BONTOC, Mountain Province – The race for the capital town’s mayoralty post will be a tightly fought contest among an incumbent local chief executive, a veteran former mayor and an upcoming political figure in the local political arena.
Sources, who opted to remain anonymous for personal and political reasons, claimed that the battle for the mayoralty post among incumbent Mayor Jerome Chagsen Tudlong, Jr., former provincial mayor and mayor Franklin Odsey and incumbent Vice Mayor Eusebio Cabluyen will be a down the wire finish and remains to be the much awaited contest in the upcoming May 12, 2025 mid-term elections.
The sources claimed that each of the candidates have their own bailiwicks that is why the one who will be able to garner votes in vote-rich areas and even the remote communities will have the slight advantage of emerging victorious after the conduct of the elections.
Tudlong is seeking re-election for his second term while Odsey wants to regain the position that he held for three consecutive terms before being appointed as the Provincial Administrator by Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. Cabluen wants to steal the limelight from the two local leaders.
During the May 2022 synchronized national and local elections, Tudlong won the mayoralty post by a slim margin of 25 votes against his closest rival.
The sources claimed that voters from the town’s 16 barangays are still undecided on whom to vote, except the identified bailiwicks of the three candidates, as they want to still look into their respective platforms of government before deciding on whom to vote as their leader for the next three years.
According to the sources, whoever will be able to sustain their aggressive campaign and be able to convince the voters through their well-rounded platform of governance will have the advantage going into the remaining 28 days of the campaign period.
Tudlong wants to sustain the implementation of various programs, projects and activities that have sustained the town’s progress over the past three years while Odsey wants to bring back the grandeur of the town through the crafting of holistic programs, projects and activities that will bring the locality to greater heights, banking on the fruits of tourism as one of the major economic driver.
Bontoc was one of the few towns in Mountain Province that was conferred the coveted Seal of Good Local governance (SGLG) award following its ability to comply with the prescribed 10-point parameters anchored on the foundation that was established through the years of diligent works by the previous administration of the municipal government.
The sources pointed out that the incumbent has a slight advantage but the forces behind the veteran and the incumbent vice mayor cannot also be discounted in terms of their influence over the voters, thus, it is difficult to project who among the candidates have the clear advantage of emerging victorious right after the polls.
The sources rallied the candidates to deliver their respective best shots in the remaining days of the campaign period for them to be able to win the hearts of the voters to vote for the ones whom they want to lead the municipality in the next three years and chart the town’s sustained growth and development to become one of the progressive centers of trade in the Cordillera. By Dexter A. See
