Rodriguezes’ group seeks to bar Nacaya’s wife from race for Nazareth’s top position

By NITZ ARANCON
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents .

ALL eyes are now on Nazareth where a political “proxy war” is being waged through two village politicians vying for the voteich barangay’s top post.

What’s happening in Nazareth now is really a “powerplay” between Mayor Oscar Moreno and the Rodriguez family, said former vice mayor Antonio Soriano.

According to Soriano, there’s more to the Nazareth barangay elections than meets the eye. At stake is the political bailiwick established by the family of former congressman Rufus Rodriguez which is now seeing an “invasion” by the group of Moreno through Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya’s wife Reina.

But at the same time, the outcome of this month’s barangay elections in Nazareth could become a make-or-break situation for Councilor Nacaya who challenged the then congressman Rodriguez’s reelection bid in the 2013 elections. Rodriguez gave Nacaya, then a Padayon Pilipino candidate, a beating in that election.

Soriano said Nacaya, who has ambitions of becoming a congressman in the city’s 2nd District, would need to reclaim the leadership of Nazareth which he once served as barangay chairman before he became a city councilor.

On Thursday, the former congressman’s law firm, Rodriguez, Casila, Galon and Associates, filed on behalf of two candidates for barangay councilors a petition that seeks to disqualify Nacaya’s wife Reina.

Reina, a daughter of the late councilor Reynaldo Advincula, is running for barangay chairperson against Maximo Rodriguez III whose father Maximo Jr. is 2nd District congressman and a younger brother of Rufus.

City elections officer Ramil Acol said the petition to deny due course to or cancel the certificate of candidacy of Reina has been forwarded to the Comelec central office.

The petition was filed by Eduardo Rubic and Clarissa Guidaben, candidates for barangay councilors in Nazareth under the Rodriguezes’ group.

“Basically, sila sa Manila ang mo-handle and ila gyud kini nga dali-on sa Metro Manila before election day,” Acol said.

In their petition, Rubic and Guidaben accused Reina of misrepresenting herself as a resident of Nazareth, and of perjury and falsification of documents.

They said Nacaya’s wife violated a provision in Section 39 of the Local Government Code that provides that a candidate in the barangay elections must be a “resident therein for at least one (1) year immediately preceding the day of the election.”

The petitioners said the Nacayas sold their house on 21st and 4th streets Nazareth to lawyer Jeoffrey Namalata as early as 2014, and the family moved to Corona Drive, Tibasak in Barangay Macasandig in 2016.

Guidaben said Reina’s candidacy for barangay chairperson is clearly a violation of the Local Government Code.

Rubic, for his part, said, “Magtug-an lang unta siya (Reina) sa tino-od kay klaro baya kaayo nga tu-a na kana sila nagpoyo sa Corona Drive sa Tibasak. Naka-ila baya ko sa ilang pamilya.”

Rubic and Guidaben said they were hoping that Comelec would decide on their petition before the May 14 elections.

Reina could not be reached for comment at presstime. But her husband admitted that the Nazareth property became Namalata’s on Aug. 17,  2016, and that his family moved to Macasandig.

But Nacaya argued that his wife is qualified to run for barangay chairperson of Nazareth because of their ancestral home there. He also pointed out that his wife has remained a registered voter of Nazareth.

Nacaya said Rubic and Guidaben’s assertions against Reina, if accepted, could also be used against Maximo Rodriguez III and his aunt, Nazareth barangay chairperson Jocelyn Rodriguez, now a candidate for village councilor. He alleged that Jocelyn and Maximo III live elsewhere, too.

The city councilor said Reina’s group did not question the certificates of candidacy of the Rodriguezes given their ancestral home in Nazareth. He said the group of the Rodriguezes should also acknowledge his family’s ancestral home in Nazareth.