Familiar choices in Camanava races

Three incumbents and a congressman are running for mayor in their respective cities in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) area.

Navotas Rep. Tobias “Toby” Tiangco is hoping to take over from the incumbent mayor, younger brother John Rey Tiangco, who is on his last term.

The two are switching positions as John Rey is running for his brother’s seat in Congress.

Toby served as Navotas mayor from 2000 to 2010 before being elected as representative of the city’s lone district.

When he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) in the Commission on Elections on Wednesday morning, Toby vowed to expand programs to address frequent flooding in the city.

“I decided to run as mayor again to continue the present projects in uplifting the quality of life of Navoteños. When I took over in [the year] 2000, Navotas was flooded 165 days a year because of high tide even when it was not raining,” he said.

“By the end of my term in 2010, Navotas had 23 pumping stations and flooding is not as serious as before. From 2010 to present under Mayor John Rey, they built an additional 36, so now we have 59,” Toby added.

Competing against him is first-term Councilor Dan Israel Ang who filed his COC on Monday.

The 28-year-old Ang hopes that Navoteños will support a new breed of politicians in the city. His running mate is Raymond Cruz, son of former city Vice Mayor Gardy Cruz.

In Valenzuela City, incumbent Mayor Rex Gatchalian is running for reelection with current Vice Mayor Lorrie Natividad.

His brother, 1st District Rep. Wes Gatchalian, is eyeing another term in Congress.

Incumbent Malabon Mayor Lenlen Oreta has his eye on a third term at City Hall as well, although his toughest challenger will be the current vice mayor, Jeannie Sandoval, who filed her COC on Wednesday.

Caloocan Mayor Oscar Malapitan was the first to file his COC for mayor on Oct. 12, the second day of filing. He is running unopposed.

He vowed to improve city jail facilities should he secure a third term in office. Malapitan said the capacity of Caloocan City Jail in Kaunlaran Village was only 120 although it now houses over 3,000 prisoners. —MARIEJO S. RAMOS