ILOILO City – Except for Capiz, the provinces of Iloilo, Antique and Negros Occidental in Western Visayas are giving their reelectionist governors a fresh three-year mandate.
Capiz is poised to have a new governor – outgoing Cong. Fredenil “Oto” Castro of the province’s 2nd District.
Last night as of 11 o’clock, Castro was way, way ahead in the counting with 171,298 votes in the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Transparency Server.
His lead appeared insurmountable already.
Reelectionist Capiz governor Esteban Evan Contreras was trailing Castro with 99,323 votes followed by Elmer Villasis who got 1,903 votes.
The other reelectionist governors, on the other hand, were already cementing their wide lead in the counting with votes seemingly impossible anymore for their rivals to overtake as monitored in the Comelec Transparency Server as of 11 p.m.:
For Iloilo
* Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. – 645,129 votes (leading)
* Norberto Gil – 18,533 votes
For Antique
* Gov. Rhodora Cadiao – 133,068 votes (leading)
* Vic Fedelicio – 41,456 votes
* Remigio Petinglay – 2,163 votes
For Negros Occidental
* Gov. Eugenio Lacson – 705,417 votes (leading)
* Juan Orola Jr. – 44,917 votes
* Ma. Socorro Sibulan – 12,162 votes
Guimaras is poised to have a new governor:
* Rahman Nava – 51,680 votes (leading)
* Jose Ramon Cacho – 1,905 votes
Incumbent Gov. Samuel Gumarin is ending his three consecutive terms and ran for mayor in Buenavista, Guimaras (leading as of last night).
Aklan is getting a new governor, too:
* Joen Miraflores – 146,159 votes (leading)
* William Lachica – 83,560 votes
* Willie Tolentino – 2,102 votes
* Rayam Torres – 713 votes
Incumbent Gov. Florencio Miraflores is retiring from politics. Joen is his son.
Antique’s Cadiao thanked the Antiqueños.
“Salamat sa full and trust and confidence. I am happy that it’s a landslide win. It proves na Antiqueños are happy with our governance,” said Cadiao.
Meanwhile, in the race for vice governor in Region 6, leading as of 11 p.m. were the following:
For Iloilo
* Vice Gov. Christine Garin (unopposed reelectionist) – 525,407 votes
For Antique
* Vice Gov. Edgar Denosta (reelectionist) – 81,546 votes
For Guimaras
* Vice Gov. John Edward Gando (reelectionist) – 30,154 votes
For Aklan
* Vice Gov. Reynaldo Quimpo (reelectionist) – 100,892 votes
For Negros Occidental
* Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer (reelectionist) – 605,217 votes
For Capiz
* Vice Gov. James Mitang Magbanua (reelectionist) – 138,437votes/PN
