Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba filed his certificate of candidacy for reelection at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office here on Thursday, hoping to snare his third and final term.

Running under the Nacionalista Party, he is teaming up with his nephew, Francisco Mamba III, son of Mayor Francisco Mamba Jr. of Tuao town.

He did not get his certificate of nomination from his erstwhile party, PDP-Laban-Cusi Wing, as his rival, Rep. Joseph Lara is the regional chair of the said group.

A doctor by profession, Mamba will slug it out against a fellow physician, Dr. Zarah Lara, wife of Rep. Lara.

“I would continue my programs on Caganda 2025 or the Cagayan Development Agenda which was started in 2016 as well as the ‘No Barangay, No Town Left Behind’, Cagayan River Restoration Project, Green Development, reopening of Port of Aparri, Infrastructure Development and Agriculture, Aquaculture and Food Sufficiency Program,” he said.

He urged fellow politicians to shun giving extortion money to communist rebels in the guise of a permit-to-campaign fee.

Mamba represented the third district in Cagayan in 1995-1998 and also held the post from 2001 to 2007. He was the Tuao mayor from 1988 to 1995.

A graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, he also served as Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer during the administration of the late former President Benigno Aquino III.

His wife, lawyer Mabel Villarica-Mamba, was a former chairperson-chief executive officer of the National Youth Commission and director of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.