BACOLOD City – Lone district Rep. Evelio R. Leonardia said his Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC)-Grupo Progreso is “the real team to beat in the 2016 polls.” “The slate is composed of veteran politicians and proven vote-getters—re-electionists and returnees, new faces, strong sectoral representations, as well as tested leaders,” Leonardia said. The congressman is a former four-term mayor who rose from being No. 1 councilor in 1988 to congressman in 2013. Leonardia said this was the strongest political cast he has assembled in his career. Although the slate is composed mostly of members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, it has representatives from different parties such as the Liberal Party, the Nacionalista Party, and Partido Paglaum. Two of aspirants are running for their last terms in the city council: lawyer and former Sangguniang Kabataan crusader Caesar Distrito (NP) and top Lions International leader Em Ang (NPC). Four of them, including Leonardia, have the distinction of having been elected No. 1 councilor in the past. They are congressional aspirant Greg Gasataya (NPC), vice-mayoralty bet El Cid Familiaran (LP) and former vice-mayor Rene Novero (NPC), who is now running for councilor. As if to prove their vote-getting powers were no fluke, Novero, Gasataya and Familiaran had twice topped the council polls in their own right. Interestingly, five of them used to be with the rival MKK camp: Familiaran, Novero, Elmer Sy, George Zulueta and Marlon Solidum. Five bets on the ticket are returnees to the city council: tourism entrepreneur and former transportation assistant secretary Ricardo “Cano Gwapo” Tan, CPA-lawyer and three-term councilor Dindo Ramos, veteran lawyer Rene Novero, four-term councilor businessman Al Victor Espino, and Elmer Sy of the Sy Group of Companies. Even the five relative newcomers in the slate have proven themselves to be political attractions: Bart Orola, brother of former Congressman John Orola, ended up No. 13 in the last elections and Bacolod City College Alumni Association president Israel Salanga was No. 14 in the last elections. Former Lions Club president Cindy Rojas will replace her husband who won three consecutive terms. Broadcaster Marlon Solidum has a following for his exposés on the Puentevella administration. He is billed as “The Insider," who was once privy to the inner workings of the Puentevella administration. Business executive and professor George Zulueta is identified with the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) and the Montelibano-founded Partido Paglaum. In recognition of the strong Filipino-Chinese political and business clout in the city, four of the candidates are from Chinese clans: Rojas, Tan, Sy, and Ang.
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