BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – Former Iloilo governor Niel Tupas Sr. may have doomed the congressional hopes of his son, Vice Gov. Raul Tupas.
The Tupas patriarch has finally spoken after months of silence.
Cong. Niel “Jun-jun” Tupas Jr. has the last say on who should be the next representative of the 5th District in Congress, the elder Tupas said.
The vice governor is setting his eyes on the post that his three-termer congressman brother is vacating next year. But the 5th District representative has already made it clear he wanted his wife, Atty. Yvonne Angeli Lee-Tupas to be his successor.
During Barotac Viejo’s recent fiesta, the former governor urged supporters to rally behind whoever Cong. Tupas Jr. will endorse.
Yesterday over DyOK Aksyon Radyo, Tupas Sr. reiterated his statement.
“Sia ang may poder mag-endorso kon sin-o ang mabulos sa iya,” the former governor said.
Asked if he is going to support his daughter-in-law, Yvonne for congresswoman, the Tupas patriarch replied: “Kay sia ang leader ta sa 5th District, kon sin-o ang i-endorsar ni Cong. Tupas suportahan ko.”
For the past four months, the former governor’s position on who in the family should run for Congress in the 5th District was unclear.
Several siblings were reportedly opposed to Cong. Tupas Jr.’s plan to let his wife succeed him.
“They don’t want to be bullied this time,” a source told Panay News in February this year, referring to the congressman’s siblings.
Cong. Tupas Jr. already told his constituents he wanted a lawyer to be his successor.
His younger brother, the vice governor, is a military man by training, being a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy.
That same month, the congressman’s sister, Tweety Tupas-Balleza took to Facebook her misgivings.
“Where did the idea of having the wife replace him come from? If we just went with the flow and respected the order of things eh, di sana walang gulo…You expected us to just sit and keep quiet? Hello!?” she posted.
Tupas-Balleza was rooting for Vice Gov. Tupas to be the next congressman of the district. He should be “next in line,” she insisted.
Cong. Tupas Jr. just laughed off his sister’s “Facebook rant,” saying: “We value and love the members of our family but family matters are separate and distinct from politics.”
Politics is public service and not for personal interest, according to the congressman.
In another Facebook post in February, Tupas-Balleza stated: “We helped in the district and it’s not exclusive to Jun-jun and (his wife) Gel. We’ve helped in his campaigns, too. So, if we react to who’s gonna be the next, it’s because we have concern to do so.”
She further whipped up a storm of political intrigue for posting on Facebook “NO TO IN-LAWS!’”
According to Tupas-Balleza, their other siblings prefer the vice governor to succeeded Cong. Tupas.
“(Jun-jun) had his nine years; the (maximum successive) years possible (for a congressman to serve), so if he wanted change, he would have made a difference (in the 5th District) already,” she stressed./PN
