 |
| Jaime Almera |
MALOLOS
CITY—A Bulacan gubernatorial candidate announced on Saturday his plans to
withdraw his candidacy within this week.
If
it will push through, the gubernatorial race in the province will be a
one-on-one battle between incumbent Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado and
independent candidate Ernesto Balite.
Jaime
Almera, another independent gubernatorial candidate announced his plans to
withdraw from the race on Saturday.
He
made the announcement on his Facebook account saying, “iwi-withdraw ko na yung
aking COC filed for Governor of Bulacan this coming week.”
While
he did not state his reasons for his withdrawal, Almera said that his decision
is final and apologized to his friends and followers.
The
plan to withdraw came a week after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in
Bulacan initiated an investigation on apparent nuisance candidates in the
province.
Last
October 20, Lawyer Elmo Duque, the provincial election supervisor of Bulacan
has a one-on-one conference with six independent candidates who filed their
Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for provincial elective posts.
The
said independent candidates included Almera and Balite who are both filed their
COC for governor.
If
Almera’s plan to withdraw his candidacy, it will his second time in eight years
to withdraw from the gubernatorial race.
In
2004, Almera filed his COC for governor but his father withdrew it with his
consent.
On
Saturday morning, Gov. Alvarado said in his weekly radio program that running virtually
unopposed in the 2013 polls have its own benefits as far as governance is
concerned.
He
said that absence of strong contender will allow him to focus on local governance
with political will, noting that it usually suffer during election.
This
is due to political accommodation as politicians avoid voter’s disappointments
by rejecting their requests.
“Pag
halalan, puro suyuan iyan para hindi magtampo ang mga botante,” the governor
said.
No comments:
Post a Comment