UNA dominates race in Navotas

MANILA, Philippines - The entire local ticket of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) won the midterm polls in Navotas City.

Re-electionist Mayor John Rey Tiangco and his older brother, re-electionist Rep. Toby Tiangco, UNA secretary general, led the victory of all the local candidates running under Partido Navoteño, which was supported by the opposition coalition UNA.

The local board of canvassers proclaimed the winners at around 3 a.m. yesterday.

Based on the final and official results released by the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) office, the younger Tiangco won against his opponent, Liberal Party (LP) bet and incumbent vice mayor Patrick Joseph Javier, by a margin of 30,890 votes.

Rep. Tiangco, meanwhile, won against LP bet Rico de Guzman by a margin of 52,065 votes.

UNA vice mayoral candidate Clint Geronimo also defeated Ma. Elsa Bautista-Teodoro of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. All 12 elected members of the next city council were also part of the UNA slate.

In an interview with The STAR, the re-elected mayor said his entire slate was humbled by the landslide victory that they received from their constituents. He said the results signify the people’s confidence to their leadership.

Prior to his election as mayor in 2010, John Rey’s brother, Toby, was at the city’s helm for three consecutive terms.

John Rey said he will continue focusing on providing Navoteños with basic services such as decent jobs, socialized housing, a clean environment, a public health system, and education for all.

He expressed gratitude for the trust given to his slate by his constituents, and called on for unity to achieve their collective goal of improving the lives of Navoteños.

A total of 92,775 of the 119,040 registered voters in the city participated in Monday’s polls. This represents a 77.94 percent turnout, higher than the 63.42 percent turnout recorded in the city during the 2010 presidential elections.

Local Comelec officer Armand Mallorca said this year’s elections in Navotas City were very successful. He said the random manual audit conducted at a clustered precinct in San Rafael Village Elementary School was accurate.

Earlier, precinct count optical scan machines encountered startup problems in at least four of the city’s 135 clustered precincts. Mallorca said the problems were immediately solved and that the elections pushed through without any other issues.

Most of the votes were already transmitted to the canvassing center at the city hall by midnight yesterday. Tiangco’s supporters immediately flocked to the city hall upon learning that their candidate was to be proclaimed.