TACLOBAN CITY – The decision of Rep. Maria Fe Abunda of Eastern Samar to disregard an agreement with 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan—which stipulated that Libanan would not run against her in the upcoming May 12, 2025, election—has become a turning point that led several mayors to urge former Guiuan mayor Christopher Sheen Gonzales to challenge her for the lone congressional seat of the province.
A total of 19 out of the 23 municipal mayors, along with the mayor of Borongan City, successfully convinced Gonzales to file his certificate of candidacy (CoC) for the congressional seat on Oct.8, the last day of filing.
The mayors claim that Abunda violated a prior agreement, which was made in the presence of House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, stating that incumbent local chief executives running for re-election, except for those in Oras, Mercedes, and Borongan City, should not face opposition in next year’s election.
According to Mayor Roland Boie Evardone of Arteche, 18 of Libanan’s 19 allied municipal mayors are now facing challengers in the 2025 elections. Notably, Abunda’s municipal coordinator in Arteche has filed a CoC for the mayoralty race, exacerbating the situation.
This breach of trust has not only strained relations between the Libanan and Abunda factions but also threatens to collapse their political alliance, Gonzales stated.
In response, Gonzales agreed to the mayors’ request to run for the congressional seat, marking his second attempt to unseat Abunda in the electoral process.
“I wasn’t prepared to run for Congress—I had no prior preparation. But this is a golden opportunity. With the people and their leaders urging me to run, I cannot let it pass,” said Gonzales, who will be running as an independent candidate.
Should he win, Gonzales vowed to work closely with the province’s local chief executives to address pressing issues related to health, education, and infrastructure by facilitating solutions through the national government.
This will be the second time Gonzales and Abunda face off for the congressional seat in Eastern Samar’s lone district. They first competed in 2019, when Abunda won her first term as district representative.
Gonzales is the son-in-law of Rep. Libanan, who also serves as the minority floor leader of the House of Representatives.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
