Maliksi nixes holding of special poll

Cavite Gov. Ireneo Maliksi, along with mayors of the province’s third congressional district, launched yesterday a campaign to do away with a special poll to elect a replacement for Rep. Napoleon Beratio who died two weeks ago.

"There is a consensus among the mayors (of the third district) to ask Speaker Jose de Venecia to designate one of Cavite’s two remaining congressmen to take over from Beratio instead of holding a special election," Maliksi said in a breakfast forum.

Maliksi was accompanied by Mayors Albert Abagan of Amadeo, Lope Tepora of Indang, Monte Andaman of Maragondon and Filomeno Maligaya of Magallanes.

The mayors emphasized that majority of the district’s 11 mayors supported Maliksi’s proposal to do away with a special election.

Under the law, special elections may be held to elect a replacement for a deceased member of Congress but Maliksi cited the case of Bulacan when De Venecia appointed another congressman when Rep. Teodulo Natividad died several years ago.

Maliksi said holding a special congressional election for the third district would not only be expensive for the national government but also divisive for the province so soon after the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

"Even in a small district, the government will have to spend P50 million for an election," he said, adding that the candidates themselves, who usually spend P20 million for a congressional seat, would have to spend three times the usual amount. — Francis Lagniton