BALER, Aurora—This capital town’s mayor, who is facing graft charges in connection with the alleged diversion of Sangguniang Bayan funds, has won a second term, beating by landslide his former running mate-turned-political rival.
Mayor Nelianto Bihasa was proclaimed winner Tuesday by the Municipal Board of Canvassers led by Commission on Elections-Baler election officer Robert Marquez along with five of his allies in the SB who were also facing graft charges.
Bihasa won over Karen Angara by 3,184 votes. Bihasa of the Nacionalista Party gained 10,576 votes while Angara of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino obtained 7,392 votes.
In the vice mayoral race, outgoing board member Pedro Ong Jr. won over Bihasa’s running mate Pedro Valenzuela by 2,442 votes. Ong received 10,226 votes over the 7,784 of Valenzuela.
Angara, a cousin of Senator Juan Edgardo Angara and daughter of former six-term Baler mayor Arthur Angara, was Bihasa’s running mate in the 2013 elections.
Their alliance fell apart after Angara filed in September graft charges for malversation of public funds before the Office of the Ombudsman against him, Valenzuela and Councilors Gina Ritual, Reynaldo Mapindan, Felipe Friginal, Ramir Duaso, Noel Go, Meinrado Tropicales and Gina Agapito.
Also charged were were municipal human resource officer Curie S. Bernardino and municipal budget officer Francisco Reopta.
Ritual, Mapindan, Friginal, Duaso and Go all got reelected while Tropicales and Agapito both lost.
The charges against Bihasa and his allies arose from their having allegedly taken money from the funds of the SB in collusion with the councilors and the two town officials and declared them as savings. They were then used them to pay the wages of job orders.
Bihasa also became controversial after he cursed local police, calling them fools and for accusing Malacañang of playing politics by not extending relief assistance to calamity victims in the town.