NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Team Abante, led by re-elected Gov. Aris Aumentado earned a near-sweep in the top positions including two re-electionist congresswomen.
Gov. Aumentado earned a new mandate with 75.94 percent of Boholano voters rooting for him despite scathing attacks by his contender lawyer and former city mayor Dan Lim in a three-cornered fight for the province’s top seat.
But Lim only managed to get 20.71 percent of the Boholano votes, getting 153,748 against the re-elected governor’s 563,746 votes, while third candidate Erastus Leopando managed to get 24,852 votes or 3.35 percent of the vote share.
In the vice gubernatorial race, Nicanor Besas, an Abante candidate also enjoyed a 264,359-vote lead, against his closest rival in former Board Member Gerardo Garcia who only got 156,299 or 24.94 percent of the votes share, and Santos Abella’s 61,288 votes or 9.61 percent share.
Besas, who sat as ex-officio Board member for the Philippine Councilors League in the SP, garnered 420,658 votes to lead the province’s legislative head.
In the first district representatives to the SP, re-elected board member Lucille Lagunay took the first seat earning 118,275 or 18.67% of the district’s voting share from 14 towns and city, while Abante guest candidate Mutya Tirol claimed the second seat with her 118,125 votes or 18.64 percent share followed by the only non-Abante winner in lawyer and re-elected board member Vincenzo “Benjie” Arcamo, with 95,855 votes or 15.13 percent of the vote share for the district.
The Abante candidates unseated former BM Aldner Damalerio but failed to insert Goldie Herrera (PFP) and Willie Ramasola (IND).
The second district was a classic 3-0 sweep, which knocked off the seats of two board members from the opposition.
Lawyer and re-elected BM Jiselle Rae Villamor took the first of three seats after pooling 153,122 votes or 28.42 percent share from the 14 towns of the district while lawyer and former law professor Tomas Abapo earned a last term seat with 127,350 votes or 23.63 percent of the voting share and League of Municipalities being President Carlos P. Garcia mayor Fernando Estavilla hugged the last available seat after getting 118,707 votes or 22.03 percent of the District’s vote share.
The move threw off Vierna Mae Boniel-Maglasang from her seat.
In the third District SP representatives, it was an all Abante slate with vice governor Tita Baja claimed the first of four seats with a 167,099 votes or 21.34 percent of the 19 town’s vote pool, Dionisio Joseph Balite had 152,854 votes or 19.57 percent share; Greg Crispinito Jala got 130,729 or 16.73 for the third seat and Nathaniel Binlod clung to the last seat with 113,871 votes or 14.58 percent of the district’s vote share.
By this, former BM Elpidio Bonita was sidled out.
In the Congressional race, Congressman Edgar Chatto suffered the most disheartening setback in his entire political life when he was handed his first ever political debacle through Congressman-elect John Geesnell Yap III for Bohol’s First District.
Yap garnered an over-all 130,661 votes or got 46.84 percent of the district voters for a lead of 25,474 votes while Chatto got 105,187 votes or 37.71 percent of the vote share. It was a close contest.
For Bohol Congressional District II, Congresswoman-elect Maria Vanessa C Aumentado merited her second term mandate when she led against her rival some 137,411 vote difference.
Aumentado won with 187,719 votes or was the choice of 78.86 percent of the district voters while Engr. Modesto Membreve earned 50,308 or 21.14 percent of the district voters,
Meanwhile, in Bohol’s third Congressional District, incumbent Kristine Alexie Tutor realizes her third term dream with a commanding 113,431-vote lead against lawyer MacAldous Castañares.
Tutor got 184,280 votes or was opted by 72.23 percent of the district voters, while Castañares only got 70,849 or some 27.77 percent of the 19 towns pooled voters.
Yap, Aumentado and Tutor all belong to the Abante Congressional slate. (with reports from PIABohol)
