Who will be the Love Negros-United Negros (UNegA) coalition candidate for Negros Occidental governor in 2028?
Three contenders whose names are being floated are Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez (3rd District), Rep. Alfredo Marañon III (2nd District), and Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante, president of Negros Alliance of Chief Executives.
Benitez is a member of Love Negros, while Marañon and Escalante are with UNegA.
Marañon said during the meeting of the province’s top officials on Monday, they agreed that the coalition would field a single candidate for governor to keep the province politically stable.
However, the final decision on who will be fielded has yet to be made, Marañon said.
He added that the choice for the vice gubernatorial bet will likely follow once the gubernatorial candidate is decided.
They have not yet discussed how the final selection will be made, Marañon said.
When asked if he was available to run for governor, Marañon said, “We will see, we will pray about it.”
Escalante, on the other hand, said the elections are still a long way off and that he will focus on his current work for now.
Benitez, in a press statement, said, “I’ve seen my name on the list of possible candidates for governor in 2028. I’m humbled by it, and I don’t take it lightly. But my honest answer is that my head is in the work I already have.”
“The people of the 3rd District and of Negros Occidental put me in Congress to do a job, and that job isn’t done. For 2028, nothing has been decided. Not by me, not by the coalition,” he added.
“What I care about, and I’ll keep saying it whether or not I’m the one in the running, is simple. This province deserves governance that is clean, efficient, and leaves no one behind,” he said.
“Leadership isn’t about how many years you’ve spent in public life. It’s about what you actually do with them,” Benitez added.
The coalition is expected to come up with a decision on its gubernatorial bet by early next year, since the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2028 polls will be in October 2027, Marañon said.
Marañon said there was a previous agreement that the candidate for governor would come from UNegA and the vice governor from Love Negros, which remains part of the discussion.
Currently, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is from Love Negros and Vice Governor Jose Benito Alonso is from UNegA, so a switch has been proposed.
Deputy House Speaker Alfredo Abelardo Benitez also confirmed on Tuesday that Gov. Lacson is pushing for a unified coalition candidate for governor, but reiterated that no final decision has been reached yet.*
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