The widow of slain Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo has crossed political districts to contest the Congressional seat of the main suspect in her husband’s murder.
Janice Vallega-Degamo, mayor of Pamplona town in the 2nd District, has filed her Certificate of Candidacy Tuesday for Representative of the 3rd District.
The post was left by Cong. Arnie Teves who was expelled by the House of Representatives last year. The Congress had sanctioned Teves for “failing to return to the Philippines to face charges of being the mastermind” in Degamo’s assassination in the March 2023 Pamplona massacre.
Speaking to supporters after a holy mass at her husband’s tomb in their seaside family compound in barangay Bonawon, Siaton, before filing her candidacy, Mayor Degamo said she was doing this for her husband.
“I’m doing this for you (pointing at the slain Governor’s tomb), I’m doing this because I want to live in peace,” she said. “If no one would dare take that challenge, where will we be in the coming days?”
Family and supporters had been asking Mayor Degamo via social media to run for governor instead.
“If there’s someone who sees it all, I know God sees it all, and Roel in heaven understands my decision,” she said. Degamo had taken her oath of membership with the Lakas-CMD before Speaker Romualdez in Manila.
“We’re still okay now because we have not been threatened yet, no one has grabbed your respective properties yet, but always remember what happened to Roel: he was gunned down when he was Governor, right in his house like a gated fortress with high fences, CCTV cameras, guards everywhere. But these people just entered our compound and gunned down my husband while he was serving the people,” she recalled.
“I’m saying this not because I want attention but because I have basis for saying these things. Roel left behind many people who had many land-grabbing problems that he helped solve,” she said.
“I hope those people who sympathized with Roel will not exchange it for politics. Let’s be consistent when we say we would love to live in peace, and yet go with the people who brought cruelty and danger and aggression to the people. That is my challenge to everyone,” Degamo said
The other candidates for the 3rd District of Negros Oriental are Janice Teves-Gaston and Reynaldo Lopez (Ind).
Meanwhile, with 2nd District Rep. Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria completing his third political term, he has filed his COC for Dumaguete City mayor.
Sagarbarria will be running against the incumbent Mayor’s son, Atty. Felipe Claudio “Dio” Remollo (Liberal), a young Manila-based chief of staff of Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Sagarbarria was Dumaguete City Mayor from 2010-2016. Under his watch, Dumaguete was voted one of the world’s best places to retire by Forbes Magazine, attracting several foreign retirees to make Dumaguete their home.
His wife, Dumaguete Vice Mayor Ma. Isabel Longa-Sagarbarria, will be competing with Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo for the post of 2nd District representative.
The other candidates for the 2nd District are Jimmy Merto (Ind) and Ryan Bustos (Ind).
Sagarbarria’s son and namesake, incumbent Gov. Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria, has filed his COC for his first term as governor, having succeeded two officials before him — Degamo and Carlo Reyes who died one after the other.
Aside from Governor Chaco, the gubernatorial race will be a six-way fight with former Cong. Pryde Henry Teves (Liberal) and four newcomers: Glendol Badon, Josemarie Jaos, Alexander Larita, and Stephen Tuballa.
For the vice gubernatorial race, the aspirants are: Siaton Mayor Cezanne Fritz Diaz, incumbent Vice Gov. Jaime “Jake” Reyes, and Erwin Vergara.
“Elections are always significant in a democratic country like ours as it allows the people to choose their leaders,” said Henry Teves, who had served as governor for at least three months in 2022.
The Comelec had annulled his proclamation after a recount of the 2022 elections where the votes of nuisance candidate Ruel Degamo were added in favor of Roel Degamo, who was eventually proclaimed governor.
Henry Teves said his experience in governance and his leadership can make the “necessary changes in health, food production, and rural development that we have so long aspired for.”
“We can properly manage our Province’s meager resources to effectively accomplish these goals without resorting to exorbitant loans that we can hardly pay for,” said Teves, mayor of Bayawan City for nine years.
He said peace in Negros Oriental can only be achieved if the issues on hunger and poverty are addressed.
The Province registered the highest poverty incidence in Central Visayas at 29.3 percent, affecting more than 414,000 residents. (IFPal)
