Gov. Evardone tramps race rival

By BRYAN M. AZURA
May 24, 2007

BORONGAN, Eastern Samar  –  Incumbent governor Ben P. Evardone was granted early proclamation even if three municipalities had not submitted Certificates of Canvass (COCs) to the provincial canvass due to his overwhelming lead in the gubernatorial race against former Vice Governor Camilo Camenforte in this year’s midterm elections.

“This is a real statement of the Eastern Samareños that Gov. Evardone’s leadership has made great achievements and progress in the province,” says one of his key campaign personnel who asked not to be named.

Despite the absence of COCs from three vote-rich municipalities of Borongan, Guiuan and Dolores, the Board of Canvassers decided to proclaim Evardone as re-elected governor on the eve of May 18, four days after the elections, because of the more the 70,000 vote-margin he has against Camenforte. Eastern Samar has 23 municipalities and has a voting population of 192,099.

After the canvass, Evardone tallied 122,307 votes while Camenforte recorded 22,165 votes leaving a wide margin of 100,142 votes. Camenforte won only in the town of Balangiga where he comes from, while Evardone took all the 22 municipalities.

Evardone, while thanking his constituency for the huge trust and confidence he was given by providing him a fresh mandate, on the other hand, indicated that he has to work harder this time. “The awe-inspiring trust the people has given me is actually a big challenge for me because I have to live up to their expectations as the provincial head,” Evardone said. “We were able to graduate from the Club 20 or the poorest of the poor provinces during my previous term and we will strive hard as a province to improve more on our poverty alleviation programs,” he continued.

The reelected governor also reiterated that among his priorities in this new term will still be on education, peace and order, women and children protection, infrastructures and electrification.

Meanwhile, the almost a decade-long political supremacy of Libanan was put to a halt after Elda Libanan, wife of Congressman Marcelino Libanan, succumbed to Doloy Coquilla in the congressional race in the lone district of Eastern Samar. Coquilla, a former mayor of Oras town, had a province-wide margin of 7,276 votes over the lady Libanan.

Coquilla also thanked the people of Eastern Samar for giving him the opportunity to represent the district in Congress. “The people have decided and he (Coquilla) will not fail the people’s decision,” said a close-in trustee of the newly elected Congressman.