ILOILO City – The 2019 midterm elections would just be a “formality”, according to a confident Cong. Jerry Treñas as he and his Team Uswag line-up filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) yesterday morning at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office.
Treñas is running for mayor, a position he held for nine straight years from 2001 to 2010 prior to becoming a congressman.
Around 2,000 festive supporters in red and blue shirts accompanied Treñas and his team to the Comelec office at the Iloilo Terminal Market after hearing mass at the Santa Maria Catholic Church.
Treñas dismissed insinuations he paid people P350 each to show up for his team’s COC filing.
“Experienced leadership” was how he described his team made up of the following:
* for congresswoman – former councilor Julienne Baronda
* for vice mayor – Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon
* for councilor – reelectionists Lady Julie Grace Baronda, Ely Estante, Armand Parcon, and Jay Treñas, Reyland Hervias Jojo Javellana, Rodulph Jeffrey Ganzon, Gilbert Garcia, Allan Zaldivar, and Atty. Rommel Duron
“We are experienced para magtulod pa gid sang aton syudad sa kauswagan,” said Treñas. “The development of the city does not stop. The development of the city can only begin if there is long-term planning. Indi ‘ni madala sa inom-inom sang Black Label. Indi ‘ni madala sa pahubog. Indi ‘ni madala sa yamuhat nga istorya.”
Treñas is running for mayor against incumbent Mayor Jose Espinosa III, Dr. Pacita Gonzalez (wife of the late Justice secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. and Esteban Abitang, a former barangay captain of Sta. Cruz, Arevalo district.
In the third mayoral survey conducted face-to-face by the prestigious Random Access Consultants, Inc. (RACI) in 60 barangays from Sept. 14 to 16, 2018 Treñas has retained his lead over Espinosa.
The result of the RACI random survey obtained from 600 respondents of voting age showed Treñas gaining 64.5 percent votes against Espinosa’s 28.7 percent.
There were 6.8 percent of undecided respondents.
Treñas’ lead in the third survey was an improvement over the first survey (March 16-18, 2018) and second survey (July 27-29) where he bagged 63.7 percent against Espinosa’s 24.7, and 62.2 percent against 29.5, respectively, in as many barangays.
Since no third candidate had as yet declared himself available for the mayoral race, no such aspirant was included in the survey.
Treñas dominated Espinosa in all seven districts of the city – Arevalo, Molo, Mandurriao, City Proper, Jaro, La Paz, and Lapuz.
One reason cited by pro-Trenas’ respondents was his track record as the city mayor from 2001 to 2010.
Commissioned by a business group, the RACI survey showed that six out of 10 voters prefer Treñas, three prefer Espinosa and one remain undecided.
Considering the four percent margin of sampling error, no significant change from previous surveys has been noted.
RACI used the multi-stage probability sampling with a margin of error of ± 4 percent. The survey’s level of confidence was pegged at 95 percent./PN
