The race congressional seat in the first district of Oriental Negros is going to be a close fight between the two women candidates, La Libertad Mayor Jocelyn Limkaichong and Olive Paras, Rep. Herminio Teves (3rd district) said.

Teves, the provincial chairman of Lakas-NUCD, said this was the result of a survey he commissioned recently.

Teves, a supporter of Limkaichong, said the ratio is only less than one half of one percent between Jocy and Olive. "Of course, Jerry (Paras) is quite low," he said of another congressional candidate, at a press conference in Dumaguete City last week.

Danilo Roble is also seeking the seat for Congress.

Although he did not cite specifics, Teves said the survey used variables, sample size and the margin of error, and its result was accurate as with those he commissioned in the past elections.

Teves said he also did a similar survey in the third district, where his grandson, Henry Pryde Teves, is also seeking a congressional seat against his nephew, Edgar Teves. "The results of the survey make me confident enough to concentrate on the first district," Teves, who turned 87 last Wednesday, and is the oldest congressman today.

He has been criticized by Rep. Jacinto Paras and his brother, former Rep. Jerome Paras, for supporting Limkaichong and "interfering" in the first district.

The three solons of Negros Oriental, with Gov. George Arnaiz, entered into an agreement to support each other and not to field an opponent among them. But Teves, a business partner of Julio Sy, Jocy Limkaichong's father, said as far as he remembers, the commitment does not include wives and grandchildren.

"Actually, this is not the first time that I have interfered in the first district," Teves admitted. "In 1986, I was the one who introduced the Parases to President Cory Aquino and that is how Jing became OIC of Guihulngan and Jerome the administration's congressional candidate," Teves said.

He also slammed the lack of improvements in the first district which the Parases had ruled for the last 19 years. "The people remain poor but the leaders are rich," he said.*AP

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