businessman created the Philippines’s first
infrastructure Public-Private Partnership project (known too as the Build
Operate and Transfer (BOT), the toll gated $514-million (P26.2 billion) Metro Manila Skyway project and
its complement the $57-million (P2.9 billion) Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) tollway
that resulted in an unprecedented economic boom in areas south of Metro
Manila. It eased up also the inconveniences of vehicle owners brought by the
monstrous traffic in the metropolis.
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