Four of six governors are seeking for reelections

TACLOBAN CITY – At least 3,451 aspirants have filed their certificates of candidacy(CoCs) across the region for next year’s elections.
This was disclosed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) after the filing of the CoCs ended on October 8.
For the 13 congressional seats in the region, 45 individuals have filed their CoCs.
Samar, with two congressional districts, has the most number of aspirants with 13 individuals who filed their CoCs to become members of the House of Representatives.
Leyte and Southern Leyte, which will be electing two congressional representatives for the first time, have each 10 aspirants; eight in Northern Samar, and two each in Biliran, and Eastern Samar provinces.
Incumbent lawmakers in the region seeking for another term are Paul Daza of the first district of Northern Samar; Edgar Mary Sarmiento of Samar 1st district; Ma. Fe Abunda of Eastern Samar lone district; Gerardo Espina Jr., of the lone district of Biliran; Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte 1st district; Lolita Karen Javier(Leyte second district) and Carl Nicolas Cari for the fifth district of Leyte.
Incumbent Samar Rep.Sharee Ann Tan will be running for governor.
For the gubernatorial position, 25 candidates filed their CoCs.
Samar has the most number of gubernatorial aspirants with 10; followed by Eastern Samar with five; Leyte, four; Northern Samar with three; and Biliran with two.
Only Southern Leyte Gov. Damian Mercado has no opponent with Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla ineligible to run as he is now on his last term.
For the vice gubernatorial position, a total of 18 individuals have submitted their CoCs of which 14 of them are men and four are women.
Samar and Northern Samar both have five individuals who filed their CoCs for said position while in Eastern Samar, four have filed their CoCs for vice governor, and two in Leyte.
Vice Gov.Brigido Caneja III of Biliran and Emily Mercado of Southern Leyte are virtual winners as they do not have any opponent.
For the board member positions, a total of 115 individuals have filed their CoCs, according to the Comelec.
Eastern Samar province has the biggest number of aspirants for provincial board with 28 individuals who filed their CoCs followed by Samar province with 22; Southern Leyte and Northern Samar with both have 18 aspirants, Leyte with 16, and Biliran with 13.
For mayoralty position, 338 have filed their CoCs of which 251 are males while 87 are females.
Leyte, the biggest province in the region with 40 towns and three city under its jurisdiction, has the most number of mayoralty aspirants with 109.
Northern Samar with 24 towns has 64 mayoralty aspirants.
Samar province, with has 24 towns and two cities, has a total of 57 aspirants for said elective post.
In Eastern Samar, 50 have filed their CoCs for mayoralty position. The province is divided into 22 towns and one city.
Southern Leyte, with 18 towns and one city, have 43 mayoralty aspirants.
Biliran province has 15 mayoralty aspirants for its eight towns.
In the vice-mayoralty race, 306 individuals have filed their CoCs, 212 of which are males, and 94 are females.
A total of 94 individuals who filed their CoCs are from Leyte province; 54 from Samar; 52 from Northern Samar; 47 for Eastern Samar; 41 from Southern Leyte; and 18 from Biliran province.
Meanwhile, for the councilor post, a total of 2, 604 individuals are aspiring for the said post, where only 1, 158 are going to get the post.
Leyte province has a total of 810 city/municipal council aspirants with 810, followed by Samar (451), Northern Samar (448), Eastern Samar (441), Southern Leyte (356), and Biliran (128).

With the creation of 2 congressional districts

TACLOBAN CITY-For the first time of its history, voters of Southern Leyte province will be electing two congressional representatives.
The election of two congressmen is by virtue of Republic Act 11198 reapportioning the lone congressional district of the province into first and second congressional districts.
The law, approved on February 19,2019, was sponsored by Rep. Roger Mercado (Lakas-CMD) who is seeking for a fresh term for the province’s first congressional district.
The first congressional district, which has a voting population of 132,114 as of the 2019 elections, covers the provincial capital of Maasin City and the towns of Macrohon, Padre Burgos, Limasawa, Malitbog, Tomas Oppus, and Bontoc.
Mercado will be slugging it out for the post against two other candidates.
The towns of Sogod, Libagon, Liloan, San Francisco, Pintuyan, San Ricardo, Saint Bernard, Anahawan, San Juan, Hinundayan, Hinunangan, and Silago comprises the newly-created second congressional district which has more than 160,200 registered voters as of 2019 balloting.
Incumbent Vice Gov. Christopher Yap (PDP-Laban), a political ally of Rep. Mercado, is among those running for congressman in the district.
Four others have filed their certificates of candidacy for the same post.
Earlier, Rep. Mercado explained that having two congressional representatives of Southern Leyte would mean more fundings from the national government and Congress.
The solon’s brother, Damian, is seeking for another term as governor of the province with his son, Naccional, is running for his third term as mayor of Maasin City.
The Mercados have long held the political power in Southern Leyte.