Everywhere you look here, there is a Junio.
According to Local Civil Registrar Ismael Malicdem Jr., an estimated 65% of Bayambang's population are part of the Junio clan.
This means practically everyone in Bayambang is related to the Junios. This also explains why Municipal Councilor Mylvin 'Boying' Junio is consistently the number one councilor in town, even without having to do an intensive election campaign. Of course, it helped that he has the common touch, but the Junio factor is a huge factor, because the same factor must be at work in the number of other officials, including kapitans, through the years (now called Punong Barangay) who got elected to their position largely because of their surname.
Other officials that I can think of who are (or were) a Junio include Councilor Amory, Councilor Junie Angeles, Councilor Chato Junio (through marriage), and of course the former Mayor, Atty. Jaime P. Junio, the Philippines' longest-running mayor at the time.
Scratch someone's full name, and there are more that can be discovered to have Junio as middle name as well. Dig deeper and you will find a Junio in every corner of this town.
Dig even deeper and you will see that this town is, as they say, practically one big family, the Junio family! It is not unusual for a Junio to marry another Junio, as long as the relation is beyond the third degree of consanguinity, so 65% is a very conservative estimate. It is more like 80%.
The divisive nature of current politics in this town is therefore unbecoming, for it inevitably pits Junios versus other Junios in bitter rivalry. The Junio factor, on the other hand, can be parlayed as a huge political capital, for any sitting leader can appeal to the whole town as "the Junio family, our family."
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