Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, who won by massive margins, over their opponents were proclaimed winners of the May 9 polls at the Capitol in Bacolod City on Wednesday, May 11.
The Provincial Board of Canvassers also proclaimed three more winning representatives of the province: Gerardo Valmayor – 1st District, Juliet Marie Ferrer – 4th District and Mercedes Alvarez – 6th district, and the rest of the provincial board members.
Bacolod mayor-elect Alfredo “Albee” Benitez attended the Capitol proclamation rites.
Lacson said they expect more synergy between the Negros Occidental and Bacolod governments with Benitez as city mayor.
“We are really excited and looking forward to that,” the governor said.
Ferrer said there will now be cooperation on projects and a harmonious relationship between Negros Occidental and Bacolod.
“We will help each other…it’s about time we work together”, Benitez said.
“The unanimous number of votes given to us by the Negrenses is a manifestation of an approval of what we have done in the past three years…We will take this as an inspiration and as a reminder that we should continue to do even better,” Lacson said.
Lacson won with 935,079 votes. His opponents – John Orola had 57,845 votes and Ma. Socorro Sibulan had 16,579.
Ferrer won with 818,245 votes against his opponent Jonry Gargarita who garnered 70,374 votes.
The vice governor said he will continue to support the Lacson administration along with his local party, United Negros Alliance. Lacson belongs to Love Negros.
Lacson said he is thankful to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan headed by Ferrer for the continued support.
He stressed the thrust toward towards attracting more investors for Negros Occidental, noting that two firms have manifested their desire to invest in renewable energy.
One firm is interested in investing in a hydro plant in Bago City and the other in a solar facility on the provincial government owned property in Hinoba-an, he said.
Meanwhile, Lacson said there are still issues to tackle on the planned transfer of the Negros Occidental Capitol to Talisay City.
BOARD MEMBERS
Provincial Elections Supervisor Roberto Salazar said they had proclaimed 100 percent of all the winning candidates in Negros Occidental as of Wednesday.
There was an 83.63 percent voter turnout in Negros Occidental.
Proclaimed as the winning Negros Occidental board members are:
1st District – Rommel Debulgado and Araceli Somosa;
2nd District – Samson Mirhan and Sixto Guanzon Jr.;
3rd District – Manuel Frederick Ko and Andrew Montelibano;
4th District – Jose Benito Alonso and Andrew Martin Torres;
5th District – Rita Gatuslao and Anton Occeño; and
6th District – Valentino Miguel Alonso and Jeffrey Tubola*