In Pampanga, a trio goes up against the Pineda dynasty

PAMPANGA, Philippines – It may have been stripped of the official title “culinary capital” of the Philippines, but Pampanga is a worthy gastronomic center, and very much a center of something else – politics.

The dominance of political families here — the ruling Pinedas, Arroyos, Lapids and Gonzaleses — is a microcosm of the dynasty-led country. It is where national candidates come to seek local endorsements, with its 1.46 million-strong voting population making it 11th most vote rich out of 82 provinces.

At a packed auditorium in Angeles City on Wednesday, April 23, senatorial candidate Bong Revilla of the administration slate Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas danced his signature Budots, much to the delight of the audience. “Gusto ni Nanay sasayaw daw lahat ng kandidato (Mother wants all candidates to dance),” said Revilla, referring to Vice Governor Lilia Pineda, known fondly as “Nanay Baby” to her strong and steady base.

Lilia will run for governor again, seeking to keep the grip of the family on the provincial capitol, which they have held for 15 years since 2010. In five straight elections since then, it was always a Pineda in power, either her or her son Dennis “Delta” Pineda who had been governor since 2019. Except for 2010 when basketball coach Yeng Guiao was Lilia’s vice governor, it had been the mother-and-son Pineda holding the highest seats in the province.

The 2025 midterms elections is what’s shaping up to be the hottest election Pampanga has seen in years, with its former governor Ed Panlilio coming out of political retirement to challenge Delta for vice governor. Adding to the heated mix is the battle for the city hall of San Fernando, where the Pinedas transferred voting registration last year just to field their own to challenge the rising incumbent mayor Vilma Caluag.

“Oras na” or “It’s time” is the campaign battlecry of the tandem of businessman Danilo Baylon and Panlilio, going around the province preaching that it’s time to drop the dynasty, and choose new leaders.

Can they do it against a well-entrenched dynasty that can shore up support of mayors and barangay captains?

The fairy tale of 2007

In 2007, Catholic priest Ed Panlilio was presented as the “good” alternative to Mark Lapid and Lilia Pineda. By a miracle, he won, although by a very slim margin over Lilia. It followed a similar victory in Isabela by Grace Padaca over the Dy dynasty, inspiring hope that a wave of ending dynasties had begun.

The fairy tale, though, had an expiry date as Panlilio got to serve for only one term. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) also ruled in 2010 that a recount of the votes showed Lilia was the true winner in 2007. Panlilio then lost the 2010 gubernatorial elections to Lilia.

In the last 15 years, the Pinedas rose to even greater power. But Panlilio said his province plunged into a gambling addiction.

“Umiral kasi ang kultura ng sugal…ginawang STL naging ligal. Then later on na-develop ‘yung talpakan, ‘yung online sabong na ang pinagtatalunan ngayon, buhay na,” said Panlilio, known especially to Catholics as “Among Ed”.

(A culture of gambling pervaded…then it became small-town lottery [STL] so it became legal. Then later on, cockfighting was developed. Now it’s online sabong, where lives are being gambled.)

Baylon estimates that 70% of Pampanga gambles. “Lulong. Kasi nga pagka tinanong mo kung sino ‘yung nagsusugal, almost 70%. At ‘yan naging habit. Isipin mo, pagka-nakasanayan mo ‘yan, talagang akala mo hanapbuhay na.“

(It’s an addiction. Because if you ask around who gambles, it’s almost 70%. It had become a habit. Because if you get used to it, you’d think it’s your livelihood already.)

On the sidelines of a Baylon-Panlilio sortie in Mabalacat on April 22, a resident said she was checking them out because gambling is also the issue she cares about. “‘Yung online sugal, isa sa mga dahilan ng krimen ‘yan eh,” said Lei Han. (Online gambling is one of the reasons for crimes.)

To outsiders, Pampanga seems to be the best of both worlds. It has the peace and quiet of the country side with the best that nature has to offer, but also the comfort and luxuries of city life. A major airport is in Clark. But from within, crime and drugs seem to be troubling some residents.

“Sana walang droga (I hope we eradicate drugs),” said Myrna Platino. “Talamak ang drugs dito (drugs are prevalent here),” said Lolita Bermudez. “Mataas ang krimen lalo na sa part ng city (The crime rate is up especially in the city),” Han added.

Pampanga took center stage in September 2023 after a warehouse in Mexico was found to have concealed smuggled shabu.

