• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), who are affiliated with Love Negros and United Negros Alliance (UNegA), are expected to support Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer in the congressional race of the fourth district of Negros Occidental.
This was the statement of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, a long-time member of the NPC, on Thursday (Oct. 10), stressing that the party’s national office “knows about the local alliance in Negros Occidental since 2019”.
“They appreciate and support the stand of the alliance. Not all NPC members in the fourth district are members of the alliance so they will support the opponent,” the governor said.
Engr. Lea Delfinado is challenging Ferrer in the fourth district congressional race in the May 2025 elections.
She was issued a certificate of acceptance and nomination as the official congressional candidate of the NPC by Lisa Cojuangco Cruz, daughter of the late Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., founder of the NPC, and Claudia Cojuangco, daughter of the late congressman Carlos “Charlie” Cojuangco.
The move prompted Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo and Vice Mayor Ramon Torres to resign from the NPC, and join Ferrer in the National Unity Party.
Ferrer, who is the president of UNegA, and Lacson, a leader of Love Negros, ran in tandem in 2019 and 2022.
Meanwhile, Lacson admitted that he was surprised when former sixth district Rep. Genaro Alvarez Jr. decided to run for mayor in Kabankalan City.
He is running against incumbent Mayor Benjie Miranda and former mayor Isidro Zayco.
Alvarez, Zayco and Lacson are all NPC members.
Alvarez, however, filed his certificate of candidacy as an independent candidate.
Lacson said that he will support Zayco, who is the NPC provincial chairman, for mayor, and also Alvarez’s daughter, reelectionist sixth district Rep. Mercedes Alvarez. | GB
