Lapid likely to get 95% of Pampanga votes

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — It pays to be an underdog.

Gov. Lito Lapid seems to have reaped the fruit of his underdog image during the two years of the Estrada administration as tabulated votes from 4,278 out of 5,019 precincts in the province showed he would muster no less than 95 percent of local votes.

This would surpass his 79 and 87 percent votes in the 1995 and 1998 elections, respectively.

Yesterday’s partial, unofficial count of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) tallied 423,870 votes for Lapid versus his rival Bacolor Mayor Ananias Canlas’ 30,391 votes. Lapid is with the Lakas-NUCD, and Canlas with the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Namfrel figures also showed a similar trend for Lapid’s vice gubernatorial running mate, presidential son Mikey Arroyo, who got 403,841 votes as of noon yesterday.

Mikey, however, ran unopposed after movie actor Roi Vinzon backed out to support him.

With the Namfrel tabulations almost complete, it is likely that all incumbent congressmen in Pampanga’s four districts will be proclaimed winners.

They are second district Rep. Zenaida Ducut (NPC) with 82,011 votes; first district Rep. Francis Nepomuceno (NPC) with 44,363 votes; third district Rep. Oscar Rodriguez (Lakas-NUCD) with 83,534 votes; and fourth district Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc (NPC) with 103,250 votes. Bondoc was unopposed in his re-election bid.

In the provincial board race, the topnotchers in the Namfrel count were Cris Garbo and Joseller "Yeng" Guiao in the first district, Liberty Lim and Lubao Mayor Lilia Pineda in the second district, Robert David and Ferdinand Labung in the third district, and Nestor Tolentino and Edgardo Simon in the fourth district.

Latest figures showed that Pineda was way ahead of other provincial board candidates with 70,622 votes, followed by Tolentino with 66,144 votes.

In the senatorial race, the 12-1 trend in favor of People Power Coalition (PPC) senatorial bets seems likely to persist with only independent candidate Noli de Castro squeezing into the list in the 13th slot.

The gap between De Castro and 14th placer Liwayway Chato of the PPC widened to 41,304 votes yesterday.