Lito, Kako heat up
Neg. Occ. politics
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Politics in Negros Occidental is heating up.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael Coscolluela yesterday said there is a 75 percent chance he will run for governor in 2010, he is in the middle of deliberations with his own core group and known allies in Negros Occidental.

“I am inclined more towards running and hope to make a decision by the end of the week…If I run it will be as an independent,” he said, but added he is not ruling out an alliance with the Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

“As the final chapter in my public life, I would like to be able to do something more in the service of the province. That will be expressed in a program of government at the proper time,” Coscolluela, a former three-term governor of Negros Occidental, said.

Two female lawyers are reportedly eyeing the mayoralty and vice mayoralty seats in Bacolod City .

Lawyer Andrea Lizares-Si is reportedly running for mayor while former Bacolod Councilor Ana Marie Palermo is seeking the vice mayoralty seat in the 2010 elections.

Asked for her reaction, Palermo refused to confirm the reports but only said “It will come sooner or later.”

While, Si, who was a City Administrator of then Bacolod mayor Luzviminda Valdez, posted on her Facebook that she is running for mayor of Bacolod next year and will be calling for a press conference sometime soon.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will visit Talisay City Thursday afternoon, to stress her support for a total log ban in the third district of Negros Occidental and to lead the groundbreaking rites for a P25-million two-storey school building, Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ., 3 rd District) said yesterday.

Arroyo on Nov. 3 signed into law Republic Act 9741 authored by Lacson, which strictly imposes a logging ban in the third district.

Lacson said the groundbreaking rites will be held at the Rafael B. Lacson Memorial High School in Talisay City , where the new classroom, he asked the president for, will be built.