Doctor vs Gullas vs pastor in Cebu’s 1st district race
Dr. Del Mar subs for Pederalismo bet for House seat in 2019 elections
It will be a practicing surgeon and a pastor that will go up against Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas for the first district Congressional race in the 2019 midterm elections.
This developed after Dr. Ron del Mar, a general surgeon, substituted Rodolfo Flormata as the candidate of the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan-Democratic Party of the Philippines (PDDS-DPP) in the congressional bid.
Del Mar, a resident of Barangay Tuyan, City of Naga, said Flormata. who is a Barangay Tungkog, Minglanilla town resident, was first asked to run for Congress because he (Del Mar) was still undecided if he would run at the time of the filing.
“We had options kung kinsa ang probable candidates. I was waiting for factors at the time to decide if I will run. Gipadagan namo (si Flormata) para duna lang gyod mi kandidato,” said Del Mar.
Del Mar said they would be supporting the gubernatorial bid of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, a candidate of the Nationalists People’s Coalition (NPC), against third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia.
Garcia is the gubernatorial standard bearer of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino- Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the party of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Del Mar said PDDS-DPP is allied with NPC.
Del Mar previously ran as barangay captain of Tuyan in 2013 and City Councilor of Naga in 2016. However, the doctor lost in both polls.
Del Mar said that if he would win against Gullas, he would prioritize passing a bill that would create a commission under the Department of Health (DOH) that would strengthen and further define the functions of barangay health centers.
The substitution of Del Mar to Flormata is the first in the provincial position as of November 9.
Solomon Paypa, a pastor running as an independent, is the third candidate vying for the House seat in the first district congressional race.
Paypa was the last person to file his certificate of candidacy for Cebu candidates last Oct. 17.
According to the calendar of activities of the Commission on Elections, substitution of candidates will be until November 29.
But Provincial Election Officer, lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, explained that substitution due to death of original candidate might still be allowed beyond November 29 provided that the substitute candidate would have the same surname as the original candidate.
Gujilde said that they would have to abide by the deadline because the Comelec would have to complete the printing of the ballots of each LGU since national and local elections would be automated.
He added that they would be posting the list of candidates on their website and in the Comelec offices on November 23 so that the candidates could check if their names that would appear on the ballot would be correct.
In case of errors in encoding their names, Gujilde said the candidates might file for a request for correction of their names.
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