Sanchez widow is ‘best replacement’ in gubernatorial race — ally

An ally of deceased Batangas gubernatorial candidate Arman Sanchez (Nacionalista Party) on Wednesday said Sanchez’s widow, Edna, is the “most logical replacement" for her husband in the gubernatorial race. Interviewed by GMANews.TV, Batangas congressional candidate Luis Carlos “Arsenic" Laurel said with less than two weeks before the May 10 elections, it will be difficult for them to field another candidate other than Mrs. Sanchez. “I feel that the most logical [replacement] will be Mayor Edna. I’m not well versed on the rules on substitution so I think the lawyers are also going to study this," he said. Laurel, grandson of the country’s wartime President Jose P. Laurel, was among those who visited Sanchez’s wake in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, on Wednesday. Like Sanchez, he is running under the NP banner. NP standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar Jr. also visited the wake. Sanchez, 57, was rushed to the Mary Mediatrix Medical Center in Lipa City, Batangas, last Monday afternoon after collapsing during a campaign sortie there. He passed away at around 7:20 p.m. the next day due to brain hemorrhage.

Big setback Laurel admitted that the former governor’s demise is “a very, very big setback for the party [and] for Batangas politics." But the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said existing election laws bar Mrs. Sanchez from replacing her husband in the gubernatorial race. In an interview with reporters earlier in the day, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the replacement should come from the same party and is not running for any other position in the May polls. Mrs. Sanchez is running for re-election as Sto. Tomas mayor. "Whoever is fit to substitute for them can run on behalf of him (but)... you cannot change positions anymore, this will leave a vacancy. The substitute should (also) come from the same party or coalition," Jimenez said. Laurel said they are not pressuring Mrs. Sanchez to replace her husband. “We hope the Lord guides Mayor Edna in whatever she decides and the party will be in full support of her decision," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV