BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Lawyer Emilio Bernardino “Dino” Yulo topbilled the stories of upsets against seemingly formidable incumbent opponents as he made a come from behind win against incumbent Fifth District Rep. Maria Lourdes Arroyo.
Yulo, a former member of the Sugar Board had 118,558 votes against the 76,115 of Arroyo.
He becomes the presumptive representative to Congress for the Fifth District, the largest in terms of population among the six districts in the province outside the lone district here.
The Fifth covers the city of Himamaylan amd the adjacent towns of Binalbagan, Hinigaran, La Castellana, Moises Padilla, and Isabela.
Up in the sixth district’s premier city of Kabankalan, longtime chief executive Pedro Zayco lost to a village councilman while down north, in Silay City, incumbent Mark Andrew Golez lost to former vice mayor, Joedith Gallego.
In San Enrique, a sleepy town around 40 kilometers south of here, incumbent Mayor Jilson Tubillara had a squeaker against his opponent Leo Delfinado with a difference of only 10 votes.
Tubillara had 8,182 votes while Delfinado had 8,172.
However, Kabankalan City incumbent Mayor Pedro Zayco Jr lost to his rival Benjie Miranda with a difference of 278 votes.
Zayco had 36,611 votes while Miranda,the winner had 36,889.
Miranda, a former village official of Tan-awan, Kabankalan City ended the more than 30 years of governance led by the Zayco clan.
Incumbent Vice Mayor Raul Rivera meanwhile was defeated by Migz Zayco by an almost 12,000 vote difference.
Golez lost to former Vice Mayor Joedith Gallego by almost 3,000 votes.
Golez who ran for his final term had 34,725 votes while Gallego had 37,643.
Arroyo conceded defeat in a statement and said she had been blessed as only few people gets to represent the fifth district.
