Ex-mayor says experience will help his congress bid

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Former Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III said Tuesday that his extensive experiences in his personal life and as a public servant will be his advantage to win the city’s lone congressional seat.

Espinosa told Daily Guardian that he was sure of his bid, confirming reports that he is returning to politics via a House run.

He shied away from public eye after his 2019 loss to his brother-in-law, Jerry Treñas, in the city’s mayoral race. He then turned his attention to the private sector as a lawyer.

2019 was his opportunity to seek a full term as mayor after assuming the post in the wake of then-mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s dismissal by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2017.

Instead of attempting to vie for mayor again, Espinosa said he chose to run for the congressional seat due to the limited capacity of local government officials, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

His legislative priorities would focus on increasing social services, expanding public consultations, institutionalizing the right to education, and environmental, educational, judicial, political, and taxation reforms.

One of the ideas he floated was to enhance the process of accessing benefits, like the Social Security System, to improve the lot of retirees in the private sector.

“I’ve already served as mayor, and we saw the difficulties of local government, especially in terms of tasking, solving problems, in the capacity of local government. So, I thought it would be wise to do legislation on greater change that we need to do in the city and the whole country as well,” Espinosa said in a phone interview.

He will face off with an old political rival, incumbent Rep. Julienne Baronda, whom he defeated in the 2010 vice-mayoralty race.

Espinosa said his advantage in this race would be his experience, which includes being a city councilor, a city legal officer, and a city mayor.

He added that his humble beginnings – from studying in public school to becoming a professor at the University of San Agustin and as a lawyer – make him prime for the congressional post.

“My experience has been centered on being on the side of the people. We have been through the city’s legislature and the executive. I already know the processes in budgeting as chairperson of the city council’s Committee on Appropriations, and as the Sanggunian’s presiding officer. More or less, I am capable, and I think that puts me ahead, but I will have to present myself to the people,” he stated.

Espinosa called his renewed rivalry with Baronda as “an exercise”, citing the varieties that happen in local politics.

“It’s an exercise. That’s how it is. In politics, sometimes you will be allied, sometimes you will be running against each other, and sometimes you meet each other at the mall and while exercising outside. I’ll be thankful that we’ll meet again. We’ll just have to present ourselves and our plans to the people, and they will be the ones to decide who will be victorious,” he said.

Espinosa said that his party, the Nacionalista Party (NP), will not be fielding a candidate for mayor.

As of this writing, only one NP candidate has filed his candidacy, re-electionist City Councilor Lyndon Acap.

On the heated 2019 bout with Treñas, he said that it was purely political. He declined to comment further apart from saying that they were “civil” to each other and that “what’s in the past is in the past”.

Espinosa confirmed that he will file his certificate of candidacy on Friday, Oct. 8.