Ponce wins Pateros mayoralty on 3rd try; 3 Calixtos prevail in Pasay
THIRD time’s a charm for Miguel “Ike” Ponce III, who finally won as municipal mayor of Pateros after unsuccessful runs in 2001 and 2013.
Ponce got 9,760 votes to top a field of six candidates that included incumbent councilor and former beauty queen Daisy Reyes, his closest rival who got 8,444.
The Commission on Elections declared Ponce the winner around 1 a.m. Tuesday after a canvassing that was delayed by the slow electronic transmission of votes.
In the vice mayoral contest, Gerald German won with 12,333 votes over closest opponent Bebot Cuerdo’s 5,695.
Arnel Cerafica, Ponce’s ally, earned 21,811 votes in the congressional race in the Taguig-Pateros district to beat his lone opponent, Gloria Cabrera, who garnered 1,247 votes.
Ponce, who will be succeeding the last-term mayor Jaime Medina, said his first acts in office would include working with Cerafica on Pateros’s bid for cityhood.
“We have the lowest share in terms of internal revenue allocation from the national government,” he said. “Since we are in Metro Manila, I believe that it is just right for us to be at the same level with other cities.”
In Pasay City, members of the Calixto political clan secured fresh terms in office through landslide victories over their respective rivals.
Incumbent Mayor Antonino Calixto bagged his third consecutive term after garnering 113,218 votes, or about 62 percent of the votes cast.
His sister, Imelda Calixto-Rubiano, topped rivals in the congressional race with 140,141 votes, or more than 80 percent of the total. Her closest opponent, Santiagio Quial, got 30,679 votes.
The mayor’s son, Mark Anthony Calixto, emerged as the topnotcher among the six elected city councilors, with 51,081 votes.
