The battle for mayor of Manila is not just a three-way contest as many believe.
Aside from incumbent Mayor Joseph Estrada, his predecessor Alfredo Lim and Rep. Amado Bagatsing, eight other candidates are vying for the city’s top post, paving the way for an 11-way fight. They are Onofre Abad, Arnaldo “Dodos” dela Cruz, Edmundo Fuerte, Samuel Gabot, Tranquilino Narca, Francisco Pizzara, Valeriano Reloj and Wilfredo Yusi.
Although relatively unknown compared to Estrada, Lim and Bagatsing, four of the eight bets can hardly be called political neophytes, having ran for public office several times.
The most experienced—as far as forays into the political arena are concerned—of the eight appears to be Abad, a 64-year-old mechanical engineer, who ran for Manila mayor in 2010 and 2013 and Gabot, a veteran journalist and independent candidate.
Gabot, who like Estrada is 78 years old, has also sought the mayoralty before although he and Abad were declared nuisance candidates by the Commission on Elections in the last local polls.
The experience is not exactly new for Gabot who was also disqualified by the poll body when he sought a Senate seat in 2004.
Like Gabot, Pizzara, a 57-year-old retired policeman and the official candidate of the Partido ng mga Manggagawa at Magsasaka, has also previously sought the mayoralty. But in 2013, he ran for vice mayor and lost to the incumbent, Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.
Reloj, a lawyer by profession, tried to run for president in 2010 but was disqualified. In the certificate of candidacy for Manila mayor he submitted to the Comelec this year, he attached a photo which showed him in a car with palm trees in the background.
Narca, 36, meanwhile, submitted two sets of photographs, one in which he smiled for the camera in a blue, v-necked shirt and the other, in a red polo shirt. He listed his occupation as “cook” and his address as “Basico [sic] Compound.”
Dela Cruz, meanwhile, described himself as an interdisciplinary artist. The 57-year-old aspirant is running under the banner of Partido Bagong Maharlika (PBM), of which he is party chair. The PBM also fielded six senatorial bets and a certain Juanita Troceño as presidential candidate this year. A check of its website showed that the party was for a “corrupt-free Philippines seeking a better future for the Filipinos.”
Only Lim and Fuerte, a 68-year-old marine engineer, submitted copies of their platforms.
Fuerte declared himself as a “modern day hero” even as he vowed to “prolong the lives” of Manila’s senior citizens by providing them with an allowance “in case they want to work or move.”
“Galaw-galaw para hindi ma-stroke (Let’s move so that we won’t have a stroke),” he said as he also urged voters to move to Manila if they want to be “lucky” this year.
“Kung gusto mo bumuti ang buhay ditto (sic) ka na sa Maynila magparehistro at bumuto at sinisigurado ko na ang kalaang suwerte sa buong lahi o angkan mo (If you want a better life, register and cast your vote in Manila and I assure you that you and your clan will be lucky),” Fuerte added.