Padaca ally nixes gov bid

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines  – Hopes yesterday ended for the ruling Liberal Party to pit a formidable opponent against incumbent Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy III after the closest ally of former governor Grace Padaca decided to substitute instead a candidate for vice mayor in his fourth-class municipality of Gamu.

Political observers were hoping that third-term Mayor Fernando Cumigad would substitute for Padaca’s younger brother Marlo Angelo, 47, before the deadline yesterday.

Padaca’s brother filed his certificate of candidacy for governor last October, but observers expected that he would eventually be substituted by his sister, now a Commission on Elections commissioner, or Cumigad.

Meanwhile, Cumigad’s wife Marilou stays as vice gubernatorial candidate against businessman Tonypet Albano. – Raymund Catindig, Charlie Lagasca