by Miriam G. Desacada
Isabel Veloso–It’s still about seven months away from the filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2025 midterm elections, but the political cauldron in the 4th district of Leyte is already heating up.
That was when a political patriarch from Leyte’s 3rd district, Vicente “Ching” Veloso III, decided to relocate to the 4th where he decided to plant his fresh political dominion.
The political veteran Ching, a former three-term 3rd district representative who, despite his 79 years of age, can still wield political influence with ease at wherever turf he wanted to set his house on.
Ching, a lawyer by profession, was once a Court of Appeals justice and Labor commissioner. His past years of public service were muddled with controversies, such as his being in the list of narco-politicians, but he survived all these and cleared his name for lack of evidence.
At this time, while his daughter Anna is the incumbent representative of the 3rd district, he made a sharp turn towards the horizon of the 4th district, obviously with aims for a political hedge in this side of the province.
Ching built a residential house in Isabel, a port town in the 4th district, which practically made him a resident of the place.
On March 11, he officially transferred his voter’s registration from his birthplace town of Villaba (3rd district) to Isabel (4th district), somehow exposing the buzz on his political plans.
Shortly after Ching filed his transfer of voter’s registration, a motorcade around town was held to create a bandwagon effect, followed by a rally-cum-open forum at the Isabel Sports Complex, which was filled by thousands of Ching’s supporters, both from the 3rd and 4th districts.
True to the buzz, Ching finally declared that he is going to run for congressman of the 3rd district against the incumbent Rep. Richard “Goma” Gomez in the 2025 election.
Five out of the seven mayors of the 4th district, as well as LGU officials and incumbent mayors from the 3rd district, were present during the public announcement of Ching’s congressional bid.
Joining Ching on stage were 4th district biggies: Mayors Rolando Villacencio of Merida town, Bernardino Tacoy of Matag-b, Ramon Oñate of Palompon, Sixto dela Victoria of Albuera, and Edgardo Cordeño of Isabel.
Absent of course were Goma’s wife, Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez, and the latter’s brother, Mayor Matt Torres of Kananga town.
In attendance to show their full support to Ching’s plan were members of the political clans of Ormoc City—Codilla, Larrazabal, and Veloso—who said they believe in Ching’s advocacy for a new leadership and governance of the 4th district.
During the forum, Ching bared that the mayors and some business groups insisted him to run for the 4th district congressional post. He initially declined it but, after learning of the many problems and the sufferings of the poor in the district due to abuses of an stranger (outsider) leader, he was compelled to accept the challenge.
Veloso said he will form a legal team that will serve the district for free and assist those who are “victims” of oppression and abuses by a leader who is not a native of Leyte.
GOMA’S REACTION
In a recent newspaper account, Rep. Goma, after learning of the grand event in Isabel, said he welcomed the planned candidacy next year of Ching for the 4th district seat.
Goma said he is unfazed by the Veloso push, and that it would not stop him from serving and protecting the people of the district. “I have the people and the law behind me. I will stand for what is right,” he said.
Goma said he has the obligation to protect the people of the district from the illegal activities of the town mayors. “It is my duty to protect the people,” he said, adding that he will never seek alliance with “lawbreakers” just because they are the mayors.
Goma further said he will not be put down by mudslinging of politicians who he said must be held accountable instead for their “misdeeds.”
Speaking of mudslinging, however, it was Goma who was more brutal in his attacks when he lambasted the mayors as “callous and nefarious leaders,” who are committing illegal activities, unlawful acts, and questionable causes.
Branding Ching’s political supporters as “pseudo-public servants,” he even made insinuations of them as being involved in the rampant killings of village leaders in the 3rd district, among other criminal acts.
“I will not allow the 4th district to become the bedrock of criminals,” declared Goma to the press. —Miriam G. Desacada