TERESA D. ELLERA
September 6, 2018

THE official announcement if who will run for governor in Negros Occidental in 2019 between Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Third District Representative Alfredo Benitez will be held at the end of this month.

Lacson said on Wednesday, September 5, he met with Benitez Tuesday night, September 4, and that they will jointly make an announcement about their political plans for 2019.

He also said that Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. who heads the rival group, United Negros Alliance (Unega), and Benitez who leads the Love Negros had another round of meeting on Wednesday for the merger talks.

A SunStar Bacolod source said Unega will field Fourth District Representative Juliet Marie Ferrer for vice governor as her husband, former congressman Jeffrey Ferrer will make a comeback and replace her in their district.

As far as Love Negros is concerned, everything has been settled and that though the merger is still a priority, it would be Love Negros who will field the candidate for governor and Unega for vice governor.

Talks have it that Benitez is giving way to Lacson and that Lacson has already his blessings.

"I'm also as curious as you are. Any candidate cannot expect to be unopposed in an election," Lacson said when pressed for a comment that his candidacy for governor would be formally announced at end of this month.

Benitez has already said he is not running for senator.

Lacson also revealed that although the merger between Love Negros and Unega is very possible, it cannot be a perfect merger because there are several areas especially in the Third District where members of both groups will be clashing with each other in the 2019 elections.

The merger talk continues unless the talks don't go well but it is still towards the merger, he said. “We are making the best effort and we discussed it also last night. We are trying to resolve things in areas where there are conflicts. We will try to convince them but we cannot stop.”

One regional party

Lacson also said yesterday that Benitez who leads the Visayan Bloc in the House of Representatives is also pushing for One Visayas Region Political Party.

This means that leaders in the whole Visayan region covering Western, Central, and Eastern Visayas will have one political party.

All governors, mayors, vice mayors, and congressmen would be welcome to one regional political party, Lacson added.

Meanwhile, Lacson also revealed that Benitez told him that there are already moves in the Congress to postpone the filing of Certificate of Candidacy from October this year to January 2019.

"But I think it's not possible because it is also the start of the printing of ballots so maybe it would be moved to November this year," Lacson added.