AFTER a tense standoff between his rival’s supporters and the police, incumbent Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi on Tuesday was proclaimed the winner in the race for the city’s top post.
Allan Sindo, chair of the city board of canvassers, said Fresnedi garnered 125,128 votes compared to 67,949 for rival Aldrin San Pedro.
Fresnedi’s running mate Celso Dioko, former Barangay Cupang chair, was also proclaimed the winner in the vice mayoral race with 103,142 votes.
Ruffy Biazon, a former Customs chief, won the city’s lone congressional seat with 135,472 votes.
The winners were proclaimed hours after hundreds of San Pedro supporters gathered outside City Hall Monday night to protest alleged cheating in the elections.
“How can you explain (San Pedro) not winning in Barangay Bayanan? It’s impossible for him to have lost. That’s his bailiwick,” one supporter, Jo Lugaya, told the Inquirer.
“How could he have lost in Bayanan? Many of us voted for him there,” another supporter, Editha Villanueva, added.
The pro-San Pedro crowd occupied a portion of the National Highway in front of City Hall, causing a traffic jam. At one point, some of them stopped two passenger jeepneys carrying ballots to City Hall for auditing purposes.
“We will not leave! We will not leave!” they shouted as they taunted some Fresnedi supporters who were trapped inside City Hall, where the canvassing was taking place. The only thing that separated the two camps was a barricade made by policemen armed only with shields.
At one point, San Pedro’s supporters threw rocks at the other camp, prompting the board of canvassers to call the police for help in escorting several election inspectors from 26 precincts to City Hall.
The board of election inspectors were supposed to manually transmit on Monday night the SD (secure digital) cards containing around 6 percent of the remaining votes that could not be electronically transmitted. They finally arrived at City Hall around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, allowing the canvassing to resume.