By Tara Yap
ILOILO CITY —Vice Governor Esteban Evan “Nonoy” Contreras of Capiz province has been declared governor-elect after beating incumbent Governor Antonio “Tony” Del Rosario.
Contreras, who ran independently after bolting the Liberal Party (LP), beat LP’s provincial standard-bearer Del Rosario by 17,666 votes.
Contreras garnered 161,475 votes while Del Rosario only had 143,809 votes.
The victory of Contreras is an outright objection to the political clout of former secretary and senatorial candidate Mar Roxas over LP members in Capiz, the home province of Roxas’ grandfather and former president Manuel Roxas.
Contreras broke ties with the LP last year after Roxas backed Del Rosario.
Contreras claimed he and Del Rosario had a gentleman’s agreement during the 2016 elections when he gave way to the latter in exchange that he will be running for governor under LP in this year’s elections.
James Magbanua won as vice governor with 187,952 votes.
Reps. Emmanuel “Tawi” Billones and Fredenil “Oto” Castro were reelected as the congressional representative for the 1st and 2nd Districts of Capiz respectively.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Dadivas is the mayor-elect of the capital city of Roxas while Erwin Sicad is the vice-mayor elect.
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