Ebdane serving final term as Zambales gov

IBA, Zambales — Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. will serve his third consecutive and final term as governor of this province, besting Ayta candidate Chito Balintay in the recent poll.

According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Ebdane won by a landslide, garnering 306,367 votes, or 90.85 percent of the votes cast, while Balintay received 30,857 votes, or 9.15 percent of the total votes.

Balintay, a voice for the Ayta community of Zambales, ran as an independent candidate at the last elections.

Meanwhile, Ebdane’s team Sulong Zambales Party (SZP) won a total of 11 seats out of the 12 elective positions, as well as the two congressional districts during the recent national and local elections.

According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the political party also won eight seats each for both mayoral and vice-mayoral posts in the 13 municipalities comprising Zambales.

Comelec proclaimed Gov. Ebdane and other winners in the local elections early Tuesday morning, May 13, at the Comelec office here.

Ebdane’s recent election is his fifth elective victory. He first ran and won as governor in 2010 and was re-elected three years later.

Meanwhile, incumbent Vice Governor Jacqueline Khonghun (Lakas) garnered 279,807 votes. Khonghun, who was Ebdane’s running-mate in the last two elections, ran unopposed this year.

Khonghun’s brother, incumbent Zambales First District Representative Jay Khonghun (Lakas), was also unopposed and re-elected with 160,887 votes.

In the Second Legislative District, another Ebdane ally, incumbent Congresswoman Doris “Bing” Maniquiz (Lakas), won another term with 173,0743 votes (68.41 percent), beating the 79,928 votes (31.59 percent) for former 2nd District Representative Cheryl Deloso-Montalla, who ran under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Candidates from the Sulong Zambales Party also dominated the polls in the First District, easily taking over the three seats for the provincial board without any opposition. They are Cecil Felarca-Rafanan, with 68,244 votes; Ike Delgado, with 64,243; and Elmer Tumaca, with 57,734 votes.