But the battle for the congressional seat of the second district of Taguig City will not be just between Reyes and Tinga because there’s another candidate that will make it interesting: 39-years old former Navy Lieutenant senior grade James Layug.
James Layug
The other day, there were two stories on reversals of results of the 2004 elections. One was the case of Angelito “Jett” Reyes against incumbent Henry Duenas of the second district of Taguig City and the other one is the protest of Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel versus Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, notoriously known as the senator from Maguindanao.
Pimentel said in the recount by the Senate Electoral Tribunal of the questioned votes of the 2007 elections, he is already ahead of Zubiri by 96,400. This is the reason why he has declined the invitation of former President Estrada to join his senatorial slate.
The press release from Reyes, son of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, said he was ecstatic over the decision of the Supreme Court, by a 7-5 vote to deny a petition for certiorari filed by Henry Duenas to stop the recounting of the 2007 election results in second district of Taguig City.
With the SC decision the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal can now continue its recount of votes on the election protest filed by Reyes against Duenas.
Duenas was proclaimed winner in 2007 with 28,564 votes against Reyes’ 27,107 votes and Arturo Alit’s 22,264 votes.
The HRET recount has reduced the 1,457-vote lead of Duenas to 166 and later to just 34 after physical evaluation and appreciation of the ballots in the 100 percent of the precincts identified by Reyes in his protest and in 25 percent of Duenas’ counter-protested precincts.
Duenas was able to get a temporary restraining order on the recount which the High Court later lifted .
With the continuation of the recounting, Reyes said he is confident the election fraud committed min Taguig City would be corrected.
It is just hoped that the HRET resolves it soon with only less than a year to go in the term of Duenas.
While Reyes and Duenas are battling over the less than a year left in the 14th Congress, preparations are also underway for the 2010 elections which might see a former Supreme Court justice (Dante Tinga) and a cabinet official (Angelo Reyes) fighting over the mayorship of the fast-rising Taguig City.
Only in the Philippines!
The talk in Taguig is that incumbent mayor Freddie Tinga, whose commitment to the anti-drug campaign geatly disappoints the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, is going to run in place of Duenas. If Reyes, succeeds in unseating Duenas, Tinga would be challenging the incumbent.
But the battle for the congressional seat of the second district of Taguig City will not be just between Reyes and Tinga because there’s another candidate that will make it interesting: 39-years old former Navy Lieutenant senior grade James Layug.
Layug’s candidacy is part of the new thrust of the Magdalo to participate in any arena where the people want them to be.
Another Magdalo officer Antonio Trillanes IV, paved the political path with his phenomenal win in the 2007 senatorial elections. Aside from Layug, two other Magdalo officers are running in the 2010 elections: former Marine Captain Gary Alejano for mayor in Sipalay, Negros Occidental and former Air Force Lieutenant Ashley Acedillo for the first district of Cebu City.
Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, the new supremo of the Magdalo, has declared that he will be seeking election for national position next year.
A Magdalo friend, Dante Langkit, detained like four other officers, will be running for the lone congressional seat of Kalinga. Langkit is facing mutiny charges for something that did not happen in February 2006.
Layug expects to be allowed to campaign but even behind bars he said in a statement posted in his blog “our spirits are not broken.”
He said, “ The iron bars and walls of confinement cannot deter us from pursuing our aspirations for a better country. We were blessed with a very rich and beautiful nation but our leaders have robbed us of our rightful share of these blessings. They took away hope from our people and chained us into poverty. It is time to stand up, reclaim what is ours, and assert our sovereign will. We will not go down without a fight and much more lose this country by default. The Filipino people deserve a better life. Our children deserve a life of peace, progress, and prosperity.”
Layug, PMA Class ‘95, is a multi-awarded officer. A member of the elite Navy Special Warfare Group, Layug has been recognized for leading navy SW units anti-illegal logging, anti-illegal fishing and anti-drug operations.
When he was under Task Force Comet, he took part in the rescue operation of tourists kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan and in the recovery of American Jeffrey Schilling in Sulu.
In all his military assignments, Layug brought the armed forces closer to the people by participating and initiating assorted community development projects.
He is offering a different kind of politics for the people of the second district of Taguig City.
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Exactly six years ago on Monday, July 27, Army Capt. Arlene Trillanes turned on her television set to see some 300 military officers and enlisted men taking over the Oakwood Premier Hotel in Makati.