Former House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas yesterday withdrew from the gubernatorial race in the province, thus, giving the top provincial post in a silver platter to a member of the Marcos family, with whom he has feuded.
Fariñas filed his notice of withdrawal before the provincial office of Commission on Elections, saying that he never really intended to run for the post he held for many terms during the middle of his 39 years in politics.
“I did not really wan to run for any office as I want to retire on June 30, after 39 years since I started as Laoag City mayor on March 3, 1980 at the age of 28,” he told House reporters in a Viber message yesterday.
The solon’s decision will pave the way for the proclamation of board member Matthew Marcos Manotoc as the successor of his mother, senatorial candidate and incumbent Gov. Imee Marcos.
It will be recalled that Fariñas filed his Certificate for Candidacy as governor of Ilocos Norte in an apparent demonstration of anger at the Marcos family’s alleged failure to comply with a “peace pact” that was to be observed in the fielding of family members for local posts in the coming May 13 elections.
Fariñas filed his candidacy as substitute candidate for Jesus Arimboyutan, the original filer of a CoC for governor.
The move was reportedly triggered by Fariñas’ decision to challenge Manotoc was triggered by the alleged violation by the Marcos family of a “peace agreement” that enjoins both families from fielding bets against each other in the 2019 mid-term elections.
Under the agreement, Manotoc will run unopposed by anybody from the Fariñas family while Ria Fariñas, daughter of the congressman, will likewise go unchallenged by any member of the Marcos family.
However, the elder Fariñas decided to run when Imee’s cousin, Michael Keon, filed his bid to challenge incumbent Laoag City Mayor Chevylle Fariñas, widow of the solon’s late nephew, Vice Mayor Michael Fariñas.
“From Day 1 of the campaign until today, having covered 272 of my district’s 285 barangays, I’ve been announcing in my speeches that I was not running for governor,” Fariñas told House reporters yesterday. (Ben R. Rosario)