Being the light to others

BALER, Aurora – As expected, the Angaras of this province ruled local politics, with four of five candidates winning in the May 14 elections.

Re-electionist Sen. Edgardo Angara, his younger sister, re-electionist Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, his son House Deputy Minority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara and re-electionist Baler Mayor Arthur Angara all won in the polls.

A fifth Angara, Rommel Rico Teh, was not as lucky though as he lost in the vice gubernatorial race in the province, averting an Angara-Angara tandem at the Capitol.

Sen. Angara topped the senatorial elections in this province, garnering 53,303 votes while Rep. Angara, who run unopposed obtained 53,091 votes.

Gov. Angara-Castillo of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) won a fresh mandate by beating Ruben Tud Dela Cruz of PDP-Laban. Angara-Castillo obtained 50,847 votes to Dela Cruz’s 14,539 or a difference of 36,308.

Dela Cruz, a professor of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), ran and lost to Rep. Angara in the 2004 congressional race by 45,162 votes.

In the vice gubernatorial derby, Rommel, son of former Baler mayor Joselito Angara  lost to prominent lawyer Gerardo Noveras, younger brother of former vice governor Isaac Noveras, an Angara ally.

The younger Noveras of the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) tallied 34,197 votes to Rommel’s 32,379 votes or a margin of 1,818.

The Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBC) composed of provincial election supervisor Rando Cot-om, provincial prosecutor Jesse Pimentel and Gereno Antonio of the Department of Education (DepEd) proclaimed the Angaras and Noveras Thursday.

Noveras won only in his hometown of Ma. Aurora and in the towns of Dipaculao and Dilasag while Rommel won in the towns of Dingalan, Dinalungan, Casiguran, San Luis and in this town, his hometown.

However, the bulk of Noveras’ votes came from Ma. Aurora where he got a 4,149-vote advantage over Rommel.

Rommel’s biggest margin on a per town basis was in Dingalan where he beat Noveras by a vote of 4,009 to 2,662 or an edge of 1,347. However, voter turnout in the known Angara bailiwick was very low at only 60 percent, according to Eva Asuncion of the Aurora Comelec’s reception and custody group.