LAOAG CITY – Incumbent Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc and Vice Governor Cecilia Araneta-Marcos have withdrawn their respective certificates of candidacy (COC) for reelection but switched positions for the 2025 mid-term polls.
Before the clock ticked 5 p.m. on Tuesday’s deadline for filing COCs, both incumbent officials arrived at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office to withdraw the COCs they filed on October 1 and to change positions.
As a result, Araneta-Marcos will run for governor under the Nationalist Party. She will be challenged by an independent candidate, Arlene Jocelyn Butay, a resident of San Nicolas town.
Manotoc, in turn, will run for vice governor unopposed.
In a press conference Tuesday evening, Manotoc said the job of a governor takes a lot of time and this affected some of the things that matter to him.
He admitted that there were times he thought of quitting politics to take a break but there is also a part of him not wanting to leave the provincial government to not let his constituents down.
“I think this is the right time to compromise, to still be around, and still manage what we have started and to sustain our projects,” he said, thanking his aunt, whom he fondly calls “Ate Ces” for her bravery to accept the challenge.
With “Ate Ces” by his side, Manotoc said all the projects and programs he has begun would not change in the next three years.
Araneta-Marcos, meanwhile, said she is well aware of the big responsibility of becoming the next governor of Ilocos Norte but noted that with the support of the Marcos family and people around her, common goals for the betterment of the province could be achieved.
“It is a big responsibility for someone who has not been in politics for a long time but I believe, I have some experience as a wife and mother and that is what I bring to the table. I may not be capable of a lot of things but I serve a big God and my God will help me,” she said.
Araneta-Marcos became the vice governor of Ilocos Norte in 2019 when she replaced her husband, the late provincial board member Mariano “Nonong” Marcos II, who died of cardiac arrest and who was then running for vice governor in tandem with her nephew, Manotoc. (PNA)