STO. TOMAS—It will again be another quiet campaign period and election for this town. The reason is that all the candidates for the barangay and sangguniang kabataan (SK) elections on May 14 in this town are unopposed.

Out of the 10 barangays, only two will have new chairmen as the incumbents are on their third terms. “These are in barangays Sto. Nino and La Luna,” Mayor Timoteo Villar III pointed out.

Eight barangays—Poblacion East, Poblacion West, Salvacion, San Agustin, San Antonio, San Jose, San Marcos and Sto. Domingo—are set to re-elect incumbent barangay captains, he said.

Villar said the situation was a result of the series of meetings and consultations among all prospective aspirants for barangay and SK elections that the local leaders held before the date of filing of candidacies

“Here, we are known for being united,” he said. “There were those that wanted to run but they were discouraged from pursuing their plans after determining that they lacked the needed qualifications set by the barangay’s political leaders.”

The situation for the SK election was different, he said. “There were not enough prospective candidates for the posts to select from,” he said.

Villar said the elderly among the residents who are well respected by the townsfolk also attended the formal consultations.

On April 24, the candidates underwent drug tests and signed a peace covenant, the mayor said.

“That is to show to the people they will not take advantage of their positions,” he said. A big rally will be scheduled at the town plaza for the presentation of platforms by the new set of barangay and SK officials.

This town holds the distinction in Pangasinan for having all its incumbent mayors and councilors who ran unopposed in the 2013 and 2016 elections.

The last time a mayoralty candidate faced a challenger in this town was in the 1988 elections which was won by Villar’s uncle, Antonio Jr., who went on to hold the post for more than 20 years. He was later named chairman of Dangerous Drugs Board.

After the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986, Antonio Villar was the only mayor during Martial Law who remained in his post under President Corazon Aquino’s term in a hold-over capacity.

His wife, Vivien Villar, succeeded him as mayor and was unopposed in all her six terms. Timoteo Villar is the nephew of couple Antonio and Vivien Villar.

The mayor also said his town takes pride in being the only drug-free town in Pangasinan long before President Duterte waged his war on drugs.

“Some towns in Pangasinan and other parts of the country are drug-cleared. Our town is certified drug-free for many years already,” he said. (Eva Visperas)

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