GMA birthday wish for 13-0 PPC win in Pampanga granted — almost!

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The common birthday wishes of President Arroyo and her son, Mikey, from their cabalens for a 13-0 victory for People Power Coalition (PPC) senatorial candidates will probably not be fulfilled — but only by a hairline.

Figures obtained by the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) here from 2,812 out of 5,021 precincts in this province indicated yesterday a 12-1 victory for the administration candidates, with independent candidate Noli de Castro dislodging PPC’s Liwayway Chato from the 13th slot by a big margin of 43,426 votes between them.

The President, when she spent her 53rd birthday in Pampanga last April 5, asked her cabalens to give her as birthday gift a 13-0 victory for the PPC candidates.

Her eldest son Mikey, who is likely to be proclaimed winner in the vice gubernatorial race, together with running mate Gov. Lito Lapid, expressed the same wish during his birthday here last April 26.

Fr. Sol Gabriel, a Namfrel official in Angeles City, said the 12-0 trend in favor of PPC candidates is likely to persist to the last count of election returns.

"It’s a reflection of how intelligent voters have become," he said.

Artemio Lambino, provincial supervisor of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said six mayoral bets and other candidates have already been proclaimed winners in the towns of Sto. Tomas, San Simon, Bacolor, Sasmuan, Porac and Magalang.

Proclaimed mayoral winners were newcomers Lucas Arceo (Kampi) of Sto. Tomas, Rodrigo Canlas (LDP) of San Simon, Romeo Dungca (NPC) of Bacolor, and re-electionists Pastor Guiao (Lakas-NUCD) of Magalang, Exequiel Gamboa (Lakas-NUCD) of Porac, and Catalina Bagasina (LDP) of Sasmuan.

Comelec officials said Lakas-NUCD mayors Rey Aquino of this city, Carmelo Lazatin of Angeles City, and Arthur Salalia of Sta. Rita will also be proclaimed winners anytime.

Political observers noted that mayors known to have been supported by Mikey, including Azor Sitchon of San Simon and Santiago Yabut of Minalin, lost their re-election bids.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) cited Namfrel tabulations indicating that five of six incumbent governors in Central Luzon are likely to be re-elected with wide margins over their closest rivals.

Apart from Lapid, the other winning re-electionist governors are Josie de la Cruz (Lakas-NUCD) of Bulacan, unopposed Leonardo Roman (NPC) of Bataan, Tomas Joson (Balane-Lakas ng Nueva Ecija) of Nueva Ecija, and Jose "Apeng" Yap (NPC) of Tarlac.

Zambales PIA manager Lito Abuan said certificates of election returns from various precincts showed a close race between Gov. Vicente Magsaysay (NPC) and former Rep. Antonio Diaz (Lakas-NUCD).

Namfrel’s Pampanga tabulation indicated the winning PPC senatorial bets in the following order: Joker Arroyo, Francis Pangilinan, Juan Flavier, Manuel Villar, Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Sergio Osmeña, Wigberto Tañada, Robert Pagdanganan, Winnie Monsod and Ernesto Herrera. De Castro landed in the 13th slot, followed by PPC’s Liwayway Chato.

In the race for provincial board seats, Lubao Mayor Lilia Pineda, wife of suspected gambling lord Bong Pineda, topped the list in the second district, while basketball coach Joseller "Yeng" Guiao was running third for the two contested seats in the first district. — With Ric Sapnu