source: interaksyon.com
Local and midterm legislative elections are still a year away. But many politicians and, yes, celebrities have already declared their intentions to seek public office, whether for the first or the nth time.
A look at the entertainers seeking our votes, whether on the local or national level, reveals a good number of usual suspects plus some surprise entrants.
On the other side of the coin, we were also surprised that some celebrities who filed their certificates of candidacies in the past are going to sit 2013 out. Whether they’re just superstitious about the year’s supposedly unlucky number or truly have other plans, only they know.
For now, let’s just check out who’s running and who’s not—at least as of this posting.
THEY’RE RUNNING
The biggest and possibly most surprising election announcement so far came from former president Joseph Estrada who hopes to wrest the mayoralty of Manila from formidable incumbent Alfredo Lim.
Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, Lim’s running mate in the 2010 elections was initially regarded as the prime challenger for the incumbent’s post. With Estrada throwing his hat in the ring, Isko decided to seek re-election, this time under Erap’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino party where he was recently inducted as its newest member.
As reported by Interaksyon.com, feisty talent manager and former actress Annabelle Rama is also running as representative of the north district of her native Cebu.
Lucy Torres-Gomez is seeking a second term as Ormoc City representative while husband Richard Gomez is setting his sights on the city’s mayoralty post. It can be recalled that Richard, who is currently serving as Lucy’s chief of staff, was barred by the Comelec to run as Ormoc representative in 2010. He was replaced by Lucy, who won handily.
Alma Moreno, currently a councilor in Parañaque, has confirmed her intention to seek a Senate seat under the Lakas-CMD party of Sen. Bong Revilla. Alma, who is also the president of the Philippine Councilors League which she claims is supporting her bid, has taken a public administration course to bolster her qualification for the post.
As early as late last year, Phillip Salvador announced that he is running for the post of vice mayor in Pasay City.
Aga Muhlach is planning to seek a congressional seat in the 4th district of Camarines Sur and is reportedly building a house in its town of San Jose to establish his residence.
And then there’s Shalani Soledad-Romulo, currently a councilor for Valenzuela, who has confirmed during the recent press preview of TV5’s “Game N’ Go”, that she is definitely running for higher office, most likely as representative of her city. She added that husband, Pasig congressman Roman Romulo, is also seeking re-election.
THEY’RE NOT RUNNING
Contrary to what was earlier rumored, Vic Sotto is actually not running for Quezon City mayor. The rumor spread like wildfire after Bossing’s brother, Senator Tito Sotto, admitted in media reports that the matter was “napag-uusapan.”
In a recent report that came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Malou Choa-Fagar, a longtime associate of Vic has confirmed that the actor-comedian is not seeking public office—welcome news to his friend, incumbent QC mayor Herbert Bautista.
There’s also former Optical Media Board Chairman and former Makati Vice Mayor Edu Manzano, who ran unsuccessfully as the vice presidential running mate of 2010 presidentiable Gilbert Teodoro.
During the press conference for “Game N’ Go” which he will host together with Joey De Leon, Edu categorically stated that he is not running for any position next year and added that he does not need an official title to make a difference in people’s lives.
He said that in his capacity as private citizen, he continues to support the Philippine Children’s Medical Center where a cancer ward was named after his father.
On Twitter, Sunshine Cruz tweeted that both she and her husband Cesar Montano, who unsuccessfully sought a Senate seat in 2007, has “no plans” of running for any post in 2013.
And finally, there’s Assunta de Rossi, who is married to Negros Occidental Representative Jules Ledesma. When asked by this writer on Twitter if she has any election plans for 2013, her reply was a plain and simple “nope.”
Stay tuned as we continue to update our report on celebrities who are either running or not running for next year’s elections.
source: interaksyon.com
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