BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer said yesterday there will be no clash among members of the United Negros Alliance and Love-Negros in the 2022 elections, except in two areas.
Ferrer, who is the UNegA president, did not identify these two areas, stressing that it is premature to divulge it.
UNegA secretary general Salvador Escalante, who is the mayor of Cadiz City, earlier said that Isabela Vice Mayor Renato Malabor Jr. is bent on running against incumbent Mayor Irene Montilla.
There are also persistent reports that Board Member Ernesto Agustin Bascon, a member of Love Negros, may challenge incumbent Mayor Rogelio Raymund Tongson of Himamaylan, who is affiliated with UNegA.
The possible clash between incumbent Alejandro Mirasol and Emmanuel Aranda, both members of UnegA, for the Binalbagan mayoralty post was also reported.
Ferrer declared that the alliance between UNegA and Love Negros remains strong, as he and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson will both seek reelection under the same ticket.
Former Bacolod Rep. John Orola was being pushed to challenge Lacson, but the former has already denied that he is running for governor.
UNegA members have started to submit their lineups for the elections next year, for them to be issued Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance, Escalante said.
There are 13 mayors of Negros Occidental, who are affiliated with UNegA, while the 18 other local chief executives are members of Love Negros.
Ferrer said he will start signing the CONAs before the start of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy in October.
Escalante said the CONAs of candidates in Sagay, Himamaylan, and La Carlota have already been issued.
Escalante also said that Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Marañon III will run for congressman in the second district of Negros Occidental, replacing Rep. Leo Rafael Cueva, who is on his last term.
Cueva will run as vice mayor of Sagay, while the incumbent, Narciso Javelosa will run for mayor of the city, he added.
Tongson and Vice Mayor Justin Gatuslao will seek re-election in Himamaylan City, and Mayor Rex Jalandoon and Vice Mayor David Baga Jr. also in La Carlota City, Escalante added.
Mayor Richard Jaojoco, who is on his last term as mayor of Toboso, claimed that majority of the barangay captains in the town have endorsed his wife, Madonnah, as their next mayor, with former Association of Barangay Captains president, Ma. Luisa de la Cruz, as running mate.
Madonnah is the niece of the late Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr.
De la Cruz is affiliated with Love Negros while Jaojoco is a member of the United Negros Alliance.*
