Bejo Romualdez winning as Tacloban City mayor

TACLOBAN CITY — Alfredo "Bejo" Romualdez, younger brother of former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, appears headed for a third and final term as this city’s mayor.

As of the latest count, Romualdez was leading his lone opponent, Wilson Chan, by a wide margin.

Outgoing Leyte Gov. Remedios Petilla is now in a thank-you mode as she chalks up a landslide win over former National Food Authority head Charlie Avila in Leyte’s first congressional district.

"I am so thankful and grateful to all the people who supported me. But more than anything else, I am also thankful for their support for Icot," she said.

Petilla was referring to her son Jericho who was leading the Leyte gubernatorial race against former Rep. Sergio Apostol of Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats).

Based on the partial counts of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), Apostol was leading the young Petilla in the second district, the former congressman’s bailiwick.

But Apostol was suffering defeat in the first (except Tacloban City), third, fourth and fifth districts.

Also headed for victory was Petilla’s sister, fifth district Rep. Carmen Cari, and nephew Carlos Loreto as mayor of Baybay town.

In Northern Samar, incumbent Gov. Raul Daza was garnering a wide margin over his rival, Sixto Balaquit. The partial and unofficial Namfrel count showed Daza with 89,000 votes against Balaquit’s 31,000.

In Samar’s second congressional district, incumbent Rep. Eduardo Nachura was losing by a slight margin to former Rep. Catalino Figueroa.

In the first congressional district, on the other hand, re-electionist Rep. Reynaldo Uy was leading over Rodolfo Tuazon.