By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD CITY – The United Negros Alliance (UnegA), one of the major political organizations in Negros Occidental, is set to announce its candidates for the 2025 midterm elections during a convention today (Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024) at Nature’s Village in Talisay City.
Around 150 of the 200 UnegA members are expected to attend the general assembly, according to Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante, UnegA’s secretary general.
The gathering comes three weeks ahead of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy for the 2025 midterm elections, which will take place from Oct. 1 to 8.
Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, UnegA’s president, said the assembly will focus on the party’s candidates, from the provincial level down to cities and municipalities.
Ferrer added that Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, a key figure in the Love Negros Team, will be invited. UnegA has a standing coalition with Love Negros.
UnegA and Love Negros have maintained their coalition since the 2019 elections, with the top two positions in the province unopposed through the 2022 polls.
Lacson ran for governor, and Ferrer ran for vice governor in the last two elections, with neither party fielding any opponents against the other.
Ferrer earlier announced that he would not seek a third term and would instead run for the 4th congressional seat of Negros Occidental after his wife, Rep. Juliet Ferrer, completes her third term.
Board Member Jose Benito Alonso is being floated as UnegA’s potential candidate for vice governor in the 2025 elections.
Ferrer said the general assembly will also discuss areas where there are opposing mayoral candidates who are both UnegA members.
Meanwhile, Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko has been endorsed as the first nominee of the Abang Lingkod party-list group, a position that will be vacated by Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, whose term ends on June 30, 2025.
Governor Lacson also mentioned that he met with Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, head of the Love Negros Team, and that the Love Negros convention is scheduled for next week.
