En­ter­tain­er John Michael Al­i­bo­cas pop­u­lar­ly known as Makamil­lion is the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) can­di­date for Mara­bel­la West.

Al­i­bo­cas was con­fi­dent af­ter he filed his nom­i­na­tion pa­pers at Mara­bel­la South Sec­ondary School.

He told re­ports he en­tered the po­lit­i­cal are­na to ful­fil the dy­ing wish of his moth­er who passed away from can­cer eight years ago.

“Just be­fore she died she said John Michael I would like you to do one thing for me. I say what’s that mom?” She said I see you as a politi­cian and at the end of the day I am just ful­fill­ing a promise to her,” he said.

Al­i­bo­cas’s Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment op­po­nent is an­oth­er new­com­er, Jameela Mar­ryshaw-St Hill, and she is fol­low­ing in her moth­er’s foot­steps. Mar­ryshaw-St Hill’s moth­er Jen­nifer Mar­ryshaw served three terms for the same dis­trict un­der the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment. Asked why she threw her hat in­to the po­lit­i­cal are­na, the moth­er of one said, “My moth­er, she en­cour­aged me. The way that she rep­re­sents the peo­ple, her ser­vice to­wards the com­mu­ni­ty. She served the peo­ple for 14 years and to this day she still serves the peo­ple and be there for them, for Mara­bel­la West.”

For the Mara­bel­la East seat, PNM can­di­date Dave Paras will try to wres­tle it away from in­cum­bent UNC can­di­date Kern Ramdin. They both filed their pa­pers at the Mara­bel­la South Sec­ondary School.