‘Jose Pidal’ looks headed to Congress

BACOLOD CITY — For several years, people in the fifth district of Negros Occidental had seldom seen presidential brother-in-law Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo in their communities.

Things changed in mid-2003 when he began appearing in town fiestas and political gatherings, dropping hints of his plan to seek the fifth district’s congressional seat.

Arroyo gained national prominence when he claimed to be "Jose Pidal" who owned huge bank accounts which Sen. Panfilo Lacson insisted was his brother’s, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.

The fifth district is composed of Himamaylan City and the towns of Binalbagan, La Castellana, Isabela and Moises Padilla. It has 134 polling precincts.

Arroyo’s efforts to make himself visible in the district have not gone to waste as early poll results of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) showed Arroyo leading incumbent Rep. Jose Apolinario Lozada.

As of press time, Arroyo got 9,069 votes against Lozada’s 3,579. Former provincial board member Alejandro Mirasol, for his part, garnered 5,303 votes.

Lozada admitted that he was losing to Arroyo but he still refused to concede defeat.

Lozada earlier accused Arroyo of engaging in massive vote-buying in the fifth district, allegedly giving as much as P1,000 per voter.

Arroyo, meanwhile, denied reports that military personnel were in the province for special operations to ensure his and President Arroyo’s victory at all cost.