There was a serious attempt to come up with a dream “Unity Ticket”  for the 2019 elections which could have lessened the number of candidates and would minimize election expenses by every candidate.

A highly placed source told the Chronicle that the “lock up factor” for the Unity Ticket was to include second-termer Rep. Aris Aumentado in the bandwagon to ensure a smoother election of public officials with less confrontational fights, from the provincial down to the municipal level.

The source who requested not to be identified said the Unity Ticket will have Rep. Rene Relampagos and Vice Gov. Dionisio Balite to run for governor and vice governor, respectively.   

The congressional bets will be last termer Gov. Edgar Chatto for congressman in the first district, Rep. Aumentado in the second district while the third district congressional bet will be decided by a convention to be held among the those interested, namely, Board Member Alexie Tutor, former Carmen Mayor Che Toribio delos Reyes and retired Judge Carlos Fernando.

In that planned unity ticket, Rep. Art Yap was reportedly willing to forego his gubernatorial plan. Instead, he will give way for Relampagos to bid for his gubernatorial comeback.

Asked if where was Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. in the equation, it was mentioned that he will stay put as Cabinet member of the Duterte administration to maintain the influence of the Boholanos in the Palace. 

Yap, for his part, was willing to sacrifice his gubernatorial dream and will go full-time businessman based in Manila.

The plan reportedly surprised Relampagos after he could not believe that Yap was willing to “sacrifice for the sake of party unity.”

Relampagos was reportedly accepting the offer to run for governor.

The same source told the Chronicle  the planned Unity Ticket fizzled out when the Rep. Aumentado declined to accept the offer to be in the “Unity Ticket” as the candidate for congressman in the second district.