STO. TOMAS—This town comes down in Pangasinan history for being the first and only municipality with an entire slate of candidates without opponents in the May 13 elections.

All the unopposed candidates — mayor, vice mayor and eight councilors — were officially proclaimed winners by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) municipal board of canvassers at around 10:30 p.m. on election day.

Under Comelec rules, an unopposed candidate only needs one vote to be proclaimed, but the Sto. Tomas team overall still garnered a majority vote from among the 7,415 registered voters.

Timoteo Villar, the incumbent vice mayor, was sworn in as mayor with 5,301 votes and will replace on June 30 his aunt, outgoing Mayor Vivien Villar, who is now in her third and final term.

Wilfredo Pescador, with 5,1 30 votes, will be the new vice mayor while the eight councilors, with their corresponding votes, are Ely Ramos (4,350), Oculto Benjamin (4,268), Jerry Marquez (4,210), Estefania Vengco (4,154), Tomas Catañaga Jr (4,132), Dominador Lardizabal (4,080), Alfredo Eleccion (3,924), and Leonora Zarasate (3,852).

The total number of actual voters was 5,588.

The incoming mayor said he owes his team’s success to the support of his uncle, Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman Antonio Villar Jr., who was mayor here for more than 20 years and husband of outgoing mayor Vivien, who also ran and served as mayor for six terms consistently unopposed.–Eva Visperas

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