Eastern Samar Rep. Abunda trails behind rival in unofficial count

Incumbent Eastern Samar Rep. Ma. Fe Abunda | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of Cong. Maria Fe Abunda

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — Incumbent Eastern Samar Rep. Ma. Fe Abunda is on the verge of defeat in the race for the lone congressional representative of the province.

Based on the partial and unofficial results of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Abunda, (Lakas-CMD), who is seeking her last and third term, has so far received 91,741.

Her rival, Christopher Sheen Gonzales, an independent candidate, obtained 154,199 votes.

Their other rival, Arnold Azura, running as an independent, has 4,737 votes.

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Gonzales, a former vice governor, is a son-in-law of House Minority Floor Leader Marcelino Libanan of the 4Ps party-list group, who himself is set to regain his House seat under the party-list system.

During the elections, Gonzales got the support of 21 town mayors of the province and outgoing Gov. Ben Evardone.

Meanwhile, Evardone’s son, Ralph Vincent, was also leading in the gubernatorial race.

So far, the young Evardone has received 175,103 votes as against his opponent, Raffy Asebias, who has so far obtained 64,765 votes.

Evardone’s running mate, incumbent Vice Gov. Maricar Sison, was reelected.