CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Bitter rivals for Pampanga’s 1st district congressional seat were the earliest birds to file their respective certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission of Elections (Comelec) office here Friday morning.
Former presidential aspirant and 2007 congressional loser Luisito “Chito” Bacani of Angeles City came first at about 9 a.m. and was promptly mobbed by the media just before filing his COC before election supervisor Atty. Temmie Lambino.
Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with messages alluding to Manny Pacquiao – “May Pacman Power,” “Knock-out Punch Contra sa Corrupt ng Bayan” – and his battle cry “Misip Kayo?”, Bacani proclaimed: “I am not the man to beat, but the serious contender.”
“Ako lang din ang katapat ni Tarzan,” added Bacani, referring to incumbent 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin, dismissing the other aspirant, Angeles City Councilor Ares Yabut of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.
Accompanied by his contractor-endorser Bernie Cruz, who has been exposed in the city council as having allegedly cornered infrastructure contracts with the Nepomuceno administration, Yabut arrived at the Comelec office at 10 a.m. His close associate in the city council, Councilor Agapito “Pitong” Del Rosario, of late deplored for carrying a gun at the session hall, also provided Yabut with moral support.
In an interview before filing his COC, Yabut expressed confidence of a “successful run” in the 1st district. The 38-year-old councilor vowed to bring “youth and dynamism” in public governance.
Yabut and his supporters put down his billboards in the city and two other areas covered by the first district – Mabalacat and Magalang — before proceeding to the Comelec office.
Yabut countered Bacani saying he and “not Bacani” is the threat to Lazatin.
Former presidential aspirant and 2007 congressional loser Luisito “Chito” Bacani of Angeles City came first at about 9 a.m. and was promptly mobbed by the media just before filing his COC before election supervisor Atty. Temmie Lambino.
Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with messages alluding to Manny Pacquiao – “May Pacman Power,” “Knock-out Punch Contra sa Corrupt ng Bayan” – and his battle cry “Misip Kayo?”, Bacani proclaimed: “I am not the man to beat, but the serious contender.”
“Ako lang din ang katapat ni Tarzan,” added Bacani, referring to incumbent 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin, dismissing the other aspirant, Angeles City Councilor Ares Yabut of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.
Accompanied by his contractor-endorser Bernie Cruz, who has been exposed in the city council as having allegedly cornered infrastructure contracts with the Nepomuceno administration, Yabut arrived at the Comelec office at 10 a.m. His close associate in the city council, Councilor Agapito “Pitong” Del Rosario, of late deplored for carrying a gun at the session hall, also provided Yabut with moral support.
In an interview before filing his COC, Yabut expressed confidence of a “successful run” in the 1st district. The 38-year-old councilor vowed to bring “youth and dynamism” in public governance.
Yabut and his supporters put down his billboards in the city and two other areas covered by the first district – Mabalacat and Magalang — before proceeding to the Comelec office.
Yabut countered Bacani saying he and “not Bacani” is the threat to Lazatin.
