Gloves are off with two weeks left for the filing of certificates of candidacies for mayors and congressmen in several cities in Metro Manila. Former friends and close political allies will square off in next year’s election and surprisingly, this will include squabbling family members of political dynasties over their candidacies. Political press releases are ubiquitous but the final decision will only be known, once candidates file their certificates before COMELEC on October 1-7.
Take the case of Las Piñas where Senate graduate Cynthia Villar declared interest of returning to local politics. She has been a three-termer congresswoman in Las Piñas, where she was proclaimed President of Lady Legislators for the 12th, 13th and 14th Congress. As a congresswoman, she’s been there, done that and excelled. Going back to that position is really a problem. In a recent interview, Cynthia said, “I want to run for mayor kaya lang, there are other considerations. We’ll see,”. This statement sparked rife talk that the Villar-Aguilar family may be drifting apart.
In the past two elections her daughter Rep. Camille Villar exceeded her aunt Imelda Aguilar’s votes by 2,935 votes in 2019 and 22,168 votes in 2022. Camille will be running for senator and her position is left open to her mom. But If the retiring senator Cynthia runs for Mayor, she will be running against her niece, incumbent Las Pinas vice mayor April Aguilar-Nery or Carlo Aguilar.
Cynthia’s sister Elizabeth Aguilar-Masangkay in a letter dated September 2 to the editor of another newspaper, said, their family is now united and will put up a complete Nacionalista party ticket that will include Sen. Cynthia as congresswoman, Carlo Aguilar as Mayor , Luis Bustamante as Vice Mayor and twelve councilors. “ I hope this will set things straight as to what is happening in the city of Las Piñas”, she said.
Recently, the city ’s political map was rearranged after territorial boundaries of its villages and barangays were permanently fixed in a plebiscite last June. Whether, this will affect the bailiwicks of both Villar and Aguilar remains to be seen. I just hope that this political situation of both families will be resolved peacefully in the next two weeks. Otherwise, this powerful political dynasty will lose their luster.
On another side, the Makati mayoralty polls will definitely showcase the clash between graduating Senator Nancy Binay and her brother in law, 2nd district Rep. Luis Campos (husband of mayor Abby- who will run as senator) . Nancy will be running under UNA while Campos will be supported by the NPC, Abby’s political party. Campos has lost 10 baranggays in his political bailiwick after the Supreme court transferred them to Taguig. There are also strong indications that Liberal Party Congressman Romulo “Kid” Peña (first district) will be joining the fray. Peña defeated former VP Jojo Binay by a close 5,806 votes in 2019. Earlier this year, reports of a Campos-Peña tandem was being paraded, but everything has changed. If Peña runs , a close three way contest will ensue and again, surprises can happen.
Paranaque is another area where heated discussions are happening inside the ruling Olivarez Family as to who will run as mayor and first district congressman in next year’s election. Political talk are rife with news that incumbent Mayor Eric Olivarez (PDP) are at odds brother Rep. Edwin Olivarez (Lakas-CMD) who reportedly wants to return as Mayor. But first-termer Mayor Eric wants another run, and does not want to go back to Congress. s
Per reports, Eric’s wife Aileen was also indignant and says she may also run for Mayor against Edwin or even facing his brother in law’s son in for the first district.
Edwin is reportedly grooming his councilor son, Paolo to run as his replacement in the Congressman position if things go his way. There were signals saying that this controversy will be ultimately decided by the Olivarez family in the next two weeks. But again, the certificates of candidacy in October will be the final evidence on who is who and what is what.
In Taguig where ten EMBO barangays from Makati were added, heated discussions are also underway as to who will be the family’s mayoralty candidate. Of course, incumbent Lani Cayetano (Nacionalista) is the first preference after soundly beating Arnel Serafica by a margin of 185,610 votes in the 2022 elections. But with the arrival of more than a hundred thousand voters from Makati’s EMBO, a lot of people are watching its political impact on Taguig politics. Will these former Makati voters choose the Cayetanos or follow Binay’s endorsement , if there are any.
Another interesting twist is that Lani’s brother in law , film director and former one termer mayor Lino Cayetano also expressed interest in running for Mayor. In 2019 , Lino defeated Serafica by a margin of only 63,000 votes. If Direk Lino is dissuaded and instead run for Congress , will incumbent Taguig first district congressman Ricardo “ Ading” Cruz jr., (Nacionalista) give way to him ? If he goes to the 2nd district , he will face 2nd district congresswoman Maria Amparo “Pammy” Zamora, (Nacionalista) sister of San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora. Now, will Zamora give way to Direk Lino or not?
Equally interesting are the raging mayoralty contests in Pasig, Marikina and Caloocan and Manila. That’s our next feature , we will also focus on some hotly contested congressional races in NCR’a 32 legislative districts.
As parting words, I would like our local politicians and their dynasties to remember this famous quote. This came from the great British historian Lord Acton in 1888, who said in his letter to then Bishop Mandell Creighton in London , “ Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.