GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/10 May) — The family of boxing icon and outgoing Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao has remained a dominant force in local politics here and nearby province.
This, as two younger brothers of the eight-division world boxing champion, who is already entrenched at the top 12 in the senatorial race, also scored big wins in Monday’s general elections.
Former boxer Alberto “Bobby” Pacquiao placed second in the city council race here after garnering a total of 95,092 votes based on the final and official tally released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here.
Bobby, an incumbent councilor of Barangay Labangal, ran under the People’s Champ Movement (PCM), a local political party founded by Rep. Pacquiao.
He trailed top councilor Elizabeth Bagonoc of the Liberal Party-Achiever’s with Integrity Movement (LP-AIM), by just 32 votes.
Bobby said he had only aimed to land a spot in the city council and did not expect the second-place finish.
But he said he worked hard during the campaign along with the other members of the city’s PCM slate.
“This is God’s will. I prayed and really worked for this,” he told reporters.
In Sarangani, Rep. Pacquiao’s younger brother and anointed replacement, Rogelio, is leading by a huge margin in the race for the province’s lone congressional seat.
As of noon Tuesday, partial and unofficial results showed Rogelio already getting 140,864 votes, with 98.99 percent of the votes cast already processed.
Independent bet Elson Formoso only got 13,828 votes while Jamby Orig of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and Victor Mejia of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan received 6,269 and 2,703 votes, respectively.
Rogelio is a former chair of Barangay Apopong here and represented the Liga ng mga Barangay in the city council.
But he vacated these posts in October last year after transferring his residence to Alabel town in Sarangani in preparation for his congressional run.
Meantime, in the gubernatorial race, incumbent Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon of the PCM is leading the pack with 138,073 votes.
His closest rival, Mohamad Aquia of the Liberal Party (LP), only received 27,353 votes so far. Businessman Juan Domino of the NPC notched 14,974 votes.
Solon’s running mate, outgoing senior board member Elmer de Peralta, is way ahead in the vice gubernatorial race with 107,058 votes over lone rival, retired police general Willie Dangane, who got 36,348 votes.
The PCM’s slate is also poised to take the 10 contested provincial board seats in the province’s first and second districts. (MindaNews)