Durano brod is new Cebu congressman

CEBU — It was almost a foregone conclusion prior to Monday’s special election in Cebu’s fifth congressional district.

Ramon "Red" Durano VI won by a landslide over his two rivals to keep the congressional seat which his younger brother Joseph Ace gave up in favor of the tourism portfolio in the Cabinet of President Arroyo.

The win thus made Red the third from his branch of the Durano family to hold the fifth congressional district seat after Joseph Ace and their father, Ramon "Nito" Durano III, now the mayor of Danao City.

Prior to Nito, the congressional seat was held at length by the clan’s patriarch, Ramon Durano Sr., who was responsible for entrenching the clan as the district’s political and economic overlord.

While his other children held various political positions in the district, the congressional seat appeared to have been reserved for Nito, who held it for three terms before passing it on to Joseph Ace, who was into his second term when Mrs. Arroyo plucked him to join her official family.

Red was proclaimed winner late Tuesday afternoon by the provincial board of canvassers after winning in all 891 precincts in the district’s 10 towns and one city with a total of 113,589 votes compared to the 4,345 of Dean Severo Dosado and the 1,711 of Wilfredo Tuadles.

So improbable did the prospect of winning seem to Dosado that even before the first votes were cast on Monday, Dosado was already quoted as having said he did not think he was going to win.

To underscore that thinking, Dosado no longer bothered to post watchers during both the election and the canvassing.

Tuadles similarly did not field any watchers, but refrained from issuing any statement.

Red was scheduled to take his oath of office yesterday before his father, Mayor Nito Durano of Danao City, and again on Monday before Speaker Jose de Venecia.

Red is expected to make his first official appearance at the House of Representatives when Congress resumes regular session in July.

The special election was marked by a low voter turnout of only 48.56 percent, but Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial election supervisor Edwin Cadungog refused to take the blame.

Cadungog said enough information was disseminated on the special election, adding that he believes the reason for the low turnout is that the people simply did not feel like voting.

He said the non-inclusion of other areas outside the fifth district in the special holiday declared may have contributed to the reluctance of those working in these areas to absent themselves from work just to vote.

During the campaign period, there were virtually no campaign materials from any of the three candidates, thus contributing to the subdued atmosphere, Cadungog said.

Dosado later described the exercise as a waste of government money and blamed Joseph Ace for it for causing the vacancy.

Comelec regional director Salud Aliganga said the government spent P6 million for the exercise — P3 million for the printing of ballots and other election paraphernalia, and P2.9 million for the honoraria of the board of election inspectors. — Freeman News Service