Local political party of Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez and 4th District Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez at Wednesday’s meeting before announcing their lineup for the 2022 elections. (Contributed)
Leyte’s fourth district representative Lucy Torrres-Gomez will not run as a senator in next year’s presidential elections. after declaring her bid to run as mayor of her hometown of Ormoc City.
Torres-Gomez, the former model turned politician, will instead switch places with her actor-husband, incumbent Ormoc City mayor Richard Gomez, who still has one term left.
The Gomez couple will run under the Ormoc Development Team (ODT), an ally of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) – Cusi wing.
Torres-Gomez was the lone female House lawmaker included in the senatorial line-up of the PDP-Laban Cusi wing, mainly composed of cabinet members.
The congresswoman was also invited by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson to run alongside them under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), but she respectfully declined and remained with PDP-Laban.
Meanwhile, Gomez will try to seek a congressional seat in the fourth district of Leyte after his failed first attempt in 2010, where he was disqualified for lacking the required residency.
In 2001, Gomez tried to gain a seat in the House of Reperesentatives as the first nominee of the party-list group Mamayan Ayaw sa Droga (MAD). However, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualified MAD in the elections for “not representing the marginalized sector.”
Carmelo Locsin Sr., the father of incumbent Ormoc City Vice-Mayor Toto Locsin Jr, will run as vice mayor.
The line-up also includes City Councilors Lalaine Marcos, Goito Yrastorza, Jasper Lucero, Peter Rodriguez, Nolitz Quilang and Roiland Villasencio.
Gomez said the final lineup was decided in a meeting Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
In the 2016 elections, the Gomez-Torres defeated the Codilla clan, which has since tried to reclaim their seat but failed. – Ryan Sorote