Aris is replacement candidate for father

By JUNE S. BLANCO

REP. Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol) may have passed on but his son Erico Aristotle or “Aris” to family and friends – is picking up where he left off.

On top of the P26 million earlier released, another P30 million worth of projects that Aris will identify is due for release from the first quarter 2013 tranche of the solon’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Aris has been making the rounds of the towns and barangays in the district to identify priority projects – guided by the qualification criteria set by his father.

His father has two more terms as congressman. The family has decided that Aris will run as replacement candidate. He will file his certificate of candidacy (COC) on February 4 – a day after the 40^th day prayers for his father who was a devout Catholic.

While Aris is the first Aumentado scion to run for an elective position, he is no greenhorn. Being the youngest of eight children whose father entered the political arena when his mother was pregnant with her first child, Aris eats and breathes politics.

His political acumen was heightened when the solon gave him assignments for the district albeit unofficially at first, and especially honed when he was appointed as the congressman’s chief of staff during this, his fourth term. Aumentado had completed three terms or nine years as congressman and became governor of Bohol for an unprecedented three terms before cinching the Congressional seat again in 2010.

For this, his first time to throw his hat into the political arena, Aris already has the blessing of the solon. Prior to that, running for an elective position was a no-no for any Aumentado for that matter because the solon was a co-author of the anti-dynasty bill. 

Published at Bohol Chronicle newspaper [link]