In the last decade, Pampanga has been on the headlines of the nation’s most grisly crimes — the killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in 2017, the raids of scam hubs that allegedly were hotbeds for trafficking and prostitution in Clark and Porac in 2023 and 2024, and the spate of extrajudicial killings of local officials that had reached six since 2022 (two other victims survived the attack). Official police data shows a decreasing crime rate in Central Luzon over the years.

Gambling problem

The gambling connection is glaring yet hush-hush. Lilia’s husband Bong Pineda has been accused — on several occasions and by different people — of being a jueteng lord. In 2018, Lilia Pineda reacted to a similar accusation by the late Sandra Cam by daring the latter to show evidence.

No court case ever flourished, too. Panlilio once filed a plunder complaint against Bong to pursue the latter’s role in the jueteng scandal that convicted former president Joseph Estrada of plunder. “It was dismissed,” said Panlilio.

“There are three gambling lords who were found to be delivering monies (to Estrada), one of them in Pampanga. The influence that they have, not only in politics — politics, humantong sa sinasabi nila kung sino magiging mayor, kapitan, presidente ng electric cooperative, ‘yung hahabol ng political positions (it reached a point when they got to say who would be mayor, captain, electric cooperative president, who would run for political positions),” said Panlilio.

Bong Pineda had been recently described as being so rich and powerful he controls the president and the police. (“Sa power niya, sa pera niya, hawak niya presidente, hawak niya pulis.”)

This statement came from a gambling industry rival, Atong Ang, when the latter testified in the Senate in March 2022 during the investigation of the disappearances of cockfighters in Luzon.

Bong Pineda did not react to the Atong Ang statement. But later in May that year, his son, the governor, banned online sabong in the province. Ironic because it’s Bong who ran the lone online sabong operator in Pampanga, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Online sabong remains suspended nationwide.

Bong Pineda is still the president of Eight Integrated Development Corp., doing business under the Royce Hotel and Royal Casino in Clark, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Usually elusive and away from the public eye, Bong Pineda has become more visible recently, joining and fetching local officials with his chopper, widely seen as a power move to consolidate forces.

Rappler reached out to Lilia and Delta Pineda through the capitol’s information office, but did not get a response. Bong Pineda has always been known to evade the media.

Baylon describes this election as “masyadong matindi” (too intense).

Many political scientists have come and gone to examine Pampanga, the descriptions ranging from “traditional politics” to “mafia-style” politics. Panlilio said that gambling lords also hide under philanthropy. “Pinapagawa nila ang simbahan, ang monasteryo (They give money to build a church, a monastery),” said Panlilio.

His pitch to the people, Panlilio said, is to see that even though gambling may seem so harmless to casual bettors, it has created an untouchable dynasty that may make the province a gambling state. “Papunta na roon (it’s headed there),” said Panlilio.

Baylon, a one-termer mayor of Candaba, said the key to weaning people from gambling is to create jobs, and soon start creating savings accounts so money goes to the bank, instead of bets.

How might one do that? Baylon said many of Pampanga’s natural resources are untapped, explaining that there should be programs for farming, fishery, and livestock. He who made fortunes from poultry, Baylon said he would dig up fishing grounds once he becomes governor.

“Dati ang Pampanga bay maraming isda kasi malalim, pero ngayon mababaw na. Dapat ipahukay ‘yun para masagana ang yaman ng isda sa Pampanga,” said Baylon. (Pampanga Bay used to be rich in fish before because it was deep, now it’s shallow. We should dig it up so we can have an abundance of fish again.)

Battle of San Fernando

Baylon ran for governor against Delta in 2022, but lost. Baylon, however, garnered 41% of the votes, making him confident of his chances this time. He is known to residents for giving away free chickens over the years.

“Sa mapping nangunguna tayo. Nagpapa-survey tayo pero barangay lang, maganda naman sa survey ngayon,” said Baylon. (We lead in mapping. We are doing surveys but only at the barangay level, the survey now is looking good.) Mapping is a general visual charting of where political support might be located, while survey is a more specific approach involving interviews and questionnaires with actual voters.

Caluag of San Fernando has a visible likelihood of winning. In her house-to-house campaign on April 22, she had a fiesta-like welcome with banners and confetti.

There were early speculations that Lilia will run for San Fernando mayor when she transferred her voting registration from the family base in Lubao, to the city. In the end, it was her daughter Mylyn, a former Lubao mayor who also transferred voting registration, who’s running against Caluag.

