During the 1998 elections, he ran for mayor of Santo Tomas, Batangas, which he subsequently won.
Batangas Governorship
After two terms as mayor of Sto. Tomas, he decided to run as Batangas Governor. He ran as the Liberal Party official candidate during the 2004 elections. His opponents included former Justice SecretaryHernando Perez, former Board MemberDennis Hernandez and former Nasugbu Mayor Rosario Apacible. One of his projects during his term was the beautification of Batangas Capitol Grounds. He facilitated the relocation of national government agencies and squatters who occupied a portion of the Capitol Grounds. During his governorship, allegations of corruption surfaced. On May 30, 2005 Batangas ombudsman and graft investigator Guillermo Gamo was gunned down in Batangas City on his way to the capitol. At the time, Gamo was investigating what he described as multimillion-peso anomalous deals and projects at the capitol. On April 13, 2015, Melinda “Mei” Magsino, a journalist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer until 2005 who covered corruption and illegal gambling issues in Batangas, was also shot dead. Records from the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines showed that Magsino reported “threats” to her life sometime in 2005, during which she exposed alleged corruption and illegal gambling activities of late Batangas Governor Armando Sanchez.
Assassination attempt
He survived an assassination attempt on June 1, 2006 when he was able to get out of his Hummer H2 that exploded while boarding it inside the Batangas Capitol Grounds. His driver and bodyguard were killed during the explosion.
2007 Elections
During the 2007 elections, he opted to run for re-election as governor. He was the official candidate of Kampi, a pro-administration party. He faced Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto who was the official candidate of Lakas CMD, another pro-administration party. Since two pro-administration candidates were battling it out for the governorship of Batangas, administration officials opted to declare the Province of Batangas a "free-zone". Santos-Recto is the wife of then Senator Ralph Recto who was running for re-election as part of the pro-administration Team Unity. Since Sanchez was a member of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, governors threatened to junk the candidacy of Recto as senator. Sanchez lost to Santos-Recto by more than 100,000 votes.
Sanchez, once again ran for the gubernatorial position with Erwin Ermita as his running mate. Sanchez was rushed to the Mary Meditiarix Medical Center in Lipa City on April 26, 2010 after collapsing during a campaign and was placed inside an intensive care unit. Sanchez suffered a stroke due to fatigue, decreased sugar levels and severe hypertension, dying April 27, 2010. His wife, Edna, announced her bid for governorship on April 30, 2010 even though she was seeking reelection as mayor in Santo Tomas, Batangas. Six days later, she filed her Certificate of Candidacy for governor and was later permitted to run. On the election day, she lost to incumbent governor Vilma Santos, who received 59.63% percent of the votes. Sanchez only received 38.91% of the votes or 393,586 popular votes.
Personal life
Sanchez was an engineer by profession. He was married to Edna Sanchez, the incumbent mayor of Santo Tomas, Batangas. They have four children. He was also a member of Batangas Varsitarian fraternity.
