THE Villafuertes of Camarines Sur are heading for landslide victories in next year’s midterm elections, based on the December 2024 survey by prominent pollster Pulse Asia Inc.

Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte, who is now on his third and final term as congressman representing the province’s second district, is getting 80% of the votes in the gubernatorial race, if elections were held today, as against the tally of Ronald Rodriguez (National People’s Coalition), who is in far second place with 8%, according to the December survey by Pulse Asia.

The president of the National Unity Party (NUP), Villafuerte was a young export entrepreneur before he joined electoral politics in 2004 to better serve CamSur folk as governor for three successive terms.

Rep. Miguel Luis “Migz” Villafuerte, a former governor who is seeking a second term as congressman, is getting 93% of the votes, if elections were held today, as against the 6% of Doc Phil Fortuno (NPC), according to Pulse Asia’s December survey.

The same Pulse poll revealed that incumbent Gov. Luigi Villafuerte, who is running for congressman next year representing the province’s second district, has 86% of the votes, if the balloting were held today, as against the 6% of Fermin Mabulo (NPC).

According to the survey, among the reasons that the respondents cited in voting for the Villafuertes were that they were “doing well” in their current elective positions and “will do a lot” if elected again next year; were “tried and tested” officials, “approachable, kind and pro-people” and “intelligent;” and “has concern for the poor,” “exercises good governance,” “not corrupt/has a clean name” and “no trace of scandal or controversy.”

The same poll said 83% said they had “big trust” in LRay Villafuerte as against 17% for Rodriguez, 95% had “big trust” in Rep. Migz Villafuerte as against 16% for Fortuno, and 78% had “big trust” in Gov. Villafuerte as against 11% for Mabulo.

Undertaken from Dec. 1 to 7, this Pulse Asia survey—with a sample size of 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8%—was commissioned by the Iriga City Chamber of Commerce.

Pulse Asia said there were 1.084 million registered voters in CamSur in the 2019 polls, and the electorate has increased to 1.26 million for next year’s balloting.

In the Congress, LRay Villafuerte had served as Deputy Speaker for Finance, is concurrent majority leader of the Commission on Appointments (CA), and has principally authored 41 laws this 2024 alone, including 11 measures that President Marcos had identified as priority bills along with the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Committee (LEDAC).

At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, LRay Villafuerte was lead author of the House versions of Republic Act (RA) No. 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” and RA 11494, or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act,” that enabled the government to better deal with the health and financial crises triggered by the killer virus.

Among others, the Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2 laws allowed the government to spend big on Covid response and provide ayuda or financial assistance to the hardest-hit sectors such as the poorest households, low-income families, displaced workers and jobless Filipinos, and distressed small businesses.

On LRay Villafuerte’s watch as three-term governor, CamSur became the top tourist destination in the Philippines in 2010 and 2012, according to a National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) report that used data from Department of Tourism (DOT) regional offices.

CamSur’s rise as a top must-see place happened on the strength of the NUP president’s aggressive marketing push as governor for his province as an (1) extreme sports capital with the establishment of the CamSur Water Complex (CWC)—considered the world’s best wakeboard park and the site of world-renowned sports events notably the Ironman Triathlon, which was held there for three consecutive years—and (2) ecotourism haven with Caramoan Islands and its famous white and pink sand beaches.

Caramoan has been the location of five international editions of the global reality TV show “Survivor” for 15 years running, boosting the local economy and providing jobs to thousands of CamSur folk.

Also, when Villafuerte was governor—according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS)—CamSur became the country’s 12th biggest rice producer in 2008 and a higher No. 8 in 2011. CamSur went up to No. 4 rice producer in 2016.

From being the No. 39 poorest province in the country, CamSur rose dramatically to become the 12 richest province when LRay Villafuerte was governor, and further soared to a higher No. 3 wealthiest province in 2023 with Luigi Villafuerte as governor.

Cebu was at No. 1 as the country’s wealthiest province in 2023 with P39.71 billion, followed by Rizal in second with P39.71 billion and CamSur at third with P33.415 billion, according to the Commission on Audit (COA)’s Annual Financial Report on Local Government Units (LGUs).

Also in 2023 on the watch of Luigi Villafuerte as governor, CamSur was No. 2 on the top-10 list of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) as best LGU performers in terms of revenue collection.

CamSur’s impressive performance as No. 2 LGU revenue earner last year was traced by the NUP president to the “culture of entrepreneurship” that has been fostered in the province as a way to further attract investments, create jobs and stimulate business under the leadership of the Villafuertes.

Amid the global push for a swift transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources, CamSur has emerged as an investors’ haven for renewable energy (RE) development, promising to become the capital for renewables, especially wind power, with 16 wind farm projects in the pipeline with a combined electricity capacity of over 7,668 megawatts (MW) once all of these ventures are up and running.

These 16 wind farms include the P162.9-billion project of Danish infrastructure investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) on San Miguel Bay, which, once completed hopefully by 2028, will become the first and single biggest offshore wind (OSW) farm in the Philippines.

Another VRE project is the onshore wind farm in the municipality of Libmanan, which Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower) is building under a joint venture (JV) with the Dublin, Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power Corp.

The 16 CamSur wind farms will further stimulate economic activity and tourism in the province and create several thousand jobs.

The San Miguel Bay wind farm project alone is expected to create 2,500 jobs and spur indirect economic benefits, including the supply by local communities of food, lodging, maintenance along with other goods and services needed by this OSW venture.

The CamSur provincial government has also positioned the province to gain a foothold in the $35-billion global flavor and fragrance (F&F) industry with a JV on the mega production of Vetiver oil, which is a key ingredient in the making of perfumes, aromatic oils, creams and soaps along with other personal care (PC) products that are widely in demand across the globe.

The provincial government under Gov. Villafuerte has partnered with leading pharmaceutical company Iba Botanicals in developing a 7,500-hectare (ha) farmland for vetiver oil production under this project that promises to become the world’s largest integrated essential oils facility based on a locally available variety of vetiver grass.

Total investments in the plantation, distillery and associated infrastructure will exceed P500 million for this Vetiver project, using a project site that was developed when Rep. Migz Villafuerte was governor.

When he was still governor, now Rep. Migz Villafuerte was cited by the Commission of Higher Education (CHED) as the first and only governor who has put up the most number of community colleges in the country on his watch.

Migz Villafuerte had built community colleges in the municipalities of Libmanan, Tinambac , Garchitorena, Siruma and Caramoan.

There are over 35,000 student-beneficiaries in CamSur of the various scholarship and educational assistance programs of the provincial government.

At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, then-Gov. Migz Villafuerte launched the Healthcare-on-the-Go backpack project, the first of its kind in the country in which back-packing healthcare volunteers visited the province’s most remote areas, including coastal and upland villages, to give medical assistance, check-ups and free medicines to the rural folk.

Several of the visited rural folk said it was the first time ever for them to have had a check-up with doctors and nurses, under this project “Serbisyong Ka Fuerte” of the Villafuertes.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco