Josons lose 15-year hold on Ecija congressional turf

CABANATUAN CITY , Philippines   â€“ The wife of Bureau of Customs Deputy Commissioner Horacio Suansing has won the race in the first congressional district of Nueva Ecija, beating a member of the Joson clan that has ruled the district in five elections over the last 15 years.

Outgoing senior board member Estrellita Suansing was proclaimed congresswoman-elect by the Provincial Board of Canvassers after tallying 90 percent of the votes in the district.

Suansing, a close ally of re-elected Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali at the Unang Sigaw Partido ng Pagbabago, post 109,059 votes to win over Quezon Mayor Mariano Cristino Joson of the Nationalist People’s Coalition-Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (NPC-Balane) and independent candidate, former two-term congressman Renato Diaz.

The district has been dominated by the Josons since 1998 when Joson’s wife, Josefina Manuel-Joson, won her first term as congresswoman. She won re-election in 2001 and 2004.

In 2007, Manuel-Joson’s brother-in-law Eduardo Nonato Joson – a former governor, congressman and assemblyman – was elected representative with a win over Diaz.

In 2010, Manuel-Joson squared off anew with Diaz and won a fresh three-year term.

In the same district, re-electionist board member Eduardo Rey Joson, son of Eduardo Nonato, topped the Sangguniang Panlalawigan race.

Suansing is one of two congressional neophytes to have won. The other is Magnolia Antonino-Nadres, daughter of outgoing fourth district Rep. Rodolfo Antonino.

Antonino-Nadres won handily over two-time San Leonardo Mayor Froilan Nagano, former two-term congresswoman Julita Lorenzo-Villareal, and former San Isidro mayor Sonia Lorenzo.

Reps. Joseph Gilbert Violago and Czarina Umali, the governor’s wife, won fresh terms in the second and third congressional districts, respectively.