Roco lands 4th in Hermie’s turf

CONCEPCION, Tarlac — Former Sen. Raul Roco, Alyansa ng Pag-asa’s presidential standard bearer, landed a poor fourth in this hometown of martyred former Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and political bailiwick of Roco’s running mate, former Tarlac vice governor Herminio "Hermie" Aquino.

Hermie Aquino himself lost by more than 6,000 votes to the administration’s vice presidential bet, Sen. Noli de Castro.

The final canvassing of votes in this town by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed that Roco only got 1,886 votes, while televangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva, whom he often referred to as his "friend," even overtook him by 820 votes.

Days prior to Monday’s polls, efforts to unite the forces of Roco and Villanueva collapsed.

President Arroyo overwhelmingly won in this town, with 34,856 votes. Tailing her by a wide margin was action star and opposition standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr. who got 10,293 votes.

Independent presidential candidate, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, trailed behind Villanueva with only 1,803 votes.

Notably, Poe’s candidacy in the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) was being backed by Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta, while Lacson was supported by Makati City Rep. Agapito Aquino, both siblings of Ninoy.

Meanwhile, in the vice presidential race, Hermie Aquino only had 16,829 votes, while De Castro got as many as 22,949 votes.

Poe’s vice presidential running mate, outgoing Sen. Loren Legarda, landed third here with only 9,906 votes, despite the fact that she got support from Tarlac third district Rep. Jesli Lapus, of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Lapus, a native of this town, is a maternal relative of the Aquinos. The local NPC threw their support behind Legarda.

Rodolfo Paco, the least known vice presidential aspirant, even got three votes in this town.

Supporters of Roco and Hermie Aquino earlier predicted that the Alyansa ng Pag-asa tandem would get tremendous votes from this first-class municipality.

Before he was elected Tarlac vice governor in 1998, Hermie Aquino served as congressman in Tarlac’s third district — composed of this town and the municipalities of Bamban, Capas and La Paz — for three consecutive terms.

But he faded from the local political limelight in 2001 after he, then a candidate of the administration’s People Power Coalition (PPC), ended a poor third in the three-cornered Tarlac gubernatorial race.

Re-electionist Gov. Jose Yap, the NPC’s provincial chairman, won the 2001 gubernatorial race. Hermie Aquino trailed behind former Tarlac City mayor Gelacio Manalang in that fight.