PDP-Cayetano showdown looms

PDP-Taguig City chapter official Larry German said Sunday the party will field First District Rep. Arnel Cerafica as its mayoralty bet in the 2019 elections

A clash looms in the 2019 elections between the administration party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) and the influential Cayetano clan over Taguig City.

This developed as PDP-Taguig City chapter official Larry German said Sunday the party will field First District Rep. Arnel Cerafica as its mayoralty bet in the 2019 elections.

On the other hand, sources said the Cayetano clan has yet to decide on the candidate to replace incumbent mayor, Ma. Laarni Cayetano who is on her third and last term.

She is reportedly being groomed to run as the representative of the First District.

Sources said the Cayetano family was trying to convince Pia to run for mayor.

The Cayetano clan, a known supporter of the Duterte administration has been a dominant political force in Taguig. The incumbent mayor is the wife of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, vice -presidential running mate of President Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 elections.

Pia Cayetano, sister of Alan Peter, is the incumbent representative of the Second District of Taguig.

Sources said the Cayetano family was trying to convince Pia to run for mayor but she is apparently a shoo-in as part of the administration’s senatorial ticket in the 2019 mid-term elections. She consistently landed among the top picks in the recent surveys on senatorial candidates.

The same source disclosed that former Second District Rep. Lino Cayetano, the younger sibling of Pia and Alan, is not interested in returning to politics and would rather focus on his work as a film director.

According to German, the PDP bet for the representative of the First District of Taguig and Pateros will be Alan Cerafica, the brother of Arnel.

For the Second District, German said the ruling party will support former Rep. Henry Dueñas Jr., who represented the area in Congress from 2007 to 2010.

Duenas ran again in 2010 but lost to Lino Cayetano. He believes he would face off with the younger Cayetano again in the 2019 elections.