• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A three-cornered fight in the Kabankalan City mayoralty race looms, as Sixth District Board Member Valentino Miguel Alonso confirmed his intention to vie for the position in the May 2025 midterm elections.
Alonso, who is a member of the United Negros Alliance (UNegA), said yesterday that he relayed his intention to run for mayor during a meeting with former mayor Isidro Zayco and incumbent Vice Mayor Miguel Zayco in May this year.
Asked on the possibility of having an alliance with the elder Zayco, Alonso jokingly replied, “if he wants to run with me as vice mayor, it is okay.”
Incumbent Mayor Benjie Miranda earlier confirmed he will seek reelection, with his wife Divina as his runningmate for vice mayor.
The former mayor, whose brother Pedro Zayco was defeated by Miranda in the 2022 elections, has yet to declare his intention to run for mayor of Kabankalan, which he had served for 18 years.
Miranda is a member of the ruling Partido Federal ng Pilipinas while Zayco is the provincial chairman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, where Alonso is also a member.
UNegA president Jeffrey Ferrer said they have not made a decision yet on who to support for Kabankalan mayor, but they have a party member interested in the post.
UNegA will hold its general assembly in preparation for the 2025 elections next week.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he will ask Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on the date he is available for the general assembly of Love Negros.
Lacson said it could be in September, which is a month before the filing of the certificate of candidacy for next year’s elections.
He added that they will decide whom to support in Kabankalan once the candidates will declare their intention to run. | GB
