By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I asked Ramon Bautista – the man Friday of Region-1 Medical Center Director Roland Mejia – when I bumped into him at the Capitol in Lingayen if his boss would be running for the congressional seat of the 4th District because outgoing solon’s Christopher “Toff” de Venecia is already on his last term.
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| MARQUEE P'SINAN'S POLITICIANS. From left photo and clockwise: Former 4th District Cong. Gina de Venecia, former Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. and former Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim. |
Ramon answered in the negative to quash the rumors that Mejia – a kin of
De Venecia – has a moist eye in the post the Filipinos (who understand
politics) considered as powerful and lucrative.
With the De Venecias’ matriarch Gina reclaiming the post, I heard from the grapevine that former Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. and former Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim are considered by political spectators to duke out with her in the May 2025 electoral derby.
AMADO T. ESPINO, JR.
Oliver Silvestre, a Saluyot and my former political science student at a
university in the bangus city, told me in the last village election that a
mayor-friend told him the battle scarred politico’s Espino was “considering”
running on the smallest district among the six congressional districts of the
mammoth Pangasinan province.
Espino by the way, trounced out 5th District Congresswoman
Kimi Cojuangco in the 2016 tussle despite the pronouncements of many political kibitzers that he
would be clashing with a formidable opponent.
But the former Governor (who stepped down after nine years to usher his
son and namesake who beat Cojuangco’s hubby Mark for the governorship) proved
the naysayers wrong by dusting off Kimi whose Achilles Heel – that probably the
fox in Espino saw - was her bereft of interest to visit the villages of the one
city and eight towns’ area thus Espino trampled her with 40,438 lead votes
among the 226,324 voters in that fateful election.
In boxing we called that as an UPSET before the eyes of the mainstream
spectators who see a “Fort Knox” being beaten by a PMYer.
When I asked another mayor who is closed to Espino, I was told the
resident requirement is not a problem for him because the former police colonel
has a house in San Fabian.
Qualifications in running a congressional office – as required by the
Constitution - provide that one must be natural-born
citizen of the Philippines and, on the day of the election, is at least
twenty-five years of age, able to read and write, and, except the party-list
representatives, a registered voter in the district in which he shall be
elected.
Silvestre quoted his source that Espino – a resident of the 2nd
District – preferred the 4th because Gina de Venecia is beatable
compared to the present Praetorian Guard of the District Rep. Mark Cojuangco.
Cojuangco in the last congressional fracas “bludgeoned” Espino’s congressman
son Jumel with chutzpah where breathtaking financial logistics shocked and awed
the Espinos. Even after the election, people still queue at the resident of
Cojuangco in the Poblacion Lingayen for “manna”, as what the residents of those
area told me.
That political beating from Mark saw Jumel contented himself - according to my sources - to eye the mayorship of Bugallon in the next year's election.
But some of my friends where one of them is high politician told me that Espino
could lose in the 4th District because of the votes in Dagupan City
– the bailiwick of the De Venecias and an independent component city (it means
was not under the jurisdiction of the Espinos when they were governors). The
140, 000 registered voters in the second class city is more or less half in
number of the voters in the four towns’ district.
BRIAN LIM
On the other hand, here my poser if Lim runs for the congressional post: Can
he afford to navigate in the one city four towns’ district in an internecine take-no-prisoner financial warfare to a family that could swashbuckle a 21 years as congressman
and House Speaker in Joe de Venecia, a six-year congresswoman to Gina and a
nine-year House Representative in Toff (Son of a gun! That’s 36 long years of
political entrenchment and I’m not yet talking here how much money they save
for that) while allowing (Brian) family member to go mano-a-mano with the incumbent deep pocketed Dagupan City Mayor
Belen T. Fernandez to win in the ingratiation game to the mostly vote-for-sale
electorates of the coastal city in the next year’s election?
Despite his father Benjie having a one term-stint as a congressman
(1998-2001) of the district by winning most of the votes against rival Tessie
de Venecia in the fours towns, can Lim wins the support and sympathy of the voters 18 months from now?
Lack of dough however is not the sine
qua non of being triumphant. There were those who have little campaign chest who beat their rich rivals like a P500
pakurong (vote buy per voter) that won against a P1,000. A P3,000 won
against a P5,000 in a mayorship race in Western Pangasinan in the last 2022
election. Would it be Brian against the
“aging” Gina de Venecia or would it still be the latter because her family are
so well-entrenched in the district that even a U.S made deadly GBU 28 (Bunker Buster)
bomb – that cost P8, 237, 450 each - of the Israel Air Force - could not obliterate
to smithereens and flush out their hold on their central Pangasinan’s fortress?
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials 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 on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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