ILOILO City – Opposition councilor Joshua Alim is running for congressman in next year’s midterm election.
His candidate for mayor is Dr. Pacita Gonzalez, wife of the late congressman and Justice secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr.
Their vice mayoral candidate is Councilor Plaridel Nava.
They are the “third force” in next year’s polls, according to Nava.
They wanted an alliance with Mayor Jose Espinosa III, said Nava, but the mayor appeared unwilling to discuss their political direction.
“A number of times I tried to open up this scenario to the mayor and to his chief of staff, my kumpare Jojo Castro, but to no avail. Almost always the response was not definitive enough. They said they needed more time to decide,” said Nava.
The filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2019 midterm election is next month.
Nava said they remain open to have an alliance with Espinosa and in this set-up, either Dr. Pacita Gonzalez or daughter Marigold would be their coalition’s vice mayoral candidate.
Nava said he is more than willing to give way to Dr. Marigold Gonzalez, recalling that he previous announced he was planning to retire from politics.
“I don’t want to break such promise and ruin my word of honor,” said Nava.
Espinosa is running for mayor but is being courted by Cong. Jerry Treñas (candidate for mayor) to be the latter’s candidate for congressman instead.
Elected vice mayor in 2016, Espinosa became this city’s mayor by operation of law – when then mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog was dismissed in October last year by the Office of the Ombudsman for unexplained wealth.
One three-year term as mayor – his own term – is good enough already, according to Espinosa.
He expressed confidence of achieving what he has set out to do for the city in three years such as rehabilitating public markets and building a sports arena.
“Kon maglawig-lawig pa ‘ko kay indi pa ‘ni akon term (I wish to be given a little more time because this isn’t my term),” said Espinosa./PN
