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Cagayan's 2nd congressional district | ||||||||||||||||
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A special election for Cagayan's 2nd district seat in the House of Representatives of the Philippines was held on March 12, 2011. The special election was called after the incumbent representative, Florencio Vargas died in July 2010. Vargas' daughter, Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, was elected after beating former Cagayan Governor Edgar Lara, Vargas' opponent in the 2010 election. Alfonso would then serve the remainder of her father's term which ended in 2013.
Each congressional district of the Philippines sends one representative to the House of Representatives. An election to the seat is via first-past-the-post, in which the candidate with the most votes, whether or not one has a majority, wins the seat. Based on Republic Act (RA) No. 6645, in order for a special election to take place, the seat must be vacated, the relevant chamber notifies the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) the existence of a vacancy, then the COMELEC schedules the special election. There is a dispute in the procedure as a subsequent law, RA No. 7166, supposedly amended the procedure, bypassing the need for official communication from the relevant chamber of the vacancy. The COMELEC has always waited on official communication from the relevant chamber before scheduling a special election. [1]
Meanwhile, according to RA No. 8295, should only one candidate file to run in the special election, the COMELEC will declare that candidate as the winner and will no longer hold the election. [2]
Incumbent representative Florencio Vargas of Lakas-Kampi-CMD won the general election on May 10, 2010. His term began on June 30, but he died on July 22, a few days before the 15th Congress convened. [3] The two other congressmen from Cagayan, Jack Enrile and Randolph Ting, then filed a resolution declaring Vargas' seat vacant paving way for a special election. Defeated candidate and former governor Edgar Lara had previously expressed interest in participating if a special election was called, and also said that he expects any member of the Vargas family to run as well. [4] On December 13, Enrile Jr. was designated by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as the caretaker of the 2nd district pending the approval of a special election. [5]
The Commission on Elections has set the election on March 12, 2011, Saturday. The period for the filing of certificates of candidacy will be from February 21 to 25, and the campaign period will be from February 26 to March 10. Unlike the general election, the special election will be conducted manually. [6]
Only two candidates ran. Lara, formerly of the Nationalist People's Coalition, was the ruling Liberal Party's nominee for the special election, while Vargas' daughter, Abulug vice mayor Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, was his opponent. [7]
President Aquino and the ruling Liberal Party supported Lara's candidacy, while Cagayan governor Alvaro Antonio and 1st district representative Jack Enrile's Team Cagayan coalition supported Alfonso, the daughter of the late representative. Alfonso is running under the Lakas Kampi CMD banner. [8]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso | Lakas Kampi CMD | 69,461 | 72.32 | |
| Edgar Lara | Liberal Party | 26,582 | 27.68 | |
| Total | 96,043 | 100.00 | ||
| Majority | 42,879 | 44.65 | ||
| Lakas Kampi CMD hold | ||||
| Source: [9] | ||||
Alfonso was declared the winner after the Commission on Elections finished canvassing in ten of the twelve municipalities in the district. The low turnout was blamed on residents residing outside the district not returning to their homes during the weekend, and the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in which voters were discouraged from casting their votes when residents from the coastal towns of the district evacuated due to a tsunami alert and only returned morning of election day. [10]
Alfonso was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives on March 16, raising its membership to 284, the largest in its history. [11]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florencio Vargas | Lakas Kampi CMD | 85,376 | 73.21 | |
| Edgar Lara | Nationalist People's Coalition | 28,303 | 24.27 | |
| Lydia Ramos | Aksyon Demokratiko | 2,938 | 2.52 | |
| Total | 116,617 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 116,617 | 93.10 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 8,646 | 6.90 | ||
| Total votes | 125,263 | 100.00 | ||
| Majority | 57,073 | 48.94 | ||
| Lakas Kampi CMD hold | ||||
The legislative districts of Cagayan are the representations of the province of Cagayan in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The province is currently represented in the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines through its first, second, and third congressional districts.
The 2007 Philippine House of Representatives elections were held on May 14, 2007, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the Philippines to serve in the 14th Congress of the Philippines from June 30, 2007, until June 30, 2010. The Philippines uses parallel voting for seats in the House of Representatives.
