Incumbent councilor mulls indy run, endorses mayor

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo City Councilor Lyndon Acap confirmed his re-election plans Wednesday even without a political party even as he expressed his support for Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas.

Acap is one of the nine members of the Iloilo City Council who are eligible for re-election in the 2022 elections.

He, together with Councilors Candice Tupas and Mandrie Malabor, ran under the slate of former Mayor Jose Espinosa III (Nacionalista Party) in the 2019 elections.

Tupas and Malabor have not made their election plans clear as of this writing, but sources at the city hall told Daily Guardian that they will also file for re-election.

The remaining six city councilors, Romel Duron, Ely Estante, Rudolf Ganzon, Jojo Javellana, Frances Grace Parcon, and Alan Zaldivar have been reported to run under Treñas’ Team Uswag slate and the National Unity Party (NUP).

The other three councilors – Lady Julie Grace Baronda, Eduardo Peñaredondo, and Jose Efrain Treñas III – are term-limited and have not signified their intent to run for other elective positions.

In an interview with Bombo Radyo Iloilo, Acap said that he will run for re-election but he was not sure under which political party.

He mentioned that he had been offered by the Nacionalista Party (NP), the Pimentel wing of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN), and an unnamed regional party to run under their banners.

Acap also said that the NP had not decided yet on its mayoral candidate, but he will support Treñas’ re-election bid.

He added that his intended support for the re-electionist mayor may push him to seek retention of his legislative seat as an independent.

As to whether he would support the mayor’s Uswag Ilonggo Partylist, he only said, “that’s a different story”.

“There is no [NP mayoral candidate] yet, but for me, my mayor has not changed. It will still be [Treñas]. That is my decision. I think I would be willing to file [my candidacy as] an independent if it would be heavy for all,” Acap said.

About the NP offer, he said that if the party would remain without a mayoralty candidate, he may join with Espinosa at the helm.

Espinosa’s people have spoken to him about the Nacionalista offer, and he even confirmed reports that the former mayor would run for the city’s lone congressional district seat against incumbent Rep. Julienne Baronda of the NUP.

He clarified that his run would be for the people he supports and not the parties.

“[Espinosa’s] chief of staff has been reaching out to me to talk, and I told them I wouldn’t have a problem because [Treñas] didn’t recruit me [into the Uswag slate]. It means that if [Espinosa] would take me under [the NP], then I would probably join him since he’s running for another position,” he said.

Acap did not state in the radio interview when he would file for his candidacy, but Aksyon Radyo Iloilo reported on Thursday that he would file on Oct. 4.