BACOLOD City – Two mayoralty candidates here, incumbent Evelio Leonardia and billionaire businessman Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the May 2022 polls at the Commission on Elections Office here.
Leonardia filed his COC with incumbent Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran. Both are seeking reelection for their last term.
Their 12 bets for the local legislature were incumbent Cindy Rojas, Dindo Ramos, Renecito Novero, Israel Salanga, Archie Baribar, and Carlos Jose Lopez; former councilor Em Ang, Cash Montalvo, Jonathan Diaz, Marlon Solidum, Ed Guillem, and Dr. Chris Sorongon.
Leonardia will run under the Nacionalista Party (NP). He was then a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). He also leads the Grupo Progreso, a local political group in this city.
On the other hand, Benitez’s COC was filed by his legal counsel Andrie Norman Saril.
Benitez, who leads the Asenso for Better Bacolod (ABB) and a former congressman of the 3rd District of Negros Occidental, tandems with lawyer Caesar Distrito, a three-termer former councilor of this city.
The candidates under ABB were: former councilors Homer Bais, Sonya Verdeflor, Claudio Jesus Raymundo Puentevella, and Celia Flor; incumbent councilors Bartolome Orola, Al Victor Espino and Simplicia Distrito; Barangay Sum-ag Sangguniang Kabataan chairman Jayson Villarosa; former 3rd District Board Member Patrick Lacson; former vice mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson; businessman Vladimir Gonzales, and Pao Sy.
Leonardia and Benitez both have no candidate for congressman./PN
