The first match between the two parties happened in 2001 when the late Governor Joseph G. Marañon (UNA) ran against former Vice Governor Romeo (Roy) Gamboa.

Marañon won the election over Gamboa who was supported by Coscolluela.

Accompanied by their families and supporters, mostly the landed and big sugar planters in the province, former Governor and incumbent Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael "Lito" Coscolluela with his running former La Castellana Mayor Enrico Elumba filed their Certificate of Candidacy (COC) at the Comelec Provincial office yesterday.

With Coscolluela, his cousin Murcia Mayor Esteban Coscolluela also filed his COC for Congressman of the Third District and Philip Arles who will run as Congressman of the 6th District.

If UNA’s Chair and Gubernatorial candidate Sagay City Mayor Alfredo "Freddie" Maranon said that this coming election he will not only win, but he will win by a big landslide, Coscolluela said "We’ll give UNA a good fight.

That’s guaranteed and you can be sure that we will give our best shot and we have more support than we expected". He said more mayors in the province are coming in to their party. "Every time I go around there’s another coming in. The latest is former Mayor Edilberto Vocal of Manpla, the other one is former mayor Eddie Boy Varela of Cadiz City of may make a comeback", he added.

Both Maranon and Coscolluela would not divulged yet who among the Presidential candidates. Maranon said he would not make it public until the campaign period. Coscolluela also said that he already have his own personal preference at this point in time.

"All the parties seem to be feeling with everybody else. When things become clear at the campaign period I will announce my personal preference and I will try to convince all of my allies. At this time there is no commonality of the choices. Everybody’s still in the stage where I have personal preference but I haven’t really made up my mind", he said.

Maranon also declared that Negros in so far as UNA is concerned will be "Zona Libre" for Presidential candidates.

The party has complete line-up in all towns and cities in the province. Majority of the incumbent congressmen in the province also belong to the party founded by Former Ambassador Eduardo "Dan-ding" Cojuanco.

ATUN was founded by Coscolluela himself.

Coscolluela also assured that if given a chance to be back at capitol, he will only serve for three years or one term.

"When I said that my fondest dream was to retire after June 2010 and call it a day as a public servant, I was asked can you give it at least one more try to see if we can break the strangle hold of political monopolies and opening the doors for a new generation of public servants.

"I have no intention of staying in the capitol longer than I aimed to. In fact, if I were to be asked, if it is possible if given a chance to back at capitol, I would like to stay for 1 term and then pave the way for a new generation of public servant", Coscolluela further said.

Coscolluela also said that "he choose to be his running mate because he is one of my favorite mayors. I snatched him out of La Castellana. I am barrowing him from the people of La Castellana because I want to have a vice Governor who has a track record of performance who has shown an ability to be close to the people.

"In fact, when I visited him last Sunday, there was still about 30 patients waiting for him. That is somebody that I would like to bring with me in the campaign trail. Somebody who can show that he can go to and be seen by the people", he said.

Maranon’s running mate Sixth District Congressman Genaro "Lim-ao" Alvarez on the other hand said that program of giving free hospitalization will also be extended throughout the province if he will win as Vice Governor.

Alvarez daughter Atty. Mercedes Alvarez who will run to replace him in the district will be opposed by Philip Arles. He is the son of Kabankalan RTC Judge Henry Arles. Alvarez is 25 years old while Arles is 31 years old.* (TEDulla)