• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
While the United Negros Alliance (UNegA) has yet to make the formal announcement and endorsement of Board Member Jose Benito Alonso as the coalition’s vice gubernatorial bet in the elections on May next year, he already has the approval of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, who will be seeking his third and final term as governor of Negros Occidental.
In previous months, Abang Lingkod partylist Rep. Stephen Joseph Paduano had also announced that Alonso will be the vice gubernatorial bet, under the coalition of UNegA and Love Negros.
UNegA officials, have however said that they will make a formal announcement soon.
Cadiz City mayor Salvador Escalante Jr., the UNegA secretary general, yesterday said that they will convene next month to discuss plans for the May 2025 elections.
Lacson said he is “comfortable” to run with Alonso, who served as mayor of Pontevedra.
“I know him for a while already. He is also a very trusted man of Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer,” he added. Ferrer announced earlier that he will be running for the 4th district congressional post, which will be vacated by his wife, Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer, who will complete her nine-year term as representative of the district.
Lacson reiterated the full support of the Love Negros UNegA coalition to Ferrer, in response to reports that the latter will be challenged in the 4th district congressional race.
On the other hand, the name of former Victorias City Francis Frederick Palanca has also been floated earlier by the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino, as a potential challenger for Lacson in the gubernatorial race.
“I don’t know if there will be a new name. So far, the name of the former mayor is being floated. I would think that it is still their plan to field the said mayor, as the candidate of PDP,” Lacson said.
Regarding the meeting between former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and five mayors of Negros Occidental’s 5th district, Lacson said that is their prerogative and it is a purely 5th district concern.*
