2 months ago
12
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Nearly half of the positions in Bataan are uncontested. In Aurora, the uncontested positions will go to the bets of the Angaras' LDP
MANILA, Philippines – There are 58 candidates for governor, vice governor, representative, mayor and vice mayor in the seven provinces of Central Luzon, the second most vote-rich region in the Philippines for the 2025 midterm elections, indicating yet another capture by dynasties and political elites.
There are 298 positions for governor, vice governor, representative, mayor and vice mayor in Central Luzon, and 58 of them or 19% are uncontested, according to Rappler’s analysis of the latest face template ballots provided by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). It is subject to change in the event of withdrawal of candidacies.
In the 2022 elections, there were lesser – or 31 – positions sans challengers in Central Luzon. Uncontested positions are not a new phenomenon in Philippine elections, but it continues to worry electoral reform advocates.
“Uncontested elections usually result from political elites deciding who are going to occupy government posts, when it should be the people making the decision. That’s plain thievery of the peoples sovereign power,” said electoral reform specialist Luie Guia, a lawyer and former Comelec commissioner.
Philippine election laws require uncontested candidates to earn a minimum of one vote to secure the post, following the rule of plurality.
In the seven provinces of Central Luzon, Bataan has the most uncontested positions or 12 out of 29 posts without rivals, which is equivalent to 41% or nearly half. The Garcias and the Romans of Bataan will field unopposed candidates for representatives, mayors, and vice mayors.
Reelectionist 2nd district representive Albert Garcia, for example, is sure to get a new term. Garcia supported the company Central One when its complex in Bagac was raided on suspicions that it was running a scam hub. Central One is a partly foreign-owned company registered under the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) as a special class BPOs (business process outsourcing).
In Aurora, 7 of the 19 positions there are uncontested. The Angaras have secured their places for representative of the lone district, and for mayor and vice mayor of Baler. All of the other uncontested posts in the province will go to a bet of the Angaras’ Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).
Pampanga races
Pampanga has 12 out of 50 posts uncontested or 24%.
Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will easily secure her second term as Pampanga 2nd district representative out of her maximum successive three terms. But all in all, this would be her 5th term, having maximized the three terms from 2010 to 2019. She took a break from 2019 to 2022, before running again unopposed in 2022.
In Porac town, where a large scam hub was also raided, Mayor Jaime “Jing” Capil has filed his candidacy for reelection although it won’t be an easy ride because he was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman over the POGO issue just a few days after filing his COC (Certificate of Candidacy.) Suspensions – as are dismissals – are appealable to the Court of Appeals, and candidates who are suspended or dismissed exhaust all their resorts and are able to hold on to their positions for years despite facing cases whose penalties are removing them from office.
Capil is also working on political insurance now, fielding his daughter Trisha for Porac vice mayor. The Capil father-and-daughter tandem will face the bets of the Pineda’s Kambilan.
In Angeles City, former police chief retired general Oscar Albayalde will be running for mayor under the threat of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he’s been identified as one of five “under suspicion.”
Less uncontested posts
The province with the least number of uncontested posts is Tarlac, with only 2 of 41 posts, or 4.8%. The most crowded races there, each with 5 candidates, are for governor and mayor of Bamban. Bamban is infamous for electing Alice Guo as mayor in 2022, and who’s now been dismissed after multiple charges of graft, trafficking and money laundering over her ties to a POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operator) masking a scam hub. Guo has also been accused of being a Chinese spy, which she has denied.
The vote-rich province of Bulacan, which offers 2 million votes up for grabs, also has low percentage of uncontested positions, or only 5 out of 57.
Guia said political reforms should ensure that elections are more competitive, “meaning, less costly, provide equal access to reaching voters, reducing the influence of tools of violence,” he said. – Rappler.com
