Incumbent Philippine Councilor’s League (PCL)-Bohol chapter president Jescelo Adiong remains confident that he will get a fresh new mandate from his peers as he seeks re-election on July 26-27, 2022.
Adiong is the incumbent president of the PCL and also sits as an ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).
This comes as a virtual blue versus red battle looms at the PCL elections where Adiong, a known ally of former Gov. Arthur Yap and former Vice Gov. Rene Relampagos and linked with the blue color is pitted in a battle against San Isidro town councilor Gloria Gementiza, who is aligned with the camp of Gov. Erico Aristotle “Aris” Aumentado and Vice Gov. Dionisio Victor Balite, and associated with the color red.
The winner of the battle between the two councilors will earn a spot at the SP as an ex-officio member.
Earlier, Adiong said that he has the advantage over Gementiza, being the incumbent and has the track record after serving for 3 years as PCL president.
As it is, Adiong remains to be the favorite as the fight for the PCL presidency has been reduced to a one-on-one showdown between the blue team of former Gov. Yap and the red team of Gov. Aumentado.
Earlier reports indicated that Tagbilaran City councilor Jonas Cacho showed interest to run for PCL presidency, but he decided to withdraw from the race after a meeting with Gov. Aumentado.
With the development, the PCL presidency election has been reduced to a two-horse race, which will cause a ripple at the SP.
Moreover, Gementiza is also a known entity in the PCL circles as she held the post of the league president from 2016 to 2019. She lost the position after she ran and lost as a regular board member of the 2nd district in the 2019 polls.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of board members aligned with Yap and Aumentado is split at five each camp.
However, the camp of former Gov. Yap enjoys a slight advantage as Adiong is known to be aligned with the former administration.
This means that the new PCL president would either give more strength to the provincial administration camp or weaken its position at the SP due to the lack of numbers.