Trillanes eyes Caloocan; Binay still waiting for a sign for Taguig run

Antonio Trillanes IV (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO) and Makati City Mayor Abby Binay (PHOTO FROM MAKATI LGU)

While the 2025 midterm elections may still be more than a year away, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is almost certain that he will be running for Caloocan mayor to end the reign of the Malapitan family in the city.

“I’m not there yet. Let’s just say that I’m 95 percent going into that direction,” Trillanes said in a recent interview with ANC’s “Headstart.” He added that although returning to the Senate was another possibility, “right now, I’m more inclined to go into local politics.”

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On the other hand, Makati Mayor Abby Binay said that she was still waiting for a sign to push her toward running for Taguig mayor.

Binay, in her last term as Makati mayor, said that this was one of the political options she was considering.

However, she admitted that it would be a “very difficult decision” requiring her to resign from her current post and transfer her residency and voter’s registration to Taguig.

“I’m waiting for some divine intervention,” she said at an event organized on Jan. 9 by the Rotary Club of Makati. “That’s something we have to wait for, and [it] will be the sure sign of my decision in 2025.”

Binay said her main consideration was the welfare of residents in the 10 “Embo” areas that were recently transferred to the jurisdiction of the Taguig City government based on a 2021 Supreme Court decision. As a solution, she may run or endorse someone who would “ensure that the residents in my Embos are taken care of,” she said.

Binay was recently spotted with former Taguig mayor and current Global Electric Transport president Freddie Tiñga, who joined her and her department heads for lunch at Makati City Hall.

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In a Facebook post, Binay referred to the gathering as the “first lunch with my department heads for 2024.” She also extended an open invitation to Tiñga to join their weekly lunch meetings.

Tiñga served as Taguig mayor from 2001 to 2010 and the city’s House representative from 2010 to 2013.

Should Trillanes push through with his plan to run for Caloocan mayor, he will face the Malapitan clan, which has been in control of the city since 2013. Incumbent Mayor Dale Gonzalo Malapitan succeeded his father, Oscar, in 2022.

Oscar Malapitan, now the House representative for the city’s first district, is also the leader of the local political party Asenso Manileño, which is allied with the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) party. Representing the city’s second district is Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, a former vice mayor and likewise a member of the Lakas-CMD party. The third district representative is Dean Asistio, another member of the Lakas-CMD party and the son of former Caloocan Mayor Luis Asistio.

Caloocan City has gone through several controversies in its political history, such as the 2007 mayoral election, which was marred by allegations of fraud and violence, and the 2017 killing of Kian Loyd delos Santos, a 17-year-old student, by antidrug policemen. The case sparked public outrage against then President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, leading to the charging, arrest and conviction of the policemen behind the teenager’s death.