ILOILO City – Cong. Jerry Treñas yesterday predicted that his Team Uswag / National Unity Party ticket would dominate the elections for local positions by landslide on Monday, May 13.
His statement came in the wake of the recent endorsements by three big religious organizations – Iloilo Baptist Church, Dios Gugma and Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) – affirming their commitment for Treñas for mayor, Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda for congresswoman and Jeffrey Ganzon for vice mayor.
The block-voting INC has around 20,000 voters or the equivalent of five percent of the city’s voting population.
Treñas has topped all eight surveys in the race for mayor, just like his teammates Baronda for congresswoman and Ganzon for vice mayor.
Each of the eight surveys had 600 random face-to-face respondents spread out across the barangays of the districts of Jaro, La Paz, City Proper, Arevalo, Mandurriao, Lapuz, and Molo.
“The combined support of the religious groups and the consistent results of eight surveys in our favor,” Treñas stressed, “are already sufficient indicators of our advantage over the two groups led by mayoral candidates Jose Espinosa III and Pacita Gonzalez.”
Gonzalez is perceived to have given up her quest for the mayorship with the sudden break-up of her “AlGoNa” group, which refers to Councilor Joshua Alim, herself and Councilor Plaridel Nava running for congressman, mayor and vice mayor, respectively. She must have realized the futility of further spending millions of pesos of hard-earned money (she is into poultry business) for the group.
Gonzalez having made no explanation on the group’s break-up, her candidates are themselves at a loss on how to explain it. What is obvious so far is the pivot of Alim and Nava to Espinosa’s ticket despite the fact that Espinosa has his own “anointees,” namely former councilor Perla Zulueta for congresswoman and Councilor R Leone Gerochi for vice mayor.
Strangely also, Zulueta and Gerochi have made no comment about the above circumstance.
It was for that reason that during the grand rally of Team Uswag at Jaro Plaza on Tuesday, Treñas chided Espinosa for “having two candidates for congressman and two also for vice mayor.”
In a number of radio interviews, Alim avoided campaigning for Gonzalez; he campaigned only for himself and Nava.
“It’s up to you to choose your candidate for mayor,” he said in futile attempt to hide his new alliance.
Last-minute attempts by Gonzalez’s forsaken team to win the support of barangay captains have proved futile as these village leaders have already aligned themselves with Treñas’ Team Uswag.
The eighth and final survey commissioned by DyFM Bombo Radyo and conducted by Random Access Consultants, Inc. (RACI) from April 27 to 28, 2019 showed Treñas leading the mayoral race with 62.7% of the respondents. Trailing way behind were Espinosa with 27.2% and Gonzalez with 7%. The negligible percentages were either undecided or divided among Mel Carreon, Steve Abitang, Rudy Bantolo and Efren Gimeo.
For vice mayor, Treñas’ running mate under Team Uswag, Ganzon, remains the front runner with 54.5% of the surveyed respondents; followed by Nava with 29.7% and Gerochi with 3.5%.
In the congressional race, it’s also Team Uswag’s Baronda leading with 59.3%; followed by Alim, 32%; and Zulueta, 7%.
The seventh RACI survey for mayor in Iloilo City (March 30 and 31, 2019) gave Treñas a majority advantage of 63.8%, way ahead of Espinosa with 26.7%; and Gonzalez, 6.3%.
RACI’s survey for congressman placed Treñas’ lady ally, Baronda, getting a 56.7% majority, and so is on the verge of becoming Iloilo City’s first lady representative to the House. Trailing behind are Alim with 32.5% and Zulueta with 8.8%.
The Treñas/Baronda leads have been consistent since the first RACI survey done on March 16 to 18, 2018. Treñas bagged 63.7% against Espinosa’s 24.7%.
The second survey on July 27 to 29, 2018 showed Treñas way ahead with 62.2%; and first runner-up Espinosa trailed behind with 29.5%.
In these first two surveys, candidate Gonzalez had not yet declared her decision to run.
In the third survey (Sept. 14 to 16, 2018), Treñas slid down to 60.2%; so did Espinosa to 27.3%. Gonzalez, included for the first time, was on third with 10.3%.
The fourth survey (Nov. 24 to 25, 2018) gave 58% to Treñas, 28.3 percent to Espinosa and 9.5% to Gonzalez.
The fifth survey (this time by Accu-Poll, December 2018) upped Treñas to 59% while Espinosa went down to 21% and Gonzalez to 7%.
Treñas picked up his highest percentage at 64.2% in the sixth survey (Feb. 16-17, 2019); Espinosa, 23.3%; and Gonzalez, 7.8%.
Asked for comment on why he has maintained his popularity, Treñas quipped, “It’s because I have done my best in serving my constituents.”
Before joining the House of Representatives in 2010, Treñas had served as councilor; and then for three terms as mayor in the elections of 2004, 2007 and 2010.
He won three successive terms for congressman thereafter.
In 2006, he launched the slogan “Iloilo City: Premier City by 2015.” There is now no doubt he did the ground work for making it come true.
“I predict that by the year 2028,” Treñas said, “given good governance, Iloilo City would have inevitably gained national recognition as one of the top three best urbanized cities in the country in terms of livability, competitiveness, viability and governance practice.
“For the city to further prosper, we have to keep the people healthy and well-equipped to earn a living. We have to build a hospital for the poor, upgrade our public markets to level up with the malls, complete drainage projects, build high-rise condominiums as relocation sites and build senior-citizen and youth centers.”/PN
