• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A three cornered fight for the Kabankalan City mayoral post looms, as Negros Occidental Board Member Valentino Miguel Alonso yesterday confirmed his intention to vie the position in the 2025 midterm elections.
Incumbent Mayor Benjie Miranda earlier confirmed seeking reelection, taking his wife, Divina, as his running mate for the position as vice mayor.
Former Mayor Isidro Zayco, whose brother, Pedro, was defeated by Miranda in the 2022 elections, has yet to declare his intention to run for mayor of Kabankalan, which he served for 18 years.
Miranda is a member of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, a political party of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., while Zayco is presently the provincial chairman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, where Alonso is also a member.
Alonso, also a member of the United Negros Alliance (UNegA), which in 2019 coalesced with Love Negros, yesterday disclosed that he already relayed his intention to run for mayor of Kabankalan City during a meeting with former Mayor Zayco and incumbent Vice Mayor Miguel “Migz” Zayco, in May of this year.
Asked on the possibility of forming an alliance with the Zaycos, Alonso jokingly replied “if he wants to run with me as vice mayor, it is okay.”
On Monday, UNegA president Jeffrey Ferrer said they have not made a decision yet on who they will support for Kabankalan mayor, but revealed they have a UNegA member interested in running for the post.
UNegA will have its general assembly next week, in preparation for the 2025 polls.
On the other hand, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he will ask Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on the date he is available for the general assembly of Love Negros.
Lacson said it could be in September this year, a month before the filing of Certificate of Candidacy for the elections next year.
Regarding who the Love Negros will support in the Kabankalan City mayoralty race, Lacson said they will have to decide after candidates declare their intention to run.*
