Rep Hernandez to challenge the incumbent for gubernatorial race in South Cotabato

SOUTH COTABATO – This province’s second district Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez is going to challenge the incumbent for a gubernatorial post come May 2022 local and national elections.



Rep Hernandez is bent on challenging incumbent Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. in next year’s elections as he formally filed his candidacy for Governor on Tuesday at the Comelec office.



To show funfare and also to show to the people that he is also a force to reckon with, Hernandez, chair of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino or PDP-Laban, staged a motorcade, starting from his office in Barangay Sta. Cruz up to the Comelec provincial office.



Rep Hernandez, who is now on his last term, belongs to the faction of the PDP Laban led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.



He was joined with his political allies and supporters that included incumbent mayors openly supporting his candidacy in the next year’s elections.



“We’re here to make the people our first priority. We will give them honest, fair, humane, and honorable leadership,” Hernandez told reporters.



Hernandez’s plan of actions and executive agenda include continuing the infrastructure development of the province, which already receives over P15 billion funding from the national government.



He is also planning to expand the basic services to the people’s health and social services as he saw the need to support them especially in this trying time of the pandemic.



Aside from infrastructure and social services, he also intends to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) by establishing a government-operated testing center that will truly serve the larger populace in the province.



It was learned that Hernandez’s running mate for the vice-gubernatorial post is incumbent Vice-Governor Vicente de Jesus.



He will also be backed by a long-time ally, former South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes, who is also running as congressman of the second congressional district. Fuentes has been a congresswoman to this district for four terms.



Fuentes is making a comeback since he lost to Tamayo in 2019 elections which also ended her political career. Fuentes is a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.



Meanwhile, in the first district, Danny Nograles, husband of Rep Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles, has also filed his candidacy Monday under the PDP Laban wing. – PNA