|
Ribong
files poll
bid
in absentia
Former
Virac Mayor Rodolfo Acang Sarmiento last week
filed his certificate of candidacy in absentia
as concerns over his health continues to hang
like a cloud on his bid to retake the municipal
hall.
Last
week, the temperamental "Ribong"
reportedly called up by phone an announcer of
the Radyo ng Bayan station here to decry rumors
that he was seriously ill and could not possibly
run in the May 14 local elections in a third
bout with current Mayor Jose U. Alberto II.
According to the local grapevine, Sarmiento underwent an operation to
remove lymph nodes in his groin late last year
and was seen with an unhealthy pallor on his
face. Latest rumors claim that the 58-year old
physician has been asked by his first wife to
come to the United States for treatment of a
possibly cancerous growth.
None of the rumors is true, his allies say, as the former mayor is set to
have his final check-up for a minor operation in
his stomach. As to the scuttlebutt that he would
be going abroad, they say Sarmiento is indeed
US-bound to attend the wedding of his son Carlo.
It is said that the former mayor will be in
Virac either by the end of February or first
week of March.
Last February 8, his candidates for the local legislative body led by
reelectionist Vice Mayor Hector A. Sorrera
trooped to the Commission on Elections office in
Virac to file their certificates as well as
submit that of their absent mayoral bet.
The Lakas-NUCD-UMDP lineup for the capital town was one bet in excess of
the eight seats and has two reelectionists: Roy
Villanueva Laynes, 40, and Paul Alcala Sumalde,
32, both from barangay San Roque.
The other aspirants are former SB member and cockpit manager Roberto
"Boy" Clemente Neri, 54; seaman Alipio
"Alip" Boticario Abundo, 43; San
Isidro Village barangay captain Michaelangelo
"Mike" San Ramon Bagadiong, 35;
Calatagan barangay captain Demetrio "Nonong"
Chavez Molet, 50; last-termer provincial board
member Lilia "Lily" Vengado
Evangelista, 60; self-styled writer and farmer
Roland "Mr. Clean" Tabinas Isidoro,
53; and, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)
contractual worker Arthur "Art"
Isidoro Tabirara, 27.
The only independent candidate to have filed his certificate of candidacy
so far is self-employed architect Emmanuel
"Kong" Sta. Ines Valeza, 38, who is
gunning for an SB seat.
The group of Mayor Cito Alberto is reportedly filing their papers on
February 28, along with the provincial slate led
by former NTC Commissioner Joseph A. Santiago.
|
