Though emerging as the overall winner, reelected Mayor Joseph Estrada lost in Binondo, Sta. Cruz and Tondo to his closest rival, former Mayor Alfredo Lim, according to the tally posted online by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Binondo and Sta. Cruz are both busy commercial districts—areas which heavily bore the brunt of Estrada’s local tax reform that increased real property and business taxes, a measure he had defended as being necessary for city revenues to grow by as much as P3 billion.
Lim and a third contender, Manila 5th District Rep. Amado Bagatsing, assailed Estrada’s tax reform during their campaigns, saying it added to the Manileños’ financial burden.
Estrada repeatedly explained in interviews that he needed to raise taxes to settle the city’s P3.5-billion debt and unpaid utility bills amounting to P670 million. He claimed to have accomplished it thanks to the updated tax code.
“I needed to raise funds to start projects. All projects boil down to funding. That’s why we were able to renovate our markets, hospitals,” Estrada said in an interview on Tuesday.
Estrada said he was disappointed over his slim lead over Lim, especially after he had implemented various infrastructure projects in the last three years. From a margin of around 33,000 votes that enabled him to unseat Lim in 2013, Estrada edged him by only 2,685 votes in the recent balloting.
Lim on Wednesday filed an election protest in the Comelec, accusing the Estrada camp of vote-buying and questioning the integrity of the canvassing that suffered delays after about 500 vote-counting machines failed to transmit results electronically from the poll precincts.
According to the Comelec website, Estrada received 110,233 votes in Tondo; Lim, 113,132; and Bagatsing, 39,605. With 267 barangays, Tondo is the city’s most vote-rich district.
In his own congressional district, Bagatsing won only in two areas: Malate and Paco.
Ermita, Intramuros and the Port Area all went to Estrada.
Estrada also won in Quiapo, San Nicolas and Pandacan, while Lim took Sampaloc and San Miguel.
In the congressional race, however, the 5th District remains Bagatsing territory, where his daughter Cristal won to become his successor in the House. The elder Bagatsing also won in Sta. Ana, which is under the sixth district.
The Comelec online data did not include San Andres Bukid and Sta. Mesa. With reports from Carmela Canonizado and Apec Sta. Ana