‘LET’S SIMPLIFY OUR POLITICS’: Ex-lawmaker puts COVID recovery in front of House comeback bid

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Former representative Dr. Ferjenel Biron (Iloilo-4th) on Tuesday said he will focus on the recovery of their district and the entire province from the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as he formalized his bid to return to the House of Representatives.

Biron, together with re-electionist 4th district Board Members Domingo Oso Jr. and Rolando Distura, filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Provincial Office in La Paz, Iloilo City.

He was joined by his wife Candace and son, Barotac Nuevo Mayor Bryant Paul, who also filed for re-election earlier that day.

Biron described the COC filing in the province as “peaceful” amid new protocols due to the COVID pandemic.

His younger son, incumbent Rep. Braeden John “BJ” Biron, will run for mayor of Dumangas, Iloilo.

“The process is peaceful considering that there is COVID. So, let’s simplify our politics because COVID is dangerous. We’re just happy that the filing of COCs in the fourth district was peaceful,” Biron said.

He called BJ’s run for Dumangas town mayor as a “new political journey”. He said he is confident that BJ can duplicate his achievements as then-mayor of Barotac Nuevo from 2016 to 2019.

The Biron patriarch cited their origins in Dumangas through his mother who hailed from the town.

He also clarified that his son’s candidacy was a “consensus” reached with barangay leaders, Board Member Distura (who is a former Dumangas mayor), and incumbent mayor Ronaldo “Onal” Golez, who is running as BJ’s vice mayor.

“Well, that’s a new political journey embarked upon by my son, so it is his desire also to help the people of Dumangas. [For] people who had been observing the time BJ was mayor of Barotac, he started the construction of one of the most modern markets. I think, if you go around the market of Barotac, it’s a model for the whole province, having established that market all in large opportunities for people to do business,” Dr. Biron said.

Dr. Biron said that he will focus on helping the people of the fourth district and the rest of the province recover from the impacts of COVID-19, citing infrastructure and economic investment projects which can be brought to their district.

He touted the district’s achievements amid the pandemic, such as having their own repository of COVID test kits (RT-PCR and antigen), regular subsidies to municipalities, and provision of COVID commodities.

“[COVID] will become endemic, so it will not disappear in the next year, in the next two years, in the next three years. Probably, in the short term, it will be with us in the next five years. So, in the meantime, our people are suffering economic impact downtrend, so we have to help the people find opportunities for employment, for building their own businesses, and we feel that improving our markets in all towns is a very vital effort towards economic recovery,” he said.

Biron also confirmed that their party, the Nacionalista Party (NP), will not field a gubernatorial candidate in the upcoming polls, citing a “gentleman’s agreement” with erstwhile 2019 rival Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor.

Defensor, who will be running for re-election under the National Unity Party (NUP), had said that he will not field a vice-gubernatorial candidate against incumbent Vice Governor Tingting Garin of the NP.

The NP and the NUP will also field “common” local candidates in municipalities as part of their agreement.

“It was agreed with Governor Toto Defensor that [the NP] will not field other candidates. There’s a common understanding among us, that at this time, during COVID, we will honor the gentleman’s agreement that we will not interfere with each other because the governor has also yielded to our request to adopt our vice-governor who is also from Nacionalista, Vice Governor Tingting Garin,” Dr. Biron said.