Three names were floated as seeing action in what is billed as “financially bloody” elections for president of the League of Municipalities, Bohol chapter. Scheduled first week of July, the prominent names of Loay Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy, Trinidad Mayor-elect Roberto Cajes and Danao Mayor Louis Thomas Gonzaga are slated to slug it out in a three-way LMP race. Sought for reaction last night, Mayor Cajes who will be a former congressman by then, said he will conduct a provinciwide consultation starting next week confirming talks that he is it. The former solon appears unbeatable in his quest for the LMP presidency knowing his financial muscle. He is also confident that with the full backing of incoming Gov. Edgar Chatto and third district Cong. Arthur Yap, the new Trinidad mayor may be a cinch of a winner. As three-termer congressman, Cajes was believed to have earned a pile that running as president of LMP appeared “peanuts” in terms of logistics. Although Cajes' wife Judith del Rosario- Cajes suffered a humiliating defeat in the hands of come backing Cong.-elect Erico Aumentado, but the loss, according to observers, did not make a serious dent in the Cajeses' bulging war chest.

This may explain why Aumentado although elected congressman in the second district was not counted as one of Cajes' potential backers in his LMP foray. It was widely perceived that Aumentado's support will be counted by Gonzaga who also confirmed his availability to the coveted position. Although Gonzaga made no categorical affirmation of Aumentado's backing, he was quoted as saying however to have considered the former governor as an ally who can sway support from Bohol mayors to the Danao mayor's bid. It's everybody's knowledge in the entire second diostrict that Gonzaga is a faired boy of the governor and a support to the mayor's LMP bid is not a matter of conjecture but of political reality.

MYOR LIM-IMBOY, TOO

While Cajes and Gonzaga were strutting their political backers with aplomb, Loay's Mayor Lim-Imboy is no push over either. Winning a convincing victory in the Loay mayoralty in the process of shattering election records, the amiable lady mayor is also in the thick of the fight even if she has chosen to keep her cards close to her chest who are her prominent supporters in the provincial and congressional levels. But one thing is certain. Lim has the money, lots of it, that can make the coming LMP elections, a nobody's game. Lim was known to have shattered the existing record of “inangayan tariff” when he won reelection in Loay the second time around. The mayor's feat in winning elections whether fair or foul was only matched with what Mayor Dodong Alcala did to Panglao voters in the 2007 local elections. Lim's family is into resorts, shipping, mining, among others