The 14th Congress of the Philippines, composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives, met from July 23, 2007, until June 9, 2010, during the last three years of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's presidency. The convening of the 14th Congress followed the 2007 general elections, which replaced half of the Senate membership and the entire membership of the House of Representatives. It celebrated the centennial year of the Philippine legislature.
Florencio L. Vargas was a Filipino politician. A member of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party, he has been elected to three terms as a Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, representing the 2nd District of Cagayan. He first won election to Congress in 2004, and was re-elected in 2007 and 2010. He died on July 22, 2010, due to leukemia.
Manuel Noveno Mamba Sr. is a Filipino doctor and politician who is the current provincial governor of Cagayan. He was elected to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, representing the 3rd District of Cagayan. First elected in 1995, he was re-elected in 2001, 2004, and 2007. He was also a municipal mayor of Tuao, Cagayan, from 1988 to 1995.
The 2010 Philippine House of Representatives elections were held on May 10, 2010, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the Philippines to serve in the 15th Congress of the Philippines from June 30, 2010, to June 30, 2013. The Philippines uses parallel voting for seats in the House of Representatives; a voter has two votes: one for a representative from one's legislative district, and another for a sectoral representative via closed lists under the party-list system, with a 2% election threshold and 3-seat cap, when the parties with 2% of the national vote or more not meeting the 20% of the total seats, parties with less than 2% of the vote will get one seat each until the 20% requirement is met.
Elections were held in the Ilocos Region for seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 10, 2010.
Elections were held in Cagayan Valley for seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 10, 2010.
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Elections were held in the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) for seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 10, 2010.
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Elections were held in Northern Mindanao for seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 10, 2010.
Gubernatorial elections were held in the Philippines on May 10, 2010. All provinces elected their provincial governors for three-year terms that will begin on June 30, 2010. Governors that are currently serving their third consecutive terms are prohibited from running as governors.
Local elections were held in the province of Tarlac on May 10, 2010, as part of the 2010 general election. Voters elected candidates for all local positions: four members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, vice governor, governor, and representatives for the three districts of Tarlac.
Local elections were held in the province of Cebu on May 10, 2010 within the Philippine general election. The voters elected a mayor, vice mayor, nine district representatives (including two from Cebu City and the newly formed lone district of Lapu-Lapu City, and town and city councilors as well as two provincial board members came from six provincial districts.
A special election for Ilocos Sur's 1st district seat in the House of Representatives of the Philippines was held on May 28, 2011. The special election was called after incumbent representative Ronald Singson resigned on March 7, 2011, after being convicted of drug possession by the Wan Chai District Court in Hong Kong. Vigan vice mayor Ryan Luis Singson, the former representative's brother, won the election and shall serve the remainder of his brother's term which will end on June 30, 2013.
Elections were held in the Cagayan Valley for seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 13, 2013.
Elections were held in Cagayan Valley for seats in the House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 9, 2016.
Cagayan's 2nd congressional district is one of the three congressional districts of the Philippines in the province of Cagayan. It has been represented in the House of Representatives of the Philippines since 1916 and earlier in the Philippine Assembly from 1907 to 1916. The district consists of the western municipalities of Abulug, Allacapan, Ballesteros, Calayan, Claveria, Lasam, Pamplona, Piat, Rizal, Sanchez-Mira, Santa Praxedes and Santo Niño. It is currently represented in the 19th Congress by Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso of the Lakas–CMD.
Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso is a Filipina politician who currently serves as the representative of Cagayan's 2nd District since 2022 and previously from 2011 to 2019. She is the youngest daughter of former Congressman and Governor Florencio Vargas. Vargas-Alfonso served as Vice Mayor of Abulug from 2007 to 2010. After her father died on July 22, 2010, she successfully ran for Congress in a special election in 2011 to finish his term. Vargas-Alfonso accused that she is one of sources of fake SARO forms. In 2019, Vargas-Alfonso finished her three consecutive terms as Congresswoman from Cagayan's Second District. Her daughter Sam Vargas Alfonso succeeded her in 2019.
