By ELDIE S. AGUIRRE,
Digos Bureau Chief
DIGOS CITY — Councilor Josef Cagas is challenging two-term mayor of Digos City in the May 2016 national and local elections.
Cagas clashed with Peñas for the first time in 2010 where the latter won with a margin of just more than 200 votes.
In 2013, Cagas’ uncle then Gov. Douglas Cagas ran against Peñas. The elder Cagas was considered as a very strong contender to topple the political career of Peñas. However, it turned out that speculations was different from reality. The former governor losed to Peñas with a wide margin.
Peñas started his political journey as the chairman of the Kabataang Barangay of Digos City where he became a board member and a 3-term vice-mayor of Digos under the leadership of Mayor Arsenio Latasa.
When Latasa was through with his terms of office in 2010, Peñas bid for the mayoral race where he clashed for the first time against Josef Cagas to grab the post Latasa has vacated where Peñas came out as victor.
The younger Cagas is currently the number one councilor of Digos City under the opposition. He earlier told some reporters he would not dare to run against Peñas by 2016 but ultimately filed a COC for mayor of Digos under the Nationalista Party (NP).
He is the son of Zone-3, Digos City barangay captain Gary Cagas and the younger brother of Board Member John Tracy Cagas who also bid for the vice-gubernatorial race against incumbent Vice-Governor Aileen Almendras.
Peñas remained undefeated along his political career, and known for his soft-hearted leadership and openness to the business community thereby converting Digos into a business hub during his two terms in office.
Meanwhile, Sta. Cruz Mayor Joel Ray Lopez will challenge House Representative Mercedes Cagas for the lone seat for congress in Davao del Sur. Rep. Cagas is the wife of former governor Douglas Cagas. She is the only winner in key positions of the province in 2013. He outvoted former vice-governor Arsenio Latasa for the congressional race. Marc Douglas Cagas loss to Claude Bautista in the gubernatorial race while His father Douglas Cagas also failed to grab the mayoral seat of Digos City in the 2013 polls.
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