Metro incumbents win some, lose some

Incumbent officials seeking reelection in the cities of Taguig, Las Piñas, Marikina, Malabon and Pasay claimed victory although it was a different story for those in Parañaque, Antipolo City and Cainta, both in Rizal province.

At 2 a.m. Wednesday, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano and her running mate, Ricardo Cruz, were “provisionally proclaimed” the winners in the mayoral and vice mayoral races, respectively, by the city board of canvassers.

At that time, only 93.89 percent of the votes had been canvassed but the big leads enjoyed by the winners prompted the board to go ahead with the provisional proclamation.

Cayetano earned the right to serve for a second term after she received 122,824 votes against opponent Rica Tiñga’s 74,009 votes. On the other hand, Cruz received 105,041 votes against 81,389 votes for Tiñga’s running mate, Carlo Papa.

Also reelected was Rep. Arnel Cerafica of the first district with 40,417 votes while director Lino Cayetano, the mayor’s brother-in-law, was proclaimed second district representative with 60,433 votes.

Lani Cayetano’s victory capped an acrimonious campaign as she and Tiñga traded heated words in the days leading to the polls. At one point, their supporters figured in a scuffle, leaving 12 of Tiñga’s followers injured.

A provisional proclamation was also made by the Las Piñas City board of canvassers based on 95 percent of the election results.

Proclaimed winners were incumbents Mayor Vergel Aguilar, Vice Mayor Louie Bustamante and Rep. Mark Villar who all ran for reelection.

In Marikina City, the board of canvassers decided to push through with the proclamation of the winners in the congressional, mayoral and vice mayoral races even as there were more than 3,000 votes from four clustered precincts that had not been canvassed due to a defective CF (compact flash) card. This was after it was decided that the remaining votes would not affect the outcome of the results.

Incumbents Mayor Del de Guzman and Vice Mayor Jose Fabian Cadiz both received a fresh mandate for a second term in office. Also reelected were Representatives Miro Quimbo of the second district and Marcelino Teodoro of the first district.

Reelectionists also ruled in Pasay City with Mayor Antonino “Tony” Calixto winning another term by a landslide after he scored 119,177 votes compared to Jorge del Rosario’s 28,951 and former Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad’s 22,028 votes.

His running mate, incumbent Vice Mayor Marlon Pesebre, also won another term with 88,019 votes against rivals Noel Bayona’s 45,688 votes and Ricardo Santos who received 24,879 votes.

Calixto’s sister, Pasay Rep. Emi Calixto-Rubiano, also won in her reelection bid with 130,425 votes.

The winners were subsequently proclaimed by the city board of canvassers at midnight on Tuesday.

Late-night drama gripped the canvassing of votes in Malabon City on Tuesday as an unreadable memory card from the last clustered precinct forced the board of canvassers to delay the proclamation of the winner in the hotly-contested vice mayoral race.

As a result, only Malabon Mayor Antolin Oreta III who ran unopposed and got 86,908 votes and lone district Rep. Josephine Veronique Lacson-Noel who received 82,017 votes were proclaimed the winners shortly before midnight.

Ten of the 12 city councilors were also proclaimed last night at the Malabon City Council Session Hall where the canvassing was being held.

United Nationalist Alliance candidate Jeannie Sandoval leads the vice mayoral race with 38,488 votes while Edwin Dimagiba of the Nationalist People’s Coalition has 37,931 votes. Only 557 votes separate the two with 99.5 percent of votes counted.

Caloocan has also yet to proclaim winners in the vice mayoral race and the final seats in the city council as the city board of canvassers still has to process around 10 clustered precincts  which account for about 10,000 votes.

In Parañaque City, Rep. Edwin Olivarez enjoyed a landslide victory in the mayoral race over Councilor Benjo Bernabe as he received 115,851 votes against the latter’s 82,551 votes.

Bernabe is the son of incumbent Mayor Florencio Bernabe who is serving his last term in office. Olivarez, meanwhile, is the incumbent representative for the city’s first district.

On Tuesday night, Rizal Casimiro “Jun” Ynares III was proclaimed the next mayor of Antipolo City over the incumbent, Nilo Leyble, after a long delay in the canvassing of votes held at the Ynares Center.

In the end, the final and official count came to 128,108 votes for Ynares and 121,032 for Leyble with 99.13 percent of the results transmitted from the precincts.

In Cainta, neophyte politician Johnielle Keith “Kit” Nieto was declared the winner of the mayoral race with 31,411 votes, defeating outgoing Mayor Mon Ilagan’s wife, Beranda Ilagan, who had 25, 768 votes.

Nieto’s running mate, Sofia Velasco, also won in the vice mayoral race with 36,948 votes. With reports from Nicolo Pascual, Dexter Cabalza, Bernadette Nicolas and Alex Austria