Note: We will continue to update the results as soon as we get new data. In the meantime, you might want to share your thoughts on the lighter side of Cordillera politics.
UPDATE 9: Technical problems with Blogger/Blogspot prevented us from adding updates these past few days so we posted the final results for Benguet here. Thanks for visiting this blog. We hope you continue to visit us in the future. Meanwhile, you might want to join us in our playful attempt to put words in the mouths of our Cordillera politicians here. In case you are interested in more election-related news from the Cordilleras, we have some links for you here. Lastly, you might want to read our post in honor of our kailiyans who died working for a peaceful election here.
UPDATE 8 (18 May): From Bibak.org: Felicio Bayacsan won as mayor of Buguias while Melchor Diclas won as vice mayor.
UPDATE 7 (17 May): Partial official results from the COMELEC covering 8 of the 13 towns in Benguet. This is as of 4 pm. 16 May. Incumbent Congressman Samuel Dangwa continues to lead with a margin of about 14,000 votes. With five towns still unaccounted for (sayang di natin alam kung anong towns ang mga ito), will his challenger Ronald Cosalan be able to close the gap and maybe even win? Ano kaya ang assessment ng ating favorite iBenguet blogger na si The Nashman?
Gubernatorial race
FONGWAN, NESTOR – 26207
MELCHOR, BORROMEO – 21939
TABANDA, EDNA – 6522
Vice gubernatorial race
SACLA, Wasing – 26848
PECALSO, Crescencio – 25080
Congressional race
DANGWA, SAMUEL – 34100
COSALAN, RONALD – 20814
UPDATE 6: Here’s the final unofficial [PPCRV] tally for La-Trinidad, Benguet. Source: Sunstar
La Trinidad mayoralty race
Artemio Galwan – 6,991
Greg Abalos – 5,935
Arthur Shontogan – 3,945
William Esteban – 2,763
Damaso Bangaoet – 760
Vice mayoralty race
Samuel Esguerra – 8,618
Henry Kipas – 6,913
Lucas Gadgad – 3,530
For the municipal council (8 members)
Romeo Salda – 8,616
Jim Botiwey – 8,221
Dionisio Literato – 7,262
Thomas Chamos – 6,459
Albert Tacio – 6,351
Jerome Selmo – 5,765
Felix Loy-odan – 5,569
Demory Carantes – 5,407
Congressional race (for La-Trinidad only)
Samuel Dangwa – 10,639
Ronald Cosalan – 8,534
Gubernatorial race (for La-Trinidad only)
Nestor Fongwan – 9,178
Borromeo Melchor – 7,234
Edna Tabanda – 3,777
Vice gubernatorial race (for La-Trinidad only)
Crescensio Pacalso – 9,806
Wasing Sacla – 8259
UPDATE 5: Via text message from a reliable source: Artemio Galwan is the mayor-elect for La-Trinidad and Samuel Esguerra is the vice mayor-elect. In provincial positions, re-electionist Congressman Samuel Dangwa won in La-Trinidad while gubernatorial candidate Nestor Fongwan obtained the most votes in the capital town.
UPDATE 4: La-Trinidad mayoralty candidate Arthur Shontogan concedes saying that his votes will not catch up with the votes cast for his two opponents. [Source: Sunstar] Here’s the partial unofficial return from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV):
Artemio Galwan – 6,991 votes
Greg Abalos – 5,935 votes
Arthur Shontogan – 3,945 votes
As we mentioned earlier, it’s a close contest between Galwan and Abalos. We take our hats off to Arthur Shontogan! We hope other politicians will be as gracious in defeat.
UPDATE 3: We don’t have the figures but here’s how the canvassing is shaping up according to a text message from a friend in La-Trinidad: Incumbent Congressman Samuel Dangwa is leading over his challenger Ronald Cosalan. In the gubernatorial race, Nestor Fongwan leads slightly over incumbent Governor Melchor Borromeo. In the Vice gubernatorial race, the incumbent Vice Governor Crescencio Pacalso appears to be the likely winner.
Meanwhile, in the La-Trinidad mayoralty race, the front runners in a field of five candidates) are Artemio Galwan and Greg Abalos Jr. Any of the two will be the next mayor of the capital town.
UPDATE 2 (16 May): Re-electionist Sablan Mayor Bony Tacio was proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as the winner in Sablan’s mayoralty race. Source.
UPDATE 1: Unfortunately, no results from our contacts yet. But you might want to read this story regarding the petition by gubernatorial candidate and La Trinidad Mayor Fongwan calling for the disqualification of Provincial Prosecutor Felix Cabading as vice chair of the Benguet Provincial Board of Election Canvassers allegedly because the latter is biased against Fongwan. The petition was denied and Atty. Cabading was allowed to sit on the board. More here.
FIRST POST: Nope, we don’t have the figures yet. We are just making this advance post in anticipation of the deluge when results from the different provinces will arrive all at the same time. Mabuti na yong handa di ba? In the meantime, click at the links below for news before the elections and for the list of candidates from Benguet. But do come back here again because we will be updating this post regularly.
RELATED POSTS: Cordillera Poll Roundup: 01 May 07; Cordillera Election Roundup: List of Candidates; Cordillera Congressmen: Who’s the Richest of Them All; Are Your Politicians Too Powerful For Your Own Good?
Well, sad but true, Benguet generally votes along ethno-linguistic lines.
I can’t say much for Dangwa. He doesn’t appear to be blatantly corrupt but he is a dinosaur and very ineffective. He does chair The Committee on Silence whenever he is at the Batasan.