Caluag, a former councilor, lost the mayoralty elections in 2019 to the Pinedas’ bet, Edwin Santiago. In 2022, she ran against another Pineda bet Rosve Henson, and won — marking a historic feat for the city that elected its first female mayor.

Since winning in 2022, Caluag’s popularity has risen, getting over two million followers on TikTok where she vlogs about life as a mayor, and even her luxurious handbags like Hermes and Chanel compiled in a tab called “OOTD” (Outfit of the Day). Caluag is an affluent businesswoman who owns a hospital, a hotel, and a school. She said it’s unfair that people think somebody else was the brains behind her business empire.

In the 2025 elections, she has to overcome a political battle once more — rocked now by a vote-buying charge over an incident with her husband, who ran and lost, in the barangay elections in 2023. She had to post bail before Holy Week. She denies the accusation and says “San Fernandinos are intelligent voters.”

San Fernando is a key city, second biggest in terms of population and where many voters are. It’s also a missing piece in the Pineda puzzle.

“I guess...’yun ang opinion ko, ‘yun ang nakikita ko, (that’s my opinion, that’s what I see) they don’t like me, I do not know why,” said Caluag, who is supporting the Baylon-Panlilio tandem.

Caluag is banking on the fact that under her, the city built a dialysis center that people can access for free. It’s her business acumen as a hospital owner, she said, that allowed her to score a deal with a business proponent to build the center free of charge, and then get the return on investment through Philhealth and guarantee letters.

The Pinedas, on the other hand, opened the provincial dialysis center earlier this month, which was funded by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. or Pagcor.

Caluag said that if she gets a second term, she will replicate South Cotabato’s “no balance billing” policy, or essentially free hospitalization for residents.

“Kung nakaya nila, mas kaya natin (If they can do it, the more that we can),” Caluag said, explaining that if people voted for her in 2022 with nothing but a promise, now “I believe San Fernandinos love me, why? Naramdaman nila ang mga programa natin dito sa siyudad (They felt the programs here in the city).”

A powerful force

The Pinedas, close allies of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, have successfully built a strong brand, especially Lilia who is known for her “Alagang Nanay” (motherly care) program or free medical services.

The “opposition” trio is pitching good governance, hoping to ride on the wave of success of the likes of Vico Sotto in Pasig, or Benjamin Magalong of Baguio. Panlilio remains under the Liberal Party (LP) which he calls “still the best party” for its anti-corruption principles. Baylon, who ran under LP in 2022, is running as an independent now. He declined to comment why that was.

Panlilio had once sacrificed his priesthood status for good governance, and said he’s willing to do it again. But one thing he’s learned, Panlilio said, is to prepare a little bit more for a political life. “I could have been more prudent. I’m studying the case of Jesse Robredo, my companion in Kaya Natin, and Vico Sotto. Mayroon palang ibang paraan (there’s another way),” he said.

Baylon and Panlilio said they are campaigning against political dynasties. Baylon’s wife is running for mayor of Candaba, but according to him, he does not believe in staying in power for too long. “Gusto ko magkaroon ng karapatan ‘yung mga tao (I want people to have the right to choose),” said Baylon.

Caluag said she’ll leave that to the people. “I don’t campaign on that (anti-dynasty). Ang kinakampanya natin, ‘Laban San Fernando‘ (What I am campaigning for is for San Fernando to fight),” said Caluag, whose running mate is young councilor Brenz Gonzales from the Gonzales dynasty of Pampanga. (Patriarch Aurelio is outgoing third district representative, hoping to be replaced by daughter Mica.)

In an earlier interview, Delta Pineda said: “Please don’t call us a political dynasty because it’s the people urging us to run, and they vote for us. We do not force ourselves on them.”

How Pampanga voters will decide in May is seen as a signpost of how Filipinos view politics nowadays. A tall task on a province that, despite rising development, still grapples with the problem of poverty like every other town.

Because if you ask around, it’s still the most basic need they are after: “Pagtaas po ng suweldo ng mga manggagawa, at pagbaba ng presyo ng bilihin (for wages to increase, and prices to go down),” said Gloria Tuazon.

“Sana kahit may edad na, makahanap pa rin ng trabaho (For the elder people to still find jobs),” said Adelina Liwanag. – Rappler.com