San Fernando mayor retains seat

For the second time, San Fernando Mayor Antonio Canoy was elected in a close fight with his predecessor in the south Cebu town.

Canoy, the only incumbent mayor of the Liberal Party in Cebu’s 1st district, won over former mayor Lakambini Reluya by a margin of 177 votes.

Acting Municipal Election Officer Neil Fuentes said Canoy received 16,187 votes while Reluya got 16,010 votes.

Canoy’s son Miguel Antonio also won as vice mayor against Reluya’s husband Ricardo.

They were proclaimed winners on Friday.

“It was a hot contest in San Fernando,” Fuentes told Cebu Daily News by phone.

He said there were strafing incidents and the arrest of armed men in the week before the election but no one was killed.

Reluya, who ran under the Nacionalista Party, intends to file an election protest before the Regional Trial Court soon..

In 2010, Reluya lost to Canoy by  1,271 votes.

Reluya filed an election protest which has been submitted for decision before Cebu RTC Judge Ramon Daomilas of Branch 11.

She alleged that “widespread anomalies” like massive vote-buying were committed by Canoy and his supporters in all clustered precincts in the town. Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol