BY DAVE SUAN ALBARADO

A public feud between former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio “Jun” Evasco Jr. and columnist Atty. Salva Diputado has spilled into social media and opinion pages the other week, exposing old political wounds among allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte and reviving debate over who might challenge Bohol Gov. Aris Aumentado in 2028 elections.

Evasco, a retired Cabinet secretary and former mayor of Maribojoc, issued a signed statement denying any current ambition to run for governor.

“I have not aspired nor even thought of running for governor of Bohol,” Evasco said in the statement. “I have devoted a long stretch of my life to public service; for me, the opportunity to lead the province of Bohol should be given to young Boholanos who have a track record of diligence, integrity in their life, sharp judgment, and a willingness to help the interest of the poor on the margins of our society over their personal interest.”

Evasco acknowledged that some Boholanos continue to publicly back him for the governorship despite his having relocated outside the province.

“I truly am happy that even though I am not based in Bohol, there are still fellow Boholanos who express their trust and hope in my capacity as governor of Bohol,” he said. “I recognize that your trust in my capability is a debt of gratitude, and I thank the Lord for this.”

He then turned pointed criticism toward Diputado, questioning the columnist’s motives.

“If someone is insecure about the posts pushing me to run for governor of Bohol on social media, I don’t understand why they would attack me when I have not expressed any desire beyond what’s already there, nor have I meddled with him,” Evasco said. “But I can understand why you would attack me if someone is paying you.”

He added a pointed piece of advice: “Attorney, my advice to you is to take a swim in the sea if what’s driving your attacks against me is simply the heat of the moment. But if your attacks against me are because someone is paying you, then you are only confirming your own nature of being a paid mouthpiece. You are simply an embarrassment to the media in Bohol.”

Evasco also dismissed any claim that the Marcos administration had a hand in stirring up the matter ahead of the 2028 elections, saying, “Your true colors are now clear, Attorney Langaw.”

The dispute stems from Diputado’s column, “Tin-aw Pas Ulan” (“Clearer Than Rain”), published June 28, 2026 in The Bohol Times, in which the columnist addressed Aumentado’s casual response to calls for Evasco to challenge him for governor in 2028.

Diputado quoted the governor as saying, “If the people want me replaced by Toloy, I have no problem with that.”

Diputado countered that the political reality is far more complicated.

“Of course, it’s not that simple,” he wrote. “It’s no joke to run a campaign province-wide; it’s no joke either to run against an incumbent.”

He noted incumbents typically campaign backed by “resources, personnel, machinery and the whole nine yards,” partly funded, he argued, by public money, while a challenger “has to use his own money… many, many months back before the campaign period even begins, up to election day and thereafter.”

Diputado also argued that political promises carry little weight in dealings between rival politicians.

“When you deal with politicians, promises whether written or not, do not mean a thing,” he wrote.

“To politicians, promises are just like tissue papers, they are simply used when convenient and discarded, also when convenient.”

He said a challenger without money to match his promises “can expect a lukewarm attitude to his future political plans,” concluding flatly that incumbents hold the advantage: “So, the incumbent is very much favored.”

Weighing in on Evasco’s chances directly, Diputado wrote, “Personally, I don’t think Toloy will dare run against Gov. Aris,” citing what he described as a wide gap in political standing between the two.

He also revisited Evasco’s unsuccessful 2019 gubernatorial run against then-candidate Arthur “Art” Yap, a race Evasco lost despite having served as Duterte’s campaign manager that year.

“Toloy lost even though President Duterte was already president, and Toloy was accordingly his campaign manager,” Diputado wrote, describing the earlier rationale as having been that “if you were able to make a president win, there’s no reason you can’t make yourself win.” That reasoning, he said, “turned out to be wrong.”

Diputado recalled Evasco privately predicting months before that election that Yap would be simple to beat because Yap was not originally from Bohol. “He is not from Bohol, he is not Boholano,” Diputado quoted Evasco as having told him at the time.

But Diputado said that argument collapsed after Yap registered as a voter in Loboc town with the help of a former provincial election supervisor, formally establishing residency.

“No matter how much Toloy tried to twist it, there was nothing more he could do because Yap already had a document in hand proving he was Boholano even though he wasn’t originally from Bohol,” Diputado wrote, adding that Evasco’s campaign that year came across as “hollow and weak.”

Diputado also linked Evasco’s 2019 defeat to fallout within Duterte’s camp, writing that Evasco’s allies had rebuffed then-senatorial candidate Christopher “Bong” Go during the campaign, angering Go and reportedly delaying Duterte’s own appearance at a rally in Garcia Hernandez held on Evasco’s behalf.

Diputado posed the episode as an open question to those who witnessed it: “Did President Duterte raise Toloy’s hand at the rally in the cultural center in Garcia Hernandez?”

If Duterte had, Diputado said, it would have signaled his support; if not, “well, that’s what it means when they say it’s clearer than rain.”

In a separate social media post responding to the column, Bohol corruption whistleblower Willy Ramasola said Diputado’s piece had reopened old grievances.

“Salva really went hard on Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco in his column,” Ramasola wrote, adding that Evasco’s strong reaction made sense “because Salva opened old wounds.”

Ramasola noted the apparent contradiction in attacking a candidacy Evasco had already disavowed: “In the first place, Cabsec already said he is not planning to run.”

He suggested Evasco might still be convinced to run if he received unified backing from Boholanos and an endorsement from VP Sara Duterte, and raised a follow-up question about potential backers for a challenge against Aumentado.

Neither Evasco’s camp nor Diputado could immediately be reached for further comment on the exchange.