Cosalan, maybe didn’t exploit the glory days when Tabako was still president. Otherwise he could have mustered enough swing votes. He probably did a lot of good projects but not enough for voters to remember.
Last time I was in Baguio, I hitched a ride with Mayor Fongwan from Sinipsip to La Trinidad. Sadly I fell asleep as the well cemented road lulled me. Hence, I don’t recall anything he said. Sadly, he is running under GMA’s Kampi…
At the end of the day, at least there were no violent outbursts in Benguet. I guess the Ibalois and the Kankanaeys do get along very well as they have done for centuries….
since the issue of kankanaey vs ibaloi, no one from the ibaloi tribe can win overt dangwa.
the key is to mix your line up…
gov – ibaloi
vice – kankanaey
vice versa.
or the best is to be half-half…(or pretend to be half-half)…
😀
Hi Nashman,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Hehe you lost that opportunity to “cozy it up” with the future governor. Agree with you that its too bad that he’s with the party of that bad bad hobbit. Thanks.
Hi Anonymous,
Hopefully naman matalo din siya eventually para walang Dominguez version ang Benguet. I think the Ibaloi vs. Kankanaey is a friendly rivalry which is probably why Benguet has this reputation as the most peaceful Cordi province during elections.
I know a certain governor who runs for re-election of Benguet who alligned himself to be mixed with ibaloi-kankana ey same as your idea just to get votes from both sides. The governor did his best to campaign more for his congressman partner than campaigning for himself for governor. during the distribution of sample ballots no one from the camp of the congressman(goernor’s partner)to take some of the sample ballots for distribution. their reason they have their own sample ballots to distribute. It was other people who informed of the governor’s supporters that their governor was junk in their sample ballots. measning to say the governor’s name is being replaced with the name of the cousin of the congressman who is the opponent of the governor. ofcourse what do you expect? The cousins were elected.
and this idea of mixing up is i think will never be happen again untill such time that there will be new faces, new names , and more qualified candidates to enter the benguet political arena. nobody i think would like to allign themself to anybody who is going to junk them at the end of the campaign.
hi anonymous:
true! ibaloi vs kankanaey is a bloodless rivalry. i say Dangwa is not a dominguez of mt. prov! dangwa did not use power to rule in benguet. simply the prefer him than the other. dominguez used any means just to stay in power!
hi the other anonymous:
hehe! i know whom you’re pertaining to. he has no kankanaey blood at all contrary to what he claim. he lost anyway! LOL!
Hi Karaniwangbata,
Lucky iBenguets, we will export na lang kaya dominguez to them hehe.
Sino ba itong tinutukoy ninyo, hint hint pls 🙂 Thanks!
ni bonjo man dayta! hehe
WHAT HAPPENED TO BENGUET ??? LETS THINK ADGIVE IT BACK TO THE INIBALOIS AND KANKANA-EYS. THINK AGAIN , ARE WE GOING TO SELL OUR CULTURE?? WE HAVE BRAINS …. OR DOES MONEY TALK ????? HEARD ABOUT VOTE BUYING …..
i don’t think money talks in benguet! maybe the INC only!
Hi Anon (11 am)
Thanks 🙂
Hi JK,
Meron bang vote buying din? Hopefully not. That would be very disappointing if vote buying is also being practiced in Benguet. Thanks.
Hi Anon (12:02)
I tend to agree with you that it doesn’t. Although I really don’t know enough. Thanks.
i maybe sound presumptous or speculating but INC votes are for sale! who bought the higher price will be carried solid! their practice of bloc voting is a common knowledge already.
about the vote buying in benguet, maybe there are in the remote areas in terms of other things other than money. in one of the barangays in buguias, one community leader and its constituent were in a hurry constructing a tire path road going to their sitio (just barely after may 14). why? they think the losing candidate might retrieve the cements which he gave before the election in exchange of their votes. the problem is the donor candidate did not have the votes he wanted in that place! haha!
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks. You are right, merong ngang image ang INC na ganyan. And other church groups (like El Shaddai) is also learning to do it which is unfortunate really.
Nakakatuwa naman kuwento mo 🙂 I think I will also do the same thing is I was that community leader hehe, eh baka bigla nga singeren diyay kandidato nga naabak idiay nga sitio. Kaya mabuti gamitin na kaagad yung “donation” niya. Thanks.
hello,im from benguet province,and i am a good citizen ofour country,how i wished i was able to vote for my choosen candidate ,but becuase of work here in abroad,i missed the chance,but im stil want to know more about the election resulys particularly in Itogon,municipality.
hello,im from benguet province,municipality of itogon, please give me more updates,thank you.
On behalf of the Blog Administrator (Bill Bilig), to Ms beijing girl; here’s a result of Itogon politics and Benguet in general (Winners only):
Itogon Mayor: Camantiles, Oscas – 7,714
vice mayor: Ngolob, Noel 16,548 (seemed unopposed)
councilors: Fianza, A/Carantes, A/Pacio, N/Waclin, B/
Galiega, A/Galutan, J/Bahingawan, A/Cornel, G/Altiga, F/Lictag, C – these are top ten, unsure how many are required.
Benguet Gov: Fongwan, N
Vice Gov: Pacalso, C
Congressman: Cosalan, R
Baguio Mayor: Who else? wink! wink!
Vice Mayor: Danny Farinas (boyhood townmate)
La Trinidad Mayor: Greg Abalos
vice mayor: Romeo Salda