Cong. Raul Tupas beats brother anew in Iloilo (Sabong News)
Author
Tara Yap
Date
MAY 11 2022
ILOILO CITY — Cong. Raul “Boboy” Tupas has once again defeated his older brother Niel “Junjun” Tupas Jr. to remain the representative of Iloilo province’s Fifth District.
The Commission on Elections officially proclaimed Cong. Raul the winner with 173,031 votes on Wednesday, May 11. Raul Tupas won over Niel Jr. by 97,727 votes.
Niel Jr., who gained national prominence in 2012 when he led the team of prosecutors during the impeachment of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, garnered only 75,304 votes.
This is the second time the Tupas brothers clashed for the same position. During the May 2019 elections, Cong Tupas also defeated Niel Jr. by 65,317 votes.
The brothers are the sons of Niel Tupas Sr., a three-term governor of Iloilo who died in 2015.
After the death of the patriarch, the brothers fought each other for the congressional seat in their district bailiwick. At that time, Niel Jr. was serving his third and final term as congressman while Raul was then mayor of Barotac Viejo town. It was allegedly agreed that Raul will replace Niel Jr. for the congressional seat. However, Niel Jr. fielded his wife Yvonne Angeli “Gel” Lee-Tupas as the candidate.
Raul eventually defeated Niel Jr.’s wife in the 2016 congressional race while Niel Jr. also lost the vice gubernatorial race to Christine “Tingting” Garin.
The battle between the brothers has only strained relationships among the Tupas family, but also among their allies in northern Iloilo province.
Cong. Raul ran under the Nacionalista Party (NP) while Niel Jr. is running under the Liberal Party (LP).
