BACOLOD CITY – Negros Occidental Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and former Fourth District Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer, who ran against each other in 2016, have joined forces as standard bearers of the unity ticket of the province’s two major political parties.
Lacson and Ferrer filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) for governor and vice governor, respectively, before the Commission on Elections provincial office here on Tuesday.
In the May 2016 elections, Lacson of Love Negros defeated Ferrer, who was the runningmate of Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. under the United Negros Alliance (UNEGA).
Lacson then sought reelection for a second term without a tandem for governor after attempts to merge the two parties failed.
After he and Ferrer filed their COCs on Tuesday, Lacson said with the two of them running together under a unified slate, the two parties can now be called “Love U Na”.
“This is a show of unity and is meant to move this province forward. We promise to pursue agenda and platform of government that will bring about change and development, particularly in the lives of our fellow Negrenses,” Lacson said in a statement he read before reporters.
“I assure our people that we will abide with a clean, honest, and peaceful electoral process from today and all the way to the day of elections next year. Let us stand united and be one in bringing this province to continued progress and success,” he added.
Marañon, who showed support for Lacson and Ferrer’s tandem by witnessing the filing of their COCs, said he is glad that unity has been realized.
Marañon, chairman of UNEGA, is serving his third and last term as governor.
Third District Representative Alfredo Benitez, who heads Love Negros, said the challenge for the two parties now is how to make the united front work for the Negrenses.
“This merger is designed to achieve progress for the province so that is the challenge,” he said. (